31-10-2007
Taking time off from his pursuit of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, Brummie sports nut Damien Doran checks out the local "hockey" team, the Bruins.
As a rule Hollywood sports movies should be avoided at all costs. The one exception is the 1970s comedy ice hockey film 'Slap Shot' starring Paul Newman. It's the story of a soon to be extinct minor league team in a run down working class town.
Newman is the player coach who is horrified when he has to take on the Hanson triplets as new players. Geeky looking, bespectacled, with, long blond hair these kids shock the entire team when they take to the ice and lay into the opposition with fists and sticks. The crowd love them, they win the game and with the team adopting the same rough house tactics go on to win the league amid blood and mayhem.
I always thought the ice hockey scenes in the film were gritty enough but the fighting and violence hilariously over the top and slap stick. That was until I attended my first NHL Hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers.
There's a lot of bad blood between the teams, apparently, dating back to the 1970's when they were both good and won things. The big screen monitors prepare the fans for what's to come by showing action from old games between the sides. It involves fights, players crunching each other against the wall, blood pouring from wounds and a couple of goals.
When play starts I am amazed at the speed and skill involved but it only lasts four minutes before two players are squaring up to each other, twirling their bare fists in 'come on' mode, having chucked their gloves and sticks away. The four refs skate over to the players, not to stop the impending brawl but they just circle round like kids in a playground, I expected to hear them chant 'fight fight'.
The players grab each others shirts with one hand and punch each other repeatedly in the head with the other. It goes on and on and on making the Norman Hunter - Frannie Lee bust up look like a minor disagreement at a garden party.
When the refs think they've had enough, or more likely the fans have got their money's worth, they send the players off to the sin bin where they receive ice packs for their face and hands. The Boston player punches his fist to all sides of the ground and leaves to a standing ovation.
Its not long before another pair are at it and I'm begining to think its like WWE Wrestling as a mass brawl ensues when 22 year old local hero Patrice Bergeron is hit from behind by the Flyers' Randy Jones and smashes into the screen surrounding the ice. However, it doesnt take long to stop when the players notice Bergeron is flat out on his back and hasn't moved.
Such is the concern it takes almost 15 minutes for the medics to treat the motionless Bergeron and stretcher him off in a neck brace. Miraculously he was 'only' knocked out cold with a broken nose and detained in hospital for two days.
The last sportsman I saw carried off in a similar manner was Milan's Dida when tapped by a fan at Celtic Park - you want to try ice hockey mate!
The game is played at Boston's TD Northbank Stadium which is a souless concrete block that also houses a railway station and underground. Its the kind of place U2 will play for 5 nights on their US tour. It replaced the much loved Boston Garden, previously the home for the Bruins championship wins and the glory years of the famous Boston Celtics basketball team.
Prices vary from my cheapest of the cheap seats at $10 (a little over £5) up to around $100. A family of four can get good seats for a total cost of $60 (just over £30). There's a good crowd, but its not full. With the fans decked out in their Gold and Black it reminds me of watching the Wolves, particularly as they go on to lose 2-1.
We may think football kick off times are difficult to keep up with but the Bruins game is switched from an evening to afternoon start at just over 24 hours notice. This is for TV, but more importantly to avoid clashing with Game 3 of the World Series. A paltry crowd had turned up two days before when the Red Sox played at the same time.
Ice Hockey is very much the poor relation in American sports, probably because the Canadians are so good at it and not too many successful family entertainments advertise themselves on gratuitous violence. The Bruins are probably Boston's third team (behind the Redsox and Celtics), they face a fruitless grinding season with lots of abuse and ridicule. Hey, you've just got to warm to them.
Ever seen Ice Hockey in the States?
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