My First Korean Hockey Game!

Hey all,

In the last blog post I mentioned a possible, if not legendary, tour of the famous public restrooms of Suwon, my city. Unfortunately the 2010 Suwon Toilet Crawl was postponed due to incliment weather and will take place sometime in the hopefully near future. But, alas, the weekend was not lost! On Friday night, Dave and I went to a small concert in Hongdae, where one of the bands featured a friend of his that also went to Wisconsin, although he's a few years older than us. And, as is evident from the title of this post, I went to my first Korean hockey game on Saturday afternooon. The game was made more enjoyable because it was a playoff game, Game 2 of a best-of-5 series between Anyang Halla (the team we were rooting for) and Chuncheon High (their hated rivals). The arena was in Anyang, about 20 minutes from Suwon by metro (so relatively close). I estimated there were close to 7,000 people in the stands and I would guess roughly 10% were foreigners (maybe a little less). Regardless, the game was a lot of fun and definitely a unique experience and one that I would like to repeat in the future. The skill level of the game was equivalent to good high school hockey in Minnesota or juniors (think USHL/OHL/QJMHL). Each team was made up of mostly Koreans, maybe one or two Japanese players, and a few foreigners (mostly Canadian). There was a lot of excitement in the stands and it was kind of a cool challenge to learn all the different Halla cheers. It reminded me a lot of going to Badger hockey games in Madison (my favorite sport to watch), which are one thing I've really missed since graduation. The atmosphere at the Kohl Center during Badger hockey games (and basketball, but we'll keep this hockey-centric) was electric from the drop of the puck to the last whistle and every student fan was definitely dedicated to the team. The Halla also have a very loyal and dedicated group of followers and it was a thrill to experience their passion for the team, side by side. I even tried to encorporate some cheers from the Badger hockey games throughout the course of the game, but none of them really caught on.

In other news, my school schedule is back on track and I'm definitely feeling it this week. I'm much more tired at the end of the day, but that's fine because I've had it pretty easy the last 2 + months. Once I get back into my routine I should be fine. It's also been nice, because the badminton after school has started up once again, so I can continue to work on my Twinkle Toes. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be half decent. Right now it's more of a nice workout for me, being run all over the court. Oh, and if anyone was wondering whether Bracket Fever has hit here in Korea, the answer is it certainly has. We have a nice little pool going for our Wisconsin group, hopefully my luck will change. The past few years haven't been kind to me or my bracket, which is probably why I've been agonizing over my current one the past few days. Well, that's all from here, I'll check back in after the weekend. On Saturday there is a pretty decent size St. Patty's Day celebration in Seoul that should be fun and hopefully the weather will cooperate; today we got some wet snow for most of the afternoon.

iPod A-Z song update: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys

Link of the week (It's a classic): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZWxErEbQkY