Canada Hockey Place- GM Place

There was no sea of red tonight and no "GO CANADA GO" inside of that arena. Now it is GM Place, but Canada Hockey Place used to be the name. It is amazing how the atmosphere can change so much while still watching the same sport in the same arena. I think the hugest difference is that we're no longer watching international hockey, and the patriotism has faded. I noticed there are far less children watching and far less foreigners. You would not believe how sad I was to see that Whale at centre ice rather than the Inukshuk, or the stairs being grey rather than that green and blue pattern. Now, walking downtown afterwards is a whole other story, I feel like I'm in a ghost town, but lets not get started on that. As weird as it may sound, I miss people asking for directions to the seabus or the skytrain, and I miss looking down any given street and seeing hundreds of flags flying above the crowds.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Vancouver Canucks, and they played an amazing game tonight. But I will definitely miss Olympic hockey, the excitement and atmosphere inside that ice rink- whatever you want to name it. From now on, in my heart it will always be "Canada Hockey Place".

Canada is Hockey Central

I love this country! It's hockey nation, and even if it isn't our country out on the ice, we still have high spirits and support for the players.


The other day I was at the Czech vs. Latvia game, it was obvious who was the better team, as 6 minutes into the game it was already 3-0 Czech. Now, there were a number of Czech fans in the crowd who were happy with that. And there were a number of Latvians who were not too happy(but not surprised either). Then there were people like me, who didn't really care who won the game. Pretty much I would cheer for whoever scored, just so I could get up an scream.

But what I thought was the nicest thing was how when Latvia was down by quite a few, the whole stadium was cheering them on. Giving them some energy, and by the end of the game, I could tell they could feel the support because they were on fire near the end of the game.

I just loved how Canada is such a spirited country, and no matter who's playing, there is always plenty of energy and excitement in the crowd.