Two Different Hockey Games

Stein and I were invited by our friend Chris to go to the Wings game on Friday night. He had extra tickets for his company's suite, so we were treated really well while we watched the Blackhawks beat the Wings. I have to admit, although I never said anything to Stein, that I was a little happy that the Blackhawks won. (My loyalties still lie with Chicago sports teams. I have a hard time rooting for any sports team here except the Tigers, since they're in the AL and my Cubs are in the NL.)

Hockey was never a really popular sport growing up. I didn't know of any hockey players, just football, basketball, and baseball players. And since I went to an all-girls school, we didn't have a hockey team either. It wasn't until college that I knew any people who played hockey.

I never got into it until I was out of college and was invited to some Blackhawk games. At that time, I loved watching the fights that happened. When the gloves came off, I would cheer for more. Everyone knows I'm not a violent person, but for some reason, watching hockey players fight got my adrenaline going. Now they've changed the rules, so there aren't as many fights that happen now. Darn.

I still don't quite understand the game. Stein explained some of it to me on Friday when we went to the Wings game. Ask me the ins and outs of basketball, football, or baseball and I'll keep up with the best of them. But hockey? Not so much. The one thing that always intrigues me is the on and off the ice action. Players keep leaving and coming onto the ice. And the coaches (at least in the pros) are so calm. They stand behind their players with their arms crossed watching the game like a spectator.

Last night we went to watch our friends Doug and Susan's son Ben play hockey. He's in 4th grade. His team played at Yost Arena where U-M's hockey team plays their games. I'm sure it was exciting for those kids (and coaches) to be playing in a place steeped in tradition. U-M's hockey team regularly goes to the playoffs and they always pack the place each game.

As Stein and I watched the kids play hockey, we joked with one another about how different it was than the Wings game last Friday. "What?" Stein said, "You don't remember when those Wings players just fell down randomly on the ice?" That's what the kids did. Sometimes they would just be standing on the ice and fall. Other times they would be trying to skate onto the bench and fall. And the separate sides of defense and offense were not there. Most players were just magnets on the puck, regardless of where the puck was. You have to start somewhere, I guess.

One last question, which I'm sure I could answer if I just googled it: Why do hockey players wear shorts as part of their uniforms? Does it allow for movement, or is it cooler (temperature-wise) than pants? Or something else?