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View Full Version : Hockey fans.........


Cringer
11-09-2003, 12:39 AM
Ok, i just got back from my week of work on the road and with the wife out of town i, with my kid, went to our new arena to see our new minor league hockey team, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. We went last week and loved it, including my little girl. Being from Spokane, WA, who had a great junior hockey team when i lived there, i'm a little embarrassed that i had never been to a hockey game in person............which leads to my question..........

How many of you guys have seen a woman five feet away get nailed in the face with a line drive puck?....or something similar?

In the second period this woman sitting across the stairs from me had this happen to her, sitting there with only her 6 month (or so) old little boy next to her as the husband had gone to get more beer. She wasn't looking because she was playing with the little boy. I was watching the game and here goes this puck absolutely blazing by right in front of me about 4 feet at eye level. I followed the puck fast enough with my eyes that i saw it bouncing off her left cheek as her head was snapping back....it was just nasty looking, yet somehow pretty damn cool (and yes i feel a little bad about saying that, but its the truth). She was surrounded pretty fast as all of us around her started to move towards her to basically do nothing for her but ask if she's ok.......i mainly wanted to get that kid out of there because he was getting freaked out, but grabbing someone's kid wouldn't have been the best thing to do. After a few minutes the husband came back with his 2 beers and you could see he was about to shit his pants. Another minute later team officials came and got them out of there. She probably broke her cheek bone if i had to guess, it didn't touch her nose, it was just to the left of it. The woman behind her had the puck land at her feet, and i guess she handed to someone near her. I thought of picking it up (nobody wanted to for those first few minutes) but it seemed like it would be wrong. What was funny for the rest of the game was you could see people eyeing the full beers the husband put down and left, but nobody wanted to take those either..........

Vince
11-09-2003, 12:41 AM
That sucks...first rule of a hockey game in-person - NEVER take your eyes off the puck.

bbor
11-09-2003, 01:28 AM
Originally posted by Vince
That sucks...first rule of a hockey game in-person - NEVER take your eyes off the puck.

Or your beer :D

finkenst
11-09-2003, 01:24 PM
or sit below glass level...

on the other hand, i went to a rivermen game and was sitting ~7 rows behind the teams' benches and caught a puck.

Cringer
11-09-2003, 01:29 PM
Ya, when i went last week, a guy about 4 rows in front of us, who was in the third row, caught a puck, but obviously that was just a "pop up" that he got......

i would say she was right at glass level, also where we were on the corner area we were kinda behind the net partially......but the thing cam from near the penalty box area, about half way from the wall and center ice.....it was just a line drive

Pumpy Tudors
11-09-2003, 01:39 PM
A woman a couple of rows being me at a New Orleans Brass (rest in peace, Brass) took a puck to the forehead once. It made a really dull crunching noise. Yes, it was bad, but yes, it was also cool. On one of the few occasions that I wasn't paying close enough attention, a puck sped right in front of my face and hit the empty seat next to mine. THAT sure woke me up.

I hope to live in a city with hockey again someday. :(

JeeberD
11-09-2003, 01:42 PM
I loved going to minor league hockey games when I lived in Abilene. While the quality might not be as high compared to if I went to a Stars game, the tickets were much cheaper, I could sit much closer to the ice and actually see the game, and the players were much more accesable.

Abilene Aviators, how I miss you...

Cringer
11-09-2003, 02:11 PM
Originally posted by JeeberD
I could sit much closer to the ice and actually see the game, and the players were much more accesable.
.

That reminds me......

It was just my 4 yr old girl and I and with 5 minutes left in the second period she wanted a popsicle....so we start to go down the few stairs and righ when we get in front of the glass a fight broke out right in front of us....and a damn good one!! After about 15 seconds all the other players started rushing in, so they started trying to break it up. As guys skated away another one by the goal started up and they let that one go for a while! It was my first hockey fight and a great one....er, two! Needless to say, with this happening at eye level about 5 feet from us, my little girl was speechless....LOL

Eaglesfan27
11-09-2003, 02:13 PM
Originally posted by Pumpy Tudors
A woman a couple of rows being me at a New Orleans Brass (rest in peace, Brass) took a puck to the forehead once. It made a really dull crunching noise. Yes, it was bad, but yes, it was also cool. On one of the few occasions that I wasn't paying close enough attention, a puck sped right in front of my face and hit the empty seat next to mine. THAT sure woke me up.

I hope to live in a city with hockey again someday. :(

I also miss the Brass. They weren't the Flyers, but that was just as much good as bad at times ;)

Killebrew
11-09-2003, 04:55 PM
I about 100 NHL games and another 50 minor league, college and junior hockey games I have never seen or heard of any fan getgint hurt by a puck, but it seems likely it is more dangerous than baseball since the puck is much tougher to pick out in the air.

Pumpy Tudors
11-09-2003, 05:20 PM
Originally posted by Eaglesfan27
I also miss the Brass. They weren't the Flyers, but that was just as much good as bad at times ;)

The Flyers? The FLYERS? Ugh! Go Devils! :)