On Thursday, Ryan took me to my first ever hockey game!  Of course, we went to see the Blues play at the Scottrade Center. We had time to walk around the arena for a bit and see the sights, including the team store and the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame:

We had what I thought were good seats in the upper bowl (they were even padded!):

We also got to see the pre-game skate:

And had plenty of time to take in the sights of the arena itself:

We saw the St. Louis Blues play the Calgary Flames (which meant we got to hear the Canadian National Anthem sung, as well…beautiful!).

It wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be. I’ve been in ice rinks before, but never with a crowd, so I guess that helped warm the place up. Even though there were some people wearing coats, gloves, hats, and scarves, I was perfectly comfortable without any outerwear.

Hockey is a very different experience from going to a baseball game! The crowd was a bit…feisty. At one point, the started chanting “Ref you suck!” which I wasn’t a big fan of. The people sitting directly around us, however, were very friendly (and funny!), and made the game experience a whole lot of fun. One of those people, by the way, was the Towel Man…I can’t figure out why the seats next to him aren’t held by season ticket owners, but I very glad we got to sit next to him! And, he gave me an actual Towel Man towel at the end of the game! That really made it the perfect first hockey game!

We saw Towel Man do his thing three times…pretty exciting!

We also got to see two fights, which I guess is a good thing? I’m pretty sure we won this one!

In some ways, it was easier to understand the game, seeing it all happen in front of me, and in some ways, it was more difficult (I was completely unaware of line changes before Thursday!). I asked Ryan a lot of (stupid) questions, and I think I might understand things a little bit better now.

I do love their mascot–a blue polar bear named Louie. He’s cute!

And I also love zambonis.  It’s interesting to watch two of them resurface the ice together…it’s kind of like a dance!

Did I mention that the Blues won?

It was a very fun evening…I can’t wait to go back someday!