Les Hannah, day 33, part final

Following the soccer match, which by the way they always call football here for obvious reasons, we  went right next door to the hockey game. Esbjerg was playing Frederickshavn, which is where the ship I took from Oslo back to Denmark docked. Frederickshavn is a port city in the far northeast of Denmark. This game was exciting. I was close to the ice, close to the action. I recognized some of the students, and they recognized me too, waved and said “Hi.” Hi, just like we say it in the US is a standard greeting here, and then “HiHi” is a typical parting phrase. Once for hello, twice for goodbye. Anyway, this game was exciting; the first period was a 0-0 draw, but mid-way through the second period Esbjerg scored. The crowd of over 1200 roared and sang a song as the PA announcer led them. However, the game turned a bit when early in the third and final regulation period Frederickshavn scored to tie the game. Regulation time ended in the draw, so they went to sudden victory (what we call sudden death in the States, is that an indictment?).Well, the sudden victory period ended scoreless, so the game was still a tie. Shootout time. If you know hockey then please pardon this redundancy, if not I hope I describe this well enough for you to follow. A shootout is a one-on-one contest between the goalie and an attacker, or offensive player. The attacker shoots and scores, it counts as a goal for his team. Should the goalie stop the score, well they move onto the next attacker. In this game each team had five attackers. Frederisckhavn scored two in the shootout and Esbjerg only one; Frederickshavn won 3-2. Damn! But it was a really good game.

You know what I saw; more like what I didn’t see? Fights! There was not one fight. Not like, “I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out.” These players played the game, no fights. That was actually refreshing to see a hockey GAME, not a fight with skating. Sure, they got a little testy a few times; after all, it is a very physical game, but no one fought and in the end all shook hands or even gave each other a quick hug. I saw good sportsmanship on both the soccer field and the ice tonight.

Following the hockey game I made my way back to the flat in quick time. The sports complex is just behind the school, and that is less than two kilometers away. I went to bed quickly – because I was cold and these Danish blankets are thick and very warm. Slept well; another day in the books.