Team Guildford

Suffering from a bout of Canada-sickness this week, I decided I would try to make myself feel "at home" by attending a hockey game with a friend who's also lived in Vancouver. BC Place, Guildford Spectrum - same difference, right? We'd hardly know...

The national anthem was the first confusing bit. My friend and I jumped to our feet and enthusiastically broke into O Canada... only to notice a moment later that all around us people were shuffling and looking bored while God Save the Queen played over the tannoy. That's right, nearly forgotten: we were in Guildford.

Once the game started I have to admit that my first thought was: why are they playing in slow motion? Despite the rink being bigger than an NHL rink, there was an unquestionably leisurely air. It soon became clear that the other team were hopelessly outmatched. In fact, when the Guildford Flames scored 7 times in the first 10 minutes I have to admit that the nail biting element was a bit lost, and I even bored a little of cheering (forgive me – I am a Scottish so not used to seeing my team score, I was a bit perturbed and confused.) To be fair, I don’t know an awful lot about hockey, but they didn’t seem terribly keen on passing to one another. Or doing anything other than merrily chasing our team back up towards their goal, come to that. I even saw one of them get the giggles after our team’s 9th goal, which I thought was very sportsmanship like, if not terribly competitive. Perhaps it is the taking part that counts?

There was a disappointing lack of violence on ice: one or two half hearted shoves but it almost seemed as though they didn’t want to hurt one another. I began to wonder whether it was a cultural thing – as Brits, we rid ourselves of any pent up aggression on a regular basis (a good old elbow to the ribs of a commuter on the tube of a morning does wonders for the soul) that perhaps there is nothing left for the ice? Whereas Canadians spend their days being so lovely and nice that that great human emotion, hostility, has to come out somewhere (of course British Columbians do get it out a bit behind the wheel of a car) and so explodes – in both fans and players – as soon as a hockey game starts. In fact the main bit of action came when my friend and I accidentally stood in front of a couple of season ticket holders and Mrs. Season Ticket Holder brayed loudly to anyone who would listen (but not directly to us because that would have been rude) “I’ll ‘ave them moved on, don’t worry everyone, I’m ‘aving them moved on.” Used to Canadians who are straightforward if terribly pleasant about it, it took us a good minute or two to figure out that she was talking about us and actually move. One kid in the stands started up a chant of "Guildford, Guildford" and was shushed by the adults he was sitting with. It was altogether so very British.

So in the end: Fun Night Out:1, Helping Canada-Sickness: 0. I'll be hitting The Maple Leaf in Covent Garden this week... I'll let you know how it goes.