Saint Paul, MN Minnesota. What can you say about it? Minny has a reputation within the hockey community as being a concentrated pocket in the States that can appreciate the game like any rabid fan North of the border. For this reason I was always really attracted to the idea of going to Wild country, but the location was just such a pain in the ass. However, I was down to the final seven (eight if you count Pittsburgh) NHL arenas that haven’t been graced by my presence, so I could put off Minnesota no more. You see, other than Pittsburgh, which is a day trip if you ask me, the other six uncharted rinks are clustered in such a way that it would take only two trips to check them off my list. Trip A) would consist of Carolina, Atlanta, and Tampa, and Trip B) would be Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. Minnesota, on the other hand, stands alone, so I had decided in Korea (even when I thought I was only coming home for a few weeks) that seeing the Wild play on home ice would be a priority.
My trip was supposed to be very fast paced. I’d arrive the afternoon before the Coyotes game, eat, sleep, see the game, and drive out. Originally I was going to the Winter Classic, and from the Winter Classic I would drive to Minny. But my ticket fell through (only to become available again the day I was leaving), which is kind of lucky because the delay in start time would have made getting to the Wild/Coyotes game impossible. I did, however, attempt to maintain that I was still going to Pittsburgh where authority figures were concerned. Just like when I went to Europe, but said I was in Pittsburgh for the Flyers series. This time, the truth was in the cards. I’ve mentioned before that I have “readings” done before every road trip as a superstition. Well, that was my biggest mistake this time around. For who should show up in the cards, but none other than that pesky Arizona Boy, “Why is Arizona at that outdoor hockey game” “Uhh *panics* I don’t know…” The Coyotes schedule was then consulted, “What’s the Wild and where do they play?” And the cat was, as they say, out of the bag.
Minnesota raised some weather condition alarm bells, and I was forced to leave a day earlier. Perhaps if I had left as scheduled, I would have not been faced with the complications I was met with at the border…again. Luckily, I still have the option of seeing three Canadian teams because it may or may not be difficult for me to get to American games now. I get sent for further interrogation probably once every trip. If I don’t get it on the American side, I’ll get it on the Canadian side coming back. No one believes that a female would legitimately be traveling for sports by herself. They also seem to think, as a woman, I wouldn’t be able to afford my independence without a husband or boyfriend paying my bills. Red flags all around. In Buffalo, they have a big profile on me, so they know what I’m up to, but over at the Bluewater Bridge in Port Huron, they do not. I may or may not need to provide other documents that prove that I am not attempting to start a new life in the States. So, I’ll have to look into that. It may be nothing, but at this point I can’t risk buying tickets, booking hotels, and/or flights just to be grounded in Canada. How many countries am I gonna get banned from in my lifetime?!! Don’t think for a minute that I’m above fraudulent documents! I should definitely marry an American now just to spite the American government.
Anyway, I had a nice long drive to think about what to do next. The crazy thing was a fourteen hour drive didn’t feel long to me at all. I don’t know if this is because I drove to Dallas and San Antonio last year, or because of the lengthy flights to and from Asia, but Minnesota felt like child’s play. The drive went off with no problems minus a couple hours of fog North of Chicago, and one missing shirt while driving through a toll booth on the I-90 in Illinois. I couldn’t figure out why the guy was talking in such a pervy tone with me until I realized I had ripped open every button on my shirt out of discomfort about an hour before. Whoops. On the way home, I decided to drive through every toll while playing Sweet Transvestite and giving the workers menacing glares. Small things amuse me on the road.
During the drive I was thinking that I should check the schedule to see if the Wild had a game that night. But then I thought with my luck they’d definitely be playing Nashville if they were playing anyone. And sure enough they were. I decided, despite feeling like death, I would shower up and go to the game anyway. This time I had to sit in the lower bowl because I simply couldn’t justify upper bowl seats. In New Jersey the Devils offer $10 seats in the upper bowl, but in Minnesota it’s only a $25 difference between the second row and the very last row. So, why wouldn’t I pay it?! Don’t worry I was sitting on the Wild side and I don’t think the evil one saw me. I tried to ignore him, so I don’t really know, but I’m optimistic that I was invisible.
Sadly, the game was a bit of a bust for Wild fans. I was really looking forward to seeing this “cult” of hockey fans (as they are known) go crazy when the team is winning. Unfortunately, the Wild would only score once, and in the last two minutes of the game no less, so the excitement level wasn’t quite where it should be. What was really insulting was that the Wild let in not one, but two empty netters. I was really feeling for the fans after that happened – major ouch! What I will say about the fans based on this game alone was that the attendance really impressed me. The organization decided to have a 5PM start time for a Friday game. Sure it was New Years Eve, but that’s not a mandatory holiday. I could understand them wanting to move it up so people wouldn’t feel they were missing out on New Years Eve parties, but they ran the risk of isolating the fans that still had to work a 9-5 job that night, and those having to commute from neighbouring cities. But, the arena was packed. The attendance was even higher than it was for the Coyotes game two days later, and people still managed to make it in for the warm ups, too! Well done, Wild fans!
After the game, I was back at my hotel room for some room service, TLC, and one of the loneliest New Years Eves ever! I was tired though, so I barely made it to midnight. I couldn’t help but remember one fateful New Years Eve many years ago. I was always very involved in hockey, but that night during the New Years of 2002-03, after watching Team Canada play Team Finland at the World Juniors, something monumental happened that changed the way I saw the game forever. Four days later I had tickets for a hockey game. I was sitting in the fourth row. The evil one, as he would later be known, was playing for the visiting team in that game. Four months later we would meet randomly, and the rest is history.
Top Photo: Pre-game shot. After 30+ hours of no sleep, and strung out from the road. Can you tell? Or am I just that good at what I do?
