A couple of weeks ago, we had just gotten home from picking me up at work when I got a call from the kids' Nana. Turns out Holly's sister's friend J had some spare tickets to the hockey game against Columbus and she was wondering if I might be able to use them. It was already just about 7 and, regardless of whether puck drop was at 7 or 7:30, I was going to miss part of the game. But...the tickets were free so we thought, why not bring Max? It was only a couple of days after we went for Max's follow-up H1N1 shot so he was all amped up on Zambonis again. Seemed like a good idea, aside from perhaps the whole blown bedtime thing.
When Auntie L stopped by with the goods and Max found out what was going on, he got really excited. He's only now starting to show serious anticipation for a select few events - now that his memory is working fairly well, if it's something he has a concept of and enjoyed it the first time around, he'll get really revved up. Super funny. We both got our jerseys on (Max got his Sens jersey from super fan J for his birthday) and hit the road.
The game had already started by the time we reached the freeway so there was no traffic. Awesome! We listened to the game on the way there and I carefully explained to Max that sometimes people at hockey games make a lot of noise and that it was only because they were really happy and that we'd probably want to make some noise too.
When we got there, we had to park way off in the distance because everyone else was already inside. By the time we hiked to the arena, the 1st period was drawing to a close and people were filing out onto the concourse. We made it to "our seats" just in time for the Zambonis so Max had a blast. Then we got kicked out of those seats by a very displeased couple who looked at us like we were poaching seats...thanks a lot to the people around us who knew darn well that a) they weren't our seats and b) the owners were coming back and neglected to clue me in. It turned out we were at the wrong end of the row so no big deal.
We took our real seats as the Senators hit the ice. When I explained to Max that he was wearing the same shirt as the players, he was really confused. It was about then that I noticed that the score was 1-1...great, we missed a couple of goals on the way from the car. Oh well, at least there should be some scoring.
I figured he'd be good for 10-15 minutes or so, but the barrage of noise, people, home-packed snacks and things to look at kept him stunned for well over half an hour and it was only at the 17 minute mark of the period when he started to squirm. We chilled until the horn and then we got up to leave.
I figured that, while we were out there, that Max could check out the concourse. When he saw one of the vendors selling popcorn, he went bonkers and I had to figure out what to do. It was already an hour past his bedtime so I checked with him - Max said he wanted to see more hockey players and, not knowing when we'd be at a Sens game again, I got the popcorn and made it back to our seats in time to see the Zambonis again (they swept the ice 2 at a time and Max's favourite was the orange Pizza Pizza one).
After about 10 more minutes of the 3rd, I pulled the ripcord, wanting to beat the traffic with Sleepy Sleeperson in tow. He want to walk up the aisle stairs so I let him. All of the fans watching gave him a round of applause when he got to the top and he did a dance. That's my boy. We visited the pro shop on the way out to offer Max the chance to chill with a cardboard cutout of Spartacat, the Sens' mascot (Max caught a glimpse of him during the game). Check the video below to see how that went.
I got back on the road with no problem (although the third and final goal, scored by the home team, came while we were trekking back to the van) and Max passed out in minutes. His special treat for the night was getting to sleep in his clothes - he was not interested in jammies and when we double-checked at home, he said "no thank you". While we're not necessarily sold on the idea of Max playing hockey, we're fascinated by his obsession with it. We'll keep you posted when he heads to his first 67s game!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Auntie Laramie and J! You made Max's day!
P.S. A big happy birthday today to our Leaf-loving aunt out on Vancouver Island. Doesn't look like this will be the Leafs' year...but I still hope it is a good one for Auntie J!
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