Written by Bob
For the last couple of months, I’ve wanted to take Matt to a Worcester Sharks minor league hockey game. He’s already attended a Worcester Tornadoes baseball game, a Providence Friars basketball game, and multiple New England Patriots practices, so a hockey game would complete the big four sports. With only two games left in the season, I happened to receive a “buy one get one ticket free” coupon for last Friday’s game, so I figured we’d check it out!
When we pulled into the parking garage, I didn’t have any cash as I assumed we’d be paying for parking on the way out, but I was wrong. I had to park in a handicap spot and we quickly ran across the street to the convenience store ATM to get cash. After that brief distraction, we walked over to the arena.
The first thing Matt noticed was the giant shark mascot named Finz. As I finished paying for our tickets, he ran over to see him but just at that moment, Finz was whisked away by security to head down to the ice for the start of the game, ruining our chance for a good photo opportunity. Matt didn’t take this diss personally, and later told me that Finz was his best friend and would be coming to his birthday party.
A visit to the souvenir stand resulted in another bobblehead being added to Matt’s collection. The bobblehead was of a player named Thomas, which Matt got a kick out, thinking I meant Thomas the Train. “No Dada, that’s not a Thomas bobblehead. I want a Percy bobblehead!”
After getting hot dogs, french fries, and pretzels, we finally made it to our seats for the start of the game. About 10 minutes in, Matt had finished all his food and decided he wanted M&M’s. Later, we would also have Reese’s Pieces and nachos. Although we got two tickets for the bargain price of $17, we more than made up for it with $50 in food!
During the first intermission, Matt was mesmerized by the zambonis, or “street sweepers” as he called them. They also flew around a remote control plane, dropping coupons to the crowd. I’m pretty sure intermission was Matt’s favorite part of the night.
During the second period, when the crowd was cheering, I told Matt he was allowed to yell as loud as he wanted at the game and didn’t have to use his inside voice. So, he stood up and at the top of his lungs shouted “When are the street sweepers coming back?!?”
For the last couple of months, I’ve wanted to take Matt to a Worcester Sharks minor league hockey game. He’s already attended a Worcester Tornadoes baseball game, a Providence Friars basketball game, and multiple New England Patriots practices, so a hockey game would complete the big four sports. With only two games left in the season, I happened to receive a “buy one get one ticket free” coupon for last Friday’s game, so I figured we’d check it out!
When we pulled into the parking garage, I didn’t have any cash as I assumed we’d be paying for parking on the way out, but I was wrong. I had to park in a handicap spot and we quickly ran across the street to the convenience store ATM to get cash. After that brief distraction, we walked over to the arena.
The first thing Matt noticed was the giant shark mascot named Finz. As I finished paying for our tickets, he ran over to see him but just at that moment, Finz was whisked away by security to head down to the ice for the start of the game, ruining our chance for a good photo opportunity. Matt didn’t take this diss personally, and later told me that Finz was his best friend and would be coming to his birthday party.
A visit to the souvenir stand resulted in another bobblehead being added to Matt’s collection. The bobblehead was of a player named Thomas, which Matt got a kick out, thinking I meant Thomas the Train. “No Dada, that’s not a Thomas bobblehead. I want a Percy bobblehead!”
After getting hot dogs, french fries, and pretzels, we finally made it to our seats for the start of the game. About 10 minutes in, Matt had finished all his food and decided he wanted M&M’s. Later, we would also have Reese’s Pieces and nachos. Although we got two tickets for the bargain price of $17, we more than made up for it with $50 in food!
During the first intermission, Matt was mesmerized by the zambonis, or “street sweepers” as he called them. They also flew around a remote control plane, dropping coupons to the crowd. I’m pretty sure intermission was Matt’s favorite part of the night.
During the second period, when the crowd was cheering, I told Matt he was allowed to yell as loud as he wanted at the game and didn’t have to use his inside voice. So, he stood up and at the top of his lungs shouted “When are the street sweepers coming back?!?”
Matt ended up making it to about halfway through the third period before he started to fade and we decided to go home. On the way out, he took a try at shooting hockey pucks in the lobby, but he swung the hockey stick high off the ground like his t-ball bat, and probably would have decapitated someone if we weren’t the only ones around.
When we got home, Matt wanted to stay up to tell Mom about his fun night when she got home from work at 10:30. “What did you guys do tonight?” she asked him, as I had only told her that I had planned a special father/son bonding event but didn’t provide details.
“There was a broken red light and Dada said to fix it,” Matt said, referring to a non-functioning crosswalk light we had encountered on our walk back to the parking garage. She kept asking what we did tonight and if he had fun, but he kept obsessing over the broken traffic light.
Although his favorite memories of his first hockey game involve zambonis/street sweepers and broken traffic lights, it was still an awesome night!
“There was a broken red light and Dada said to fix it,” Matt said, referring to a non-functioning crosswalk light we had encountered on our walk back to the parking garage. She kept asking what we did tonight and if he had fun, but he kept obsessing over the broken traffic light.
Although his favorite memories of his first hockey game involve zambonis/street sweepers and broken traffic lights, it was still an awesome night!
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