Russian Hockey Game

15.10 For church today, the International Branch was broadcasting General Conference. It would have been a worth-while experience to go, but we knew we could just watch General Conference online on our own time. Plus, Shelley is a huge hockey fan and her star player, Ovechkin, was playing that night in Moscow. Ovechkin usually plays for Capital in Washington D.C., Shelley’s favorite team as she’s from Virginia, but Capital is on lockdown due to administrative issues so Ovechkin transferred to his home team, Dynamo, in Moscow, for the season. The only other days Dynamo has games are on weekdays when we teach, so we decided to be sinners and go the Sunday evening game. Vlad accompanied us. After waiting in traffic on the bus for an hour and then being ushered past dozens of uniformed policemen (Russian policemen are the most intense, intimidating people I’ve ever encountered), and passing the 1982 Olympic Torch, we finally made it to the hockey arena. After buy lunch, we settled in our seats, which we on the top middle with a perfect view of the rink. The only other hockey game I’ve ever seen was a Paralympic game in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Hockey, like in Canada, is a huge thing, and Dynamo is one of the leading Russian teams, so it was a rather exciting game. The crowd was enthralled by the game and ever time Dynamo scored, the stands went wild with cheers, high fives, and spontaneous face battles between couples. There were special seats for the high-paying attendees, and every time Dynamo scored they would stand up and shake each other’s hands—they were too cool for high fives. I was warned that fights usually break out at hockey games, but nothing of the sort happened at this game. Dynamo won 4-1. Afterward, we obliged Shelley’s dreams by waiting in line to meet the players. We saw a few random players (of course, I haven’t the foggiest as to who they were exactly) but after waiting for about a half hour, we learned that Ovechkin had left through a different door. Shelley was heartbroken but at least we tried! As I purchased a team scarf at the futbol game we attended a few weeks ago, I bought a Dynamo scarf to continue the tradition. Russia has made me so sporty! Although it didn’t feel much like a Sunday, it was a great experience and a must for living in Moscow. I can check that off my list now! I'll try to be better about keeping you updated. Mid-semester visits by my boss are next week--I can't believe it's already been halfway! Time has gone by so fast.