A Hat Trick

I saw the Portland Winterhawks beat the Chilliwack Bruins on February 19th at Memorial Coliseum with my Grad and Career friends. For those of you not in the know, I am talking minor league hockey.

I like hockey. If you have only ever watched it on TV, you are probably not a fan. I think it is more fun in person than on TV and, once most people have seen it in person, they are fans. In fact, on the night I went I got to see Niederreiter pull off the hat trick. (If you look closely you can see the ref cleaning hats off the ice in this pic!)

It was complete with all the fun gimmicky/promotional things they do to get people to come to minor league events.

For one, it was "Pink the Rink" night, for breast cancer awareness. There were a number of components to this with the most obvious being that the ice was pink and there were pink ribbons on the shoulders of the team's jerseys. You couldn't really tell the ice was pink until the Zamboni came out.

There was a 7and 8 year old match during the first interval. It was entertaining. They play hockey like I played soccer at that age... all bunched up. The match was refereed by the Winterhawk mascot (Tom-A-Hawk -hehehe).

Then there were the Rosebuds; shiny girls with pompoms. I am not sure if they were technically considered a dance team or cheerleaders, but I found it completely random. Who wants to put on special non-slip shoes to dance on ice while scantily clad? It just seems cold.

I think the most shocking part for me (while researching the team) was that the oldest player on the roster was born in 1990. Dag. I am going to take a nap now.