Coming to the hockey

IT'S NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS....

As I explained at the beginning of this year one of the big changes in my life, our lives, since moving north has been an increasing addiction to ice hockey matches and a passion for supporting the Edinburgh Capitals.  The strength of the resultant feelings continues to surprise me, and the story has moved on since.  This season we are proud to be season ticket holders at the Murrayfield rink, and I now find myself a member of the Supporters Club committee.

There's no going back now.  I'm even in danger of becoming a hockey bore, with a tediously (?) evangelical approach to encouraging others to come along and see what they're missing.  And when people from our old life down south come up to visit they are firmly told that if they come up on a weekend between September and March that will be taken as tacit agreement that they want to go to a match....

Two couples have been up here recently and both experienced hockey for the first time in their lives (well three of them did, one woman recalled going to games at Wembley in the sixties!).  It turned out that they picked their times wisely.

The first match was against Braehead, with the Caps putting in a storming performance and coming up convincing 6-2 winners.  Our friends saw some great goals and were sitting with some very happy fans.  I had to tell them it isn't always like this....

The second took place yesterday, and this had a bit more drama thrown in.  A woeful looking Capitals team (and some, ahem, 'controversial' refereeing) found themselves four goals down to arch rivals Fife Flyers.  Our friends were enjoying the experience, the speed and excitement, and the occasional gentile bout of fisticuffs that broke out on the ice.  They also felt a bit sorry for us, watching a drama unfold that might not leave us in the happiest of moods....

What followed will remain with me for a very long time, and certainly gave this southern couple something to remember from their visit.  A late goal in the second period kept the fans' hopes of a recovery warm, like a sighting of land from a lifeboat.  It turned out not be a mirage.  A change of tactics, and our North American pros earning every penny of their pay, saw two goals early on, and screamer of a shot from Ryan Hayes to equalise with five minutes to play.  Finishing up with a Caps winner in overtime.  No script writer would dare come up so implausible an ending in this cynical age....

And guess what?  I had to tell my friends that it isn't always like this....

It might be the top level of British ice hockey, but the resources available to the teams in this league vary enormously.  With Caps being firmly towards the lower end of the wealth scale.  You become a Caps fan and you become an aficionado of disappointment, a connoisseur of misfortune, someone used to dealing with the blows.  It's a very Scottish feeling, that underdog status, and one to be savoured like you'd been given the chips and no fish.  You learn to enjoy what you have.

Then there are those nights, like last night, when you not only get the full fish supper, but peas, bread and a decent bottle of wine thrown in.

No, it isn't always like this.  But when it is it's one of the greatest feelings in the world.

If you're in Edinburgh you should come along.