March « 2009 « Psycho Lady Hockey

March, 2009

Friday, March 13th, 2009

Game Day #2 – Coyotes @ Bruins: Boston II (Day 4)

The following events took place on March 5th, 2009

I woke up Thursday morning determined to find out what this Arizona business was all about! I went gallivanting around Boston, and finally the Coyotes started to appear from the abyss. They are kind of hard to miss! They have the most hideous track suits I’ve ever seen! Of course, I had no idea who any of them were, but the beauty of it was that they didn’t know me either!

It was a beautiful day in Boston; it was hard to believe that just four days earlier there was a brutal snow storm. All the snow had melted and you could walk around outside without freezing your ass off! Since everything happened so suddenly, I had to get my tickets last minute! I was forced to buy a pair! I hate doing that because then I can only sell the extra for $20! (I don’t have the nerve to try to scalp my own tickets!)

Unfortunately, I failed to find any type of clue or sign in Boston. I think I was expecting some type of lightning bolt to show me the way. However, what I did discover was how amusing it is to watch a team wherein the coach is the Prime Madonna and the players not so much. Gretzky apparently only comes out of the locker room 10 seconds or so before every period starts to avoid swarming. Apparently, the glass isn’t a reliable shield? It was kind of nice that he would sign autographs in the dressing room during the intermissions…BUT… the team is struggling…you’d think he should be doing other things in that time… There, I said it, now I don’t have to say it again.

My entire row at TD BankNorth Garden was filled with Canadians. The people on either side of me were from New Brunswick! That was kind of nice. For the Flyers game (two days before) I met a lot of people from Montreal! We Canadians love our hockey road trips! The Coyotes won the game as well, which would prove to be the only game of their entire road trip that didn’t end in defeat! SAD! It was so weird to look down at the bench and see that the uniforms had finally changed! I’d been picturing it for so long, it was like I finally got to a place I never really thought I’d get to.

After the game, I went back to the hotel to pack. My flight was at 7AM, so I had to be up at 4! But of course, my road trip insomnia prevented me from sleeping until 2AM, which would result in hideousness the next day. I was flying back into Buffalo where my Lupie (car) was patiently waiting for his mommy. The Coyotes were in Buffalo that day, so naturally I planned an unexpected stop off at HSBC Arena.

Posted in Boston, female hockey fans, hockey fans, Phoenix Coyotes, psychics, road trips | No Comments »

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

The stars align: NHL Trade Deadline 2009: Boston II (Day 3)

The following events took place on March 4th, 2009

Warning: belief in the occult required for reading the following entry. Turn back now all good God fearing Christians!

For a year and a half every psychic and clairvoyant I have corresponded with has told me the same thing – my future and my love are in Arizona. So, naturally being a hockey addict, I knew the only thing that would bring me to Arizona was hockey. But why would I (or anyone ahem) just become a Phoenix fan?! I was having the best time in Philly, but I knew that there could be one trade to PHX that would peak my interest enough to lead me to the West.

All the Arizona “signs” started rushing at me with increased regularity over the past three months. Whenever I went to a Flyers game, Arizona was in the cards (I tend to have readings done before I travel – superstition). Some of my regulars (if I have any), might recall that two months ago my poll question was asking if I should stick with Philly or redirect my flight to Phoenix, and that I discuss being uncertain of my future with Philadelphia. Also, during one of my Reiki classes in January, I was receiving a treatment from one of the fellow students when the headline for the trade flashed through my mind. I remember thinking this was funny because even in a deep state of relaxation I still had hockey on the brain. Anyway, I began to fear the trade was imminent, and in my panic had looked up the Phoenix schedule to see what I could pull off if it did go down. Finally, I just accepted it. My Myspace status was “Katrina is ready for Phoenix” back in December and January. I was actually a little excited – Phoenix is hot!

This was my reading from the Saturday before I left for Boston:

Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:33:23
Reader: Now is a time to protect yourself. [Re: Day 1 entry]. A man from across the water is coming. He will vie with another for your attention and win. Again I see an Arizona connection for you- You will be inspired by this attention and you will radiate with confidence. You will need to adapt somewhat to all the travel.

Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:01:44
Katrina: there are lots of Arizona connections lately. I’m not exactly sure what they mean, but they all surround Philadelphia.

I remember worrying on my way to Boston that the trade would happen just before the Flyers game the next day, but it didn’t. And for some reason, I didn’t feel relieved.

The following day, I left for the airport at noon. My flight was at 7:30PM that night, but I just wanted to get out of Boston. I tried to have my flight moved up, but they were going to charge me more than what I already paid for the flight, so I just decided to stay and do some more studying.

After I finished reading one of my books, I was sitting there thinking that I guess I was lucky that the Phoenix trade didn’t happen, but that that would mean that it was likely to happen in the summer, and to be ready for that. At that exact moment my cell phone went off. My friend was reporting to me that a trade happened. I asked her where, but I already knew the answer. It felt like it took her a million years to respond. I remember thinking to myself, if the trade is to Phoenix, then you make the change, if it’s anywhere else, you stick with Philly. Finally, my phone went off, “Phx.” I jumped out of my seat. “Oh, fuck!” was all I could say. But I didn’t mean it in a “fuck that sucks” kind of way, I meant it in a, “no fucking way, I can’t believe this actually happened” kind of way.

I was overwhelmed for a few moments wondering what I was meant to do. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? How should I read this situation? I had no idea. I started pacing trying to sort all of it out. My friend messaged me again, “They play in Buffalo on Friday!” Suddenly, everything was familiar. I had looked up the schedule months before in anticipation of this moment, and I knew that there was a cluster of games close by, Buffalo being one of them. And so if the Buffalo game is in two days then that road trip must be going on at that moment. I logged onto the Coyotes website from the airport wi-fi, “Next game @ Boston.” The Boston game was scheduled for the next day. I was already in Boston. I couldn’t have asked for a more flawless transition.

In February I started getting really frustrated wondering if I was making a mistake. I thought maybe I should just switch to Phoenix on my own (I can easily research any team. Every team and every building has fans), but I decided against it. I didn’t want to leave behind Coach DILF, and the Flyers, and the craziest hockey fans I have ever seen. The people in Philadelphia are so great to me! So, I decided that if this prophesized trade came about then that would be a sure sign to get onto the right course. Besides, even if I had decided to switch teams that game in Boston would have been the first one I went to anyway! So, the end result would have been exactly the same.

I got on the phone and called up the hotel and asked them to hold a room for me. Then I cancelled my flight, and rebooked for Friday morning. Yes, that would be airline ticket #3 that I wasted on this trip! I ran for the exit, caught the first cab I could see, and asked them to take me downtown as fast as they could.

I didn’t know what I was running to, and it is still unclear. But after all the things that have been revealed to me, I have to at least try to find out what it all means. I’m not the most sane person, but I always say we all need a little crazy. Maybe I’m being led to something, maybe not. All I know is that I am young, and can still afford to be impulsive and adventurous and in many ways destructive. However, in the chance that my destiny really is in Arizona, then it will all be worth it, and I’m sure, looking back, my impulsive dash out of the Boston airport will be viewed as very Bridget Jones and romantic. The worst that can happen is that there is nothing there, and in that case I will always have the story, the legend to tell.

Life is always more exciting when there is a little magic in it.

Posted in female hockey fans, hockey fans, magic, NHL Trade Deadline, Phoenix Coyotes, psychics | No Comments »

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Game Day – Flyers @ Bruins: Boston II (Day 2)

The following events took place on March 3rd, 2009

I started the day off determined to make the most of it after the terrible day/night I had the day before. I was idealistic about being a good student, and I brought a stack of books down to the lobby to get through that day. I managed to get through two and a half despite being interrupted by the Flyers. I’d say that’s a win! The highlight for me was when Coach DILF said “hi” to me! Oh my!

My cabbie on the way to TD Banknorth Garden was a Russian, thus we were able to connect on a commonality in hockey. We were discussing the ’72 series, so it was interesting to listen to someone’s perspective from the “enemy camp.” He was hilarious, though he, like so many others, thought it was strange that I was traveling for hockey and didn’t have a boyfriend. He told me that I needed to date a hockey player. This seemed to be a common theme for the remainder of the trip. Some of the people I met at the game that night also felt that I was the perfect candidate to be a “significant other.” I’m not sure any hockey player would have me, though. I’d be the crazy wife that goes on the road undercover in wigs and dark sunglasses to make sure her husband isn’t doing his slutty stretching for the blonde sitting behind the bench in Buffalo!

Anyway, the good news was that my tickets were at the Will Call like the heinous bitch at Ticketmaster promised. So help me if they weren’t! Also, the Flyers won the game, and I had great Philly fans surrounding me on all sides. (P.S. I’m still waiting for those pictures!! psycholadyhockey@hotmail.com)

After the game, I felt like NOT studying. So, I went out drinking with someone I met when I was in town for the last Flyers game! Sangria, bourbon, chocolate beer, and cider don’t mix. I stumbled home quite late, and I think I finally hit the sheets around 4AM. I had to be up early. My plan was to get to the airport as early as possible and see if I could get my 7:30PM flight moved up. Little did I know, I wasn’t going anywhere that day.

Posted in Boston, Boston Bruins, female hockey fans, hockey, hockey fans, hockey games, Hockey Players, hockey wives, Philadelphia Flyers | No Comments »

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

The end is nigh: Boston II (Day 1)

The following events took place on March 2nd, 2009

Hockey related mishaps are at the top of the list of things that cause my blood to boil. Forget NASCAR! If you want to see some driving, then put me behind the wheel of a car ten minutes before warm up! This time around, my ticket for the Flyers/Bruins game got lost in the mail! Another lazy postman and/or neighbour incident. Once, my ticket didn’t show up for a game in Ottawa simply because the courier didn’t feel like delivering it. Luckily, I argued my way into the seats, but I couldn’t allow that postman to keep his job working on my street now could I? Apparently, the current postman is a piece of work, as are my neighbours (who have held onto our parcels for six months before delivering them).

Everything that could have gone wrong on my way to Boston on Monday did go wrong. Murphy’s Law. To start off the day I was fully searched at the border – twice! I was searched on misogynistic grounds that women A) can’t be sports fans, B) can’t be self-reliant, and C) can’t do things without a man. You can imagine how hard it was for me to hold my tongue and be pleasant while they attempted to find the drugs I had smuggled in the car. Apparently, I can’t have a life if I don’t have a boyfriend, that’s nice. Should I join a convent? P.S. US Border Security, nice job profiling. I’ve never even smoked a cigarette in my life! I had forgotten there were about seven or eight copies of my book in the trunk of the car. Yeah, women don’t understand/like sports, hmmm? A bunch of young border guys started coming in the room, and saying “hiiiiiiiii” with knowing, 15 year old, hard-on smiles – did you enjoy riffling through my panties?

Anyway, once I was released, I went on my way to the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. Upon arrival, I discovered that my flight was canceled, and that there was NO WAY that I was getting out that day. Another ticket agent said there was a later flight, but nothing was guaranteed to get out. I told her to put me on the flight, but as I went through security, I met a heinous bimbo with something up her ass. Apparently, she felt there were too many liquids/gels in my zip lock bag, even though it was the EXACT SAME grimy bag I used to go to Philly the week before, and Boston two weeks before that! I took that as a sign to get the fuck out of there. If by 3PM I was still in Buffalo, and my flight didn’t get out, I’d be very limited as to how I would get to Boston.

I went downstairs to the car rental place and Budget told me they had “trip cars.” (Cars you drive one-way and leave at another airport). By 11AM (my flight was supposed to leave at 11:40AM), I was in the new car, GPS in tow, and headed out on my way to Boston. I drove through a blizzard the whole fucking way. Mother Nature was being a bitch to me in more ways than one. I wondered at times if I was going to survive. I felt like I was going into battle against an army of thousands knowing completely that I would die. I had been warned at the airport not to go near Boston; that the blizzard they were having was really awful, but I knew I had to get there, and it had to be that night! I left all my music in my car in Buffalo, so all I had was the radio. That song, Living on the Edge by Aerosmith came on three times. Apparently, they were playing it in honour of the Boston blizzard.

I finally pulled off to get gas somewhere far East on the I-90. The number the ticket agent in Buffalo gave me to cancel my flight was wrong. I was pissed. No refund. I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything except an energy drink since 7PM the night before. I was fried, but I wasn’t hungry. I just had to get where I was going, and that was the focus. I drove the whole way with a crazed look in my eye, and my back was sore from being so tense. About fifty miles outside of Boston, the lack of sleep/food/excess hormones finally set in and I hit bottom. Dido’s White Flag came on the radio, and I knew that would do it. I kept thinking to myself, “Katrina, just hold on, you’re almost there!” But it was too late. Emotional breakdown #1.

I knew it was over. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been looking for a new team. Philly didn’t feel right anymore. After this harrowing experience, I knew that my Philly days were numbered, and that Tuesday’s game might be the last one I go to. I was upset. I didn’t know what I was doing anymore.

My cab from the Boston airport pulled up to my hotel around 6:30PM. I was supposed to be in Boston at 1PM! To make matters worse, that second flight did go out on schedule, and I would have arrived at 4PM! Some of the Flyers were congregating in the lobby for dinner when I got there. Boy, I could have bitten every single one of their heads off after the day I had. They seemed to be eaves dropping on my check in at the front desk. I’m sure they have all been wondering where I was actually from, now they knew. The hotel staff asked me if I was here on business, to which I replied “sort of!” Of course I meant “sort of” as in “research,” but how bad did that sound?!

I went up to my room to freshen up before I attempted to eat something. After going 24 hours without food, all I could stomach was half a salad and some sangria! I told the hotel staff not to let me leave the lobby until I finished reading the book that I had wanted to get out of the way that day, but couldn’t as I lost the entire day to travel. Somehow I managed to read through the drunkenness, and tiredness, and congregating Flyers and plow through the hundred pages I needed to finish in just over an hour. Not sure how I did it, but I did.

Finally, alone in my room, I started to question my future with the Flyers as my favourite team. Not even the comfort of a bubble bath could help. I feared that all the terrible situations and circumstances I encountered that day were sure signs that the end was nigh. Later that night, I cried myself to sleep because that was all I had left. (Emotional breakdown #2).

Posted in bad day, Boston, female hockey fans, hockey fans, Philadelphia Flyers, road trips | 3 Comments »

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

What just happened? Why are we in Ottawa?

Yesterday at 2:34PM, with only two sleeps until Boston (and plenty of preparation to do, like: pack, study, work on essay), Trouble called… and I answered the phone. My seemingly long-lost road trip buddy called to play catch up since we hadn’t talked in quite some time. The conversation turned to getting out of the house and doing something “fun,” since fun was apparently lacking from both our lives. Shopping and anything with excessive walking was out, as she had REINJURED (naughty, naughty) her ankle in soccer. So, she says, “Well we could go get extensions sewn in our hair…” (random, I know) “…or the nearest game is in Ottawa.”

Most of my friends know that I can’t handle crazy talk because I will go for whatever is being suggested no matter what. For example, “We should go to [enter location name here] sometime.” [long pause] “Expedia says there is a flight leaving in 3 hours! We can make it!” There is a reason I’m the “crazy one.” So, naturally, when a completely insane scheme has been put forth to go catch some puck, I have to go for it. There’s no getting around it. The plan was to buy cheap seats and make complete asses of ourselves. This sounded good. So, I hung up the phone, threw on some clothes, and headed East on the 401!

I was driving like the wind, which was no easy feat considering it was apparently OPP day on the 401! The swift drive was only interrupted by a sudden swerve off the road to the Big Apple pie store (you know that mammoth Apple on the side of the highway?) because we were hungry, and a big pie was the answer! This wasn’t the first time we ate a WHOLE pie. Once, while in Edmonton, we went to the market and ate a huge peach mango pie (yummmmmmm!), so this was a nostalgic move. We bought a caramel apple pie, and ran it back to the car where we attempted to eat it while driving. Much like the Boston Pizzas we tried to consume in transit while pushing 145km/h out of fear of being late for the Flyers/Sabres game in Buffalo last season. But this pie was a crumbly bastard, and Lupie is in even worse shape (clean wise) as a result.

We finally pull up to Scotiabank Place a little after 7PM. The puck has already dropped. We go to the box office only to discover in horror that “cheap seats” in Ottawa are over $100 each! WHAT. THE. FUCK!?!?! What gives the shitty Sens the right to charge that for the nosebleeds??? Seriously, even Toronto isn’t that cruel; they charge $45! Suddenly, we were very pissed that Detroit and their $9 tickets were away in Nashville – just add that to my growing list of Nashville hate! So, we decided that was ridiculous for crappy seats, and opted to buy fourth row tickets in the lower bowl instead.

We were sitting on the Leafs side of the ice across from the bench and next to the penalty box. We were both wearing Leafs jerseys, which was odd considering we both hate the Leafs, and my friend is ACTUALLY a Sens fan! We thought it would be funny to piss people off, but a visible 2/3 of the arena was occupied by Blue and White jerseys, so we really just blended in. Yes, we did make asses of ourselves – mostly me. Mostly because there were a lot of penalties so I had to get up and say, “You’ve been a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad boooooooooooooooooooooy!” *shimmy shake* every single time! (I blame the beer!). The highlight for me was the poutine, but for those celebrity whores out there, Carrie Underwood was in the building. Unfortunately, I didn’t have adequate sign making materials, so my, “Tony Romo’s Sloppy Seconds” sign will have to wait for another game – perhaps, when Avery is in town *giggle!*

I felt like a hockey fan in the truest sense of the word last night. I don’t remember when the last time was that I went to a game which didn’t feature my favourite team and/or NHL crush. I had a lot of fun! It reminded me how things used to be when I was younger and I would go insane from the back section of the Air Canada Centre! I am now optimistic that when I do eventually switch teams, I will still be able to have a blast in my new team’s rink (whichever that may be).

After the game, we went out in pursuit of Wild Wing! We stumbled across a location in God-knows-where just in time for closing. So we had to order our wings to go. Once again, attempting to eat in the car. You’ll be glad to know that this time I didn’t try to drive while eating chicken wings. By the time we located the phantom 417 again and departed Ottawa, it was nearly midnight. “Uhh, I just realized we’re leaving Ottawa…and it’s Midnight…and it takes four hours to get home!” I sliced through the night like a crazy serial killer/Greyhound Butcher (too soon?), and descended into the GTA at 3AM while belting out the lyrics to classic Skid Row!

The drive was surprisingly easy as my Boston insomnia has already set in. Even though I got home at 3:30AM, I still didn’t go to bed until 5:30! I am currently 24 hours away from touching down in Boston tomorrow afternoon. I will try to sleep tonight as I’m taking off from Buffalo tomorrow morning! Eek! It’s going to be a very early morning!

Posted in bIG APPLE PIE, CRAZYNESS, OTTAWA SENATORS, road trips, Toronto Maple Leafs | 2 Comments »

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