Wichita Thuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnder

Saturday night found us at our very first ice hockey game!!

The verdict??

If we lived closer to Wichita--some of us would TOTALLY be addicted!! 

This game was a 4-H promotional night.  Each member and leader that went got in for $5 apiece.  The remaining tickets weren't terribly expensive either--so it was a great opportunity to get out of our proverbial boxes and do something that we wouldn't ordinarily do!

I didn't necessarily "get" the game.  Neither did anyone else from our group.  But the excitement wasn't hard to "get" at all! And the atmosphere of excitement in the arena was AWESOME!

Things I learned about ice hockey:

Many players on midwest teams are "imported" from Canada and northern states, cause we don't have enough ice to play on all winter long to learn to skate that fast!  Guess that's why everyone here rides horses instead!

If a hockey player trips another player, the whistle blows and they lock them in a plastic box for 2 minutes while everyone else gets to play without them (much like a child's "time out" for a misbehaving hockey player)--HOWEVER--if a huge fist fight between 2 players just so happens to break out, the refs stand and watch them duke it out until they fall to the ice--then the whistle is blown and the games goes on like nothing ever happened. Huh??

It didn't take us long to figure out that if you heard a whistle and saw fans jumping out of their seats, you should also stand quickly lest you miss the fist fight.

If you are a mascot for the Wichita Thunder, it's perfectly legal to ride your little car anywhere you feel like. . even if it IS the middle of the hockey rink! But he could do GREAT donuts on the ice!

The experience gives you a great opportunity to talk with your children about good sportmanship and reasons not to yell "you suck" repeatedly at the other team.  We were SOO blessed to sit several rows above two die-hard Thunder fans--who yelled with raspy voices the entire game! Really nothing profane--just obnoxious. It sounded to me like this wasn't their first rodeo--and either they had already been yelling for hours before the game started-or they permanently damaged their voices by routinely annoying other ice hockey fans at multiple games before this one! Hmmmmm.

Hockey players (and referrees) are incredible athletes! I was thoroughly amazed at how fast they moved, turned circles, skated backwards and side ways, and how quickly they could jump over someone who fell over right at their feet to avoid falling themselves--all while wielding a frightening-looking 5-foot metal weapon.

Ice hockey is a fast moving game--sometimes a little hard to follow if you are a rookie fan. But we had a great time anyway! 

Cami wasn't too into the game (as one would expect from a 2 year old) but she did enjoy the $5 tub of popcorn--and enjoyed showing off how she could throw the popcorn into the air and catch it in her mouth. . NOT!! After I saw about 7 kernels of gold popcorn hit the arena floor, I had to put a stop to it!! She was showing me her smile to let me know--No hard feelings!

We had 24 tickets to the game--and I don't think a single person could say that they didn't enjoy it!!

Another check mark for an item on my bucket list of things to do in my lifetime!!

If you ever get the chance to go watch an ice hockey game. .you should. .it's a great time!

I hope some day that we have an opportunity to watch another one!