Is this the year?

For some, the hockey season may be over. For others, their most important game is still waiting for them.

For the less informed reader: I am a big ice hockey fan. To the point where I was getting up at 7:30 in the morning here to sometimes only watch scores refresh every 30 seconds. It's a far cry from the atmosphere at a real game, but it's about all I can do in a country where it's hard to grow ice.

Last weekend however, Mike and I caught wind of an actual ice hockey game taking place in Taipei City. At the grand Taipei Arena, which is only a few blocks from the hotel I lived in for the first month, there were two match-ups set for that night to decide the two teams that were going to the CIHL finals. Not only could I go to watch hockey (for free!), but playoff hockey! For those of you waiting for me to get homesick, this news set that date back a little bit.


I had absolute minimal expectations for this game. I half pictured me and Mike to be the only ones there. Inside Taipei Arena, we walked around and passed a Starbucks where a man was talking to a small group of other guys, saying things like, "I don't want this to be the last game we play this season. I like playing you guys." This team was clearly on the brink of elimination, and we could smell the desperation. It had a hint cinnamon spice mocha.

We took our seats in a slowly filling arena. There were already more people than I expected. Watching the teams warm-up, we decided we needed a team to root for and we landed on the Raptors, whose jerseys were cooler than their opponents, the Lions.

The puck dropped and they were on their way. The game was filled with breakaways and amazing saves, power plays, and they even threw t-shirts into the stands. Our Raptors cruised to a 4-2 victory and a chance for the championship. One of the highlights? Bob.

Bob, of the Hsinchu Raptors, had a fan club. When we arrived at the game, we saw a bunch of fans shuffling in with signs reading "Bob is #1!" and things of that sort. Most of the people were young Taiwanese children, who we assumed were Bob's students. All game long they were giving Bob love. After the game, a victorius Bob stepped off the ice and was mobbed by his adoring fans/students. It was cute as hell, and became a goal of mine for my tenure in Taiwan. Let's go Bob!


Tonight the Raptors are playing the Wolves in the game 3 rubber-match of the finals for all the marbles. I think I'm going to the game to support my boys tonight. Go Raptors!

(more pics from the game(s) soon on my Picasa page)

**Update** The Hsinchu Raptors are the 2008-2009 CIHL Champions after taking it to the Taipei Wolves, beating them by a score of 7-4

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Kansas City Islanders

They should stop serving alcohol in venues where the team hasn't won 20 games by the All-Star break.

Being a Devils fan from Long Island, I was more than inclined to go the see them play at the Coliseum last weekend. It was a short drive, and I wanted to see my Jersey boys get some confidence going into the home stretch of the season.

About midway through the 2nd period, the Devils were already down 2-0, and I was growing tired of hearing the 1 die-hard Islander fan in section 229 shout "LETS GO ISLANDERS" more often than Danis was making saves. My attention was drawn to the row behind me, about 4 seats to my right, where a group of 5 kids sat making asinine comments. There was one Devils fan, saving face for the group. I noticed there was an exchange of words between him and a man sitting 2 rows in front of me, maybe 2 seats to my right.

"You want me to come up there?" The man yelled up 3 rows to the pre-pubescent Devils fan.
"You can't do anything." "You don't think I'm gonna do anything??" "You can't do anything."

Let's face it: the kid was right. The guy can't do anything to a kid. Or so we thought.

The man jumped out of his seat and climbed over the 3 empty rows (we were at an Islanders game, after all) that separated them, now standing in my row within arms reach of me.

"You don't think I'm gonna do anything??" He yelled once more, this time inches from the child's petrified face. Scared as he may have been, the kid held his ground.

"No." After being doubted one time too many, the man did something. He spat into the kids face. A nasty, beer-filled loogey. The young boy flinched, and looked like he might cry. Instead, he returned the favor and sent a loogey right into the angered Islanders fan's face.

The man didn't like that. He swung and struck the kid. I moved to get up, but paused momentarily to see if this was for real. It was. He lifted the kid out of his seat and threw him on the ground in my row, his head was about a foot in front of me. Then there was a series of events that resembled Semin on top of Staal, minus the open hands and plus the fists of Cam Janssen and the size difference between Chara and St. Louis.

Not because he was wearing a Parise jersey, but because I'm a good person, I rushed to try to remove the grown man pummeling a small child. I tried to pull the boy out and push the man off at the same time, and I caught a punch right where my helmet should have been. Without thinking, I punched the guy in the side of the head and grabbed the kid by the armpits in an effort to yank him to safety. After only a few inches of progress, a security guard lifted me and placed me aside where he took care of the rest, taking people away.

The man hopefully is in jail for at least the night. The boy, however, being the true Devils fan that he is, made it back in time for the 3rd period.

As if the Islanders don't have enough to be ashamed about this year already...

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