One of the great things about visiting Canada in spring is that Hockey is still going on. In fact, my two week stay was coinciding perfectly with the end of the NHL regular season and the first round of the playoffs. As a special treat, I thought I would try to get tickets to a game. Despite the Toronto Maple Leafs being one of the worst hockey teams in the league, it is still pretty hard to get tickets. There were three home games when I was there, but the cheapest tickets available were well over $200 Canadian each. I do like hockey, but I don’t like it THAT much.
As it happens, my sister lives very close to Barrie, home of the OHL Barrie Colts. As it also happens, the Colts don’t suck and were in the playoffs, starting a series against the St Michaels Majors. I mentioned it to Al and he jumped online and purchased tickets for himself, me and Adam (Thanks Al!) Here we are at the game, a first OHL experience for all three of us.
Interestingly enough, two days before the game, he still managed to get very good seats for only around $20 each. I know the OHL is a minor league (players aged 15-20) but it is also a major talent pool of future NHL players, including 7 players on the roster who are already drafted by NHL teams. The seats were not just good, they were pretty great. We were in the second row behind the glass, so we were treated to some up close and personal body checks from guys that look pretty huge for 15-20 year olds….
I don’t think I have ever sat as close to the play as this for an NHL game, it was a pretty interesting view. I have played a bit of hockey over the years, and sitting here felt pretty much the same as when you are sitting on the bench during a game, an experience I have enjoyed frequently.
Something that both Al and I had a good laugh at was the in-game promotions that were taking place. Every 10 minutes or so, there would be a give away to someone in the crowd. But the quality and content of the promotions really demonstrated that this was the minor leagues. We heard seats called out for winning:
1) a haircut at Supercuts
2) an oil change at Mr. Lube
3) A free Pizza
We were actually looking at the names of the sponsors on the boards around the ice and trying to predict the source and content of the next give away. Despite the Bulk Barn being prominently featured, there were no prizes awarded along the line of “ten kg of rice” or “bushel of apples” Maybe they saved those for game 7.
Once again I was surprised and impressed with the quality of photos from my phone. Indoor sports do not exactly present optimal conditions for a tiny phone based camera, but I think the results were quite acceptable.
All in all a very fun experience. An exciting game with a good level of hockey and a very affordable night out. If you live near an OHL team and enjoy live hockey, I would totally recommend doing this, maybe even more so than going to an NHL game if you want to have a higher enjoyment per $$ ratio. I seriously doubt you would be doing much at a Leafs game other than hanging your head and lamenting that you spent a couple hundred bucks to watch some really crap game.
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