Yes!  We win again!  If and when we win this round with Dallas, we get to stay in the playoffs and after winning three more rounds, we get the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup.  It is a long haul but we did it back in 2007, we can do it again!!!Here is our mascot – Wild Wing who came flying down from the high green ceiling of the Honda Center via a strong rope wire onto the ice and skated around with our flag and eventually exited by our team’s bench and into the locker room. Everyone gets a small orange towel placed on the back of their seats and when we score, the crowd goes wild and everyone stands and waves, swings and shows off the Ducks towels like flags!  The horn blows, the perimeter of the arena lights up ‘Goal!’ and people just scream and hoot and holler.  The announcer comes over the loudspeaker and officially restates what we all know and gives the details; who scored the goal, who assisted and at what time exactly into the period.  The play is replayed on the Jumbotron screen.  More hooting, hollering and general revelry ensues!  Not one person is seated, notice the towel/flag waving at left of picture and the replay on the screen.  The hockey players are rendez-vous-ing back to center for the next face off.

And here is a face off.  Hockey is a physical, speed driven, aggressive game.  Notice the legs of the players entwined.  This was taken micro seconds after the puck was dropped on the ice by the referee.  Tension, frustration and sheer competitiveness makes for lots of incensed outbursts with deliberate provocations which my husband describes as “it is getting chippy out there”, meaning the players are getting ‘scrappy’.  Booing and cheering are common fan responses according to ref penalty calls.  Emotions run high and the electric energy lights up the crowd!