Knuckle Chucker
04-11-2005, 02:01 PM
We had a good time on the Raider fan bus despite the 2 losses. Our bus broke down so we sat on the highway (45 min out of MH) for 3 hours. We arrived at the Arena 5 min before game time. It was only fitting that the Raiders played their worst game of the playoffs. It was a typical game between a team with a long layover vs a team fresh off of a hard fought series.
Game 2 was a different story. For the most part, the Raiders played a strong game. They had the hard forecheck going they were hitting everything in sight. They did everything but score. Again a typical hockey thing: the Raiders press and carry the play for 3/4 of the first period but don't score. MH comes down at the end of the period and scores.
Some random thoughts on Medicine Hat:
-what a great looking city. I thought Red Deer was nice but MH is nicer IMO.
- I got a taste of why the franchise is the tops in the league. The fan base is beyond excellent. The atmosphere in the building is nuts. The fans start chants on their own all the time. Of the 4000+ fans there at least 1000 of them had Tiger jerseys on.
- Speaking of Tiger Jerseys....they sell them (and other Tiger stuff) in The Bay, Zellers and Sears. It would be great if that could happen in PA.
- Speaking of Tiger jersey's....wow do women look hot in black and orange many of the men on the bus made that observation.
- I was shocked at how the fans get on Barker's case. Many don't like him. Grumpy did a good job explaining why.
- I looked for you Grumpy but I didn't see your Jersey. Where do you sit?? We were in sec. 22 the first game and sec. 1 the 2nd game.
- They only have 400 tickets per game and they are all over the rink so as a result the Raider fans were all over the rink. I think we did a good job in spite of this of letting the boys hear us when they scored. One guy had his air horn taken away in game 2. I guess you can't use them there.
- The fans are cocky but friendly. For game 2 our whole row adjusted so my son (11 yrs old) could sit by me. After the game some frendly but cocky female fans offered to come on the bus to cheer us up. We were willing to give them a free trip to PA for game 3 but they backed out :D
- Man do they know how to get on a ref. The chant of "we want a ref" in game 2 was LOUD and the ref made some make-up calls as a result.
- The Raiders deserved to win game 2 but the hockey gods were not with us. However I still think we will make a series of it.
Game 2 was a different story. For the most part, the Raiders played a strong game. They had the hard forecheck going they were hitting everything in sight. They did everything but score. Again a typical hockey thing: the Raiders press and carry the play for 3/4 of the first period but don't score. MH comes down at the end of the period and scores.
Some random thoughts on Medicine Hat:
-what a great looking city. I thought Red Deer was nice but MH is nicer IMO.
- I got a taste of why the franchise is the tops in the league. The fan base is beyond excellent. The atmosphere in the building is nuts. The fans start chants on their own all the time. Of the 4000+ fans there at least 1000 of them had Tiger jerseys on.
- Speaking of Tiger Jerseys....they sell them (and other Tiger stuff) in The Bay, Zellers and Sears. It would be great if that could happen in PA.
- Speaking of Tiger jersey's....wow do women look hot in black and orange many of the men on the bus made that observation.
- I was shocked at how the fans get on Barker's case. Many don't like him. Grumpy did a good job explaining why.
- I looked for you Grumpy but I didn't see your Jersey. Where do you sit?? We were in sec. 22 the first game and sec. 1 the 2nd game.
- They only have 400 tickets per game and they are all over the rink so as a result the Raider fans were all over the rink. I think we did a good job in spite of this of letting the boys hear us when they scored. One guy had his air horn taken away in game 2. I guess you can't use them there.
- The fans are cocky but friendly. For game 2 our whole row adjusted so my son (11 yrs old) could sit by me. After the game some frendly but cocky female fans offered to come on the bus to cheer us up. We were willing to give them a free trip to PA for game 3 but they backed out :D
- Man do they know how to get on a ref. The chant of "we want a ref" in game 2 was LOUD and the ref made some make-up calls as a result.
- The Raiders deserved to win game 2 but the hockey gods were not with us. However I still think we will make a series of it.