Well, this was a first for some Newcomers; a visit to the Altrincham ice-rink to see an icehockey game. The event was a battle between the Manchester Phoenix team and the Hull Stingrays. Dian and Scott Woolcock tried to explain the basic rules to us rookies but at the speed this game moves, it isn't easy to try and catch why the referee was giving penalties etc. In general though, we could understand why a player was being sent off.... The place reverberated when a knot of players would catapult full speed into a corner but surprisingly, they all seemed to extricate themselves unscathed!
The game moved at an even pace; although the Stingrays started off with two goals in their favour, Phoenix caught up and that is how it went on, all throughout the three, twenty minute, periods. Which meant that extra time had to be added and after that, a penalty shoot out. In the end and much to the disappointment of the home team, the Stingrays managed to come out with a victory, scoring 6 goals to the 5 goals of the Phoenix team.
We were surprised that the game wasn't better attended because we enjoyed every minute of it. I still don't understand how they can skate backwards almost as fast as they go forwards and hope to see more games, so I can get better acquainted with this fascinating game!
The game moved at an even pace; although the Stingrays started off with two goals in their favour, Phoenix caught up and that is how it went on, all throughout the three, twenty minute, periods. Which meant that extra time had to be added and after that, a penalty shoot out. In the end and much to the disappointment of the home team, the Stingrays managed to come out with a victory, scoring 6 goals to the 5 goals of the Phoenix team.
We were surprised that the game wasn't better attended because we enjoyed every minute of it. I still don't understand how they can skate backwards almost as fast as they go forwards and hope to see more games, so I can get better acquainted with this fascinating game!
