March 01, 2015

Ice hockey in Uppsala

I just got home from my first ever ice hockey game, and I enjoyed so much I needed to write this post right away.

So we went to the ice rink (Gränby Ishall or Gränbyhallen) where I skate (I'm doing some basic ice skating there), and we witnessed this awesome sport (I had only watched it once before, from a TV!). Where I come from, we only have roller hockey or field hockey (no ice, remember?), and they are both quite important and interesting disciplines, but ice hockey is a lot more fun to watch! For starters, the speeeeeeeeed! And the fights!!!

Just as a heads up, and from what I have learned during the game, ice hockey games generally consist of three periods of twenty minutes each, the clock running only when the puck is in play. The teams change ends for the second period, again for the third period, and again at the start of each overtime that is played. I cannot say anything about the rules because it was IMPOSSIBLE to see and learn anything but, in general, all infractions of the rules lead to game stoppages, and the game is then restarted with a crazy face off. Want to know more? Let's go to Wikipedia...

Well, so the game faced Almtuna IS (from Uppsala) against Rögle BK (from Ängelholm), and it was the last game of the season (I think) from the second highest league of ice hockey in Sweden (HockeyAllsvenskan). BTW, the final result was 5-3 (2-0/0-3/3-0) for Almtuna and all goals were scored on our side/end of the rink! =D


And my particular coverage of the event...




Yeah, we were standing, not sitting, in the short end of the rink, behind the net, and yeah, my eyes got crazy at the beginning, but they got used to it.

In case someone is wondering, and also for me too, here you have the links to the websites of the two first leagues of ice hockey in Sweden (Svenska hockeyligan and HockeyAllsvenskan), where you can find the next games, tables, etc., and some more information about the Swedish Hockey League, its structure, playoffs, etc. I don't know if I'm forgetting anything...

Meh, maybe I've discovered this too late, but... better late than never!

Have fun!

Nat

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