Warmups are always a highlight for me at NHL games, but this time was particularly great because Max Domi parked himself right in front of me for the stickhandling portion of his pregame routine--as in, he could not have gotten closer to me without hitting the glass.
I suspect Domi actually chose the spot in front of me on purpose, because just before he set up camp there, he flicked a fancy dick-trick-esque behind-the-back shot into the net and made eye contact with me right as my face was going "HOLY SHIT." That was when he skated over to me and started flipping the puck from behind his back over his head and catching it on his stick blade in front, which I am not confident would normally be part of his warmup regimen. If this is the case, I confess myself unsurprised that the boy enjoys an appreciative audience. (Much as I wish such things weren't a factor, it probably didn't hurt that I was the only young woman there who wasn't decked out in enemy merch.)
Regardless of whether he was showing off for me specifically or not, it was incredible. He was less than two feet from me for about five minutes, doing things with the puck that I could happily watch for days on end. And then he and Duclair started firing short passes at each other, and I had the best view in the house of that too. The hockey gods were definitely smiling on me last night, even if they didn't wind up smiling on my team.
It occurred to me over three hours later that I could have taken video. Whoops. My brain isn't at its best when I'm elbowing distance from my favorite baby rookies, okay.
On reflection, though, I'm glad I stayed entirely present in the moment instead of futzing with my phone. The really cool thing about NHL warmups, for me, is how they make top-tier skills relatable, and that doesn't translate to video. On a screen, Max Domi is straight-up magic. Even watching live from the lower bowl of the arena, the things these guys can do feel completely out of reach to me. It's impressive to watch, of course, but I can't picture myself pulling those moves. That's part of what makes it entertaining.
But in warmups, watching NHL players doing their thing from the same angle and distance as if I were on the ice with them, I don't feel impressed so much as inspired. They may be lightyears better than me, but in that context I can see threads connecting what I can do with what they can do. The sounds of pucks clattering around are the same. The buildup of snow on sticks is the same. The tape holding up socks, the lines scored in the ice by skates, the hey-whassup of teammates bumping shoulders... these are things I know, things that make me feel like I belong, and when I can see and hear them right in front of me, it makes Max Domi's stickhandling feel like something I could do if I worked hard enough. It makes me itch to hit the rink. No phone video could be worth the full impact of that.
Other thoughts from the evening, in bullet-point form:
- This was my first live NHL game since I started playing organized hockey a year ago, and it made such a difference in how I parsed what I saw. I've always gotten a lot out of watching NHLers skate, since I've been skating for years, but now that I play the actual game I'm picking up all kinds of other things. And having now attempted all this myself, I have a much better understanding of how fucking good they are. I am purely astounded at the angle of their leans, the accuracy of their passes, the power behind their shots.
- I was focusing a lot more on skates and sticks than faces during the warmups, because there's so much I can learn from these guys hockeywise, but I'm pretty sure they were less interactive with fans this time. Probably something to do with their shitty recent record--trying to stay in the zone and such. But a few kids still got pucks, because Shane Doan will always and forever be Shane Doan.
- Besides the Max Domi Experience, I think I paid more attention to the skaters in general because Mike Smith wasn't on the ice. When Smitty is there, it's hard for me to process anything but Smitty. But this time I was watching everyone, and had fun picking up on all the little things in warmups, like changes in line combinations from last game, and a couple of the guys (I think one of them was Murphy, but I didn't write it down) playfully butt-checking each other along the boards.
- Doan was in charge of getting pucks out of the net and distributing them to everyone else at the blue line, and every time he did this he would save the last puck and flick it in a high arc to Michalek, who would kind of chest-bump it down to the ice. It was pretty cute.
- The guy sitting next to me was very pleasant when we were chatting, although he spent more time talking to me than to his son, and he kept taking work calls. (Software CEO, apparently. That's what I get for sitting in the lower bowl.) He was wearing a signed Henrik Sedin jersey--he said he won it unsigned at a previous game, then told his lawyer about it, and the lawyer was like, "Oh hey, I live next door to that guy, want me to get it signed for you next time he drops by for tea?"
- I feel that the real takeaway from this story is that Henrik Sedin drops by his neighbors' houses for tea. Important Henrik Sedin fact, y'all.
- I could really have done without the Canucks mascot's pre-game twerking. My retinas didn't need that.
- The anthems were my favorite of any sports anthem performance I've ever heard. It was a bunch of teenagers singing gorgeous harmonies, and a guy in front of me kept doing little fanfare noises in between lines of "O Canada," which exponentially improved the experience for me.
- I wondered whether this game would be less stressful for me without Smitty. Answer: no. Live Coyotes hockey will always stress me out to the max. But I didn't feel quite so personally stabbed in the gut when we got scored on, so there was that.
- Heh. Stress me out to the Max.
- I've never bothered bringing a sign because it would be a pain to lug around, especially in the rain. But if I had made a sign for this game, it would have said STAY OUTTA THE SLAMMER, and sure enough, the Coyotes spent a good chunk of the first period on the kill. Vancouver didn't convert, but still, not good.
- Domingue kept giving me heart attacks by playing the puck behind the net on the PK with Canucks five feet away. He needs to either stop doing that or work on making quicker decisions with the puck, because it almost fucked us over a few times. Smitty's a bad influence on him.
- Overall, Domingue did good. I yelled "LOOOOUUUUUU" for a couple of his best saves--not normally a fan of that, but I got a kick out of doing it in Vancouver. No regrets.
- I noticed Connauton executing excellent plays at least twice before his goal and once after, including breaking up a dangerous two-on-one absolutely beautifully in the third period. He had a really good game. (After he scored to put Arizona up 2-0 in the second, the arena DJ blasted "Wake me up when it's all over..." which cracked me up.)
- There weren't any awful loud people sitting near me, which might be a first for any live hockey game I've ever attended. There was one dude who kept saying "Git outta there!" in any applicable context--the puck being near the net, the Coyotes being in the crease, anyone being offside. Kind of an odd and entertaining catchphrase. He also said "Watch it, that stuff is expensive!" when one of the Coyotes crashed into the glass, which I found a pretty hilarious sentiment at an NHL game.
- During the second intermission, Ben Hutton showed up on the jumbotron worrying about whether he would be able to read children's books without fucking up (video). That was thoroughly delightful. Also, there was a You Can Play spot! Although it wasn't actually very clear what it was about, if people hadn't already heard of the organization. Don't know what happened there, usually they're good about that.
- It's hard to spot other Coyotes fans at Rogers because the Millionaires throwback jerseys are everywhere, and the color is very similar. I think I spotted three or four actual Coyotes fans amid the impostors.
- One thing I've never fully appreciated about Martinook on TV broadcasts is his ability to stay with the puck carrier. At one point on the penalty kill, the Coyotes cleared the puck, a Canuck went back for it, Martinook followed him, and then he just stayed on the guy's ass like a leech. He must have kept the puck in the zone for twenty or thirty seconds, just staying right on top of his man the whole time. That's hella hard to do. I've tried and it has not gone well for me.
- Rieder and Domi both skate so damn low. I know they're not the tallest dudes in the league, but even proportionally, they really get down there. That must be part of why they're so fast. Also, Rieder did this great Fred Flintstone running-in-place thing at one point, and he blocked two shots at short range from Vancouver D-men in the third, in addition to his goal. Eventful night for him.
- Vancouver's arena DJ played "Howlin' For You" (the Coyotes' goal song) during the leadup to overtime. It always surprises me that the DJs don't look up these things.
- Before this game, I said my expectations were: 1) we would have a goalie in net, some goalie, any goalie; 2) we would not actually set the rink on fire; and 3) Max Domi would do something cool. Domi didn't really dazzle me through most of regulation, but he had a great chance near the end of the third, and then in OT he had a truly spectacular breakaway. I really, really wish that had gone in--it would have been the perfect end to the game. Alas, it did not, and the Canucks wound up taking it.
- I need to accept that I'm a screecher. I keep telling myself at Coyotes games: don't screech, roar! Bellow! From the diaphragm! But no, when shit is on the line and my instincts take over, I shriek. Never been able to override that when something really big is going down. It's obnoxious, but apparently it's me. Sigh.
- Tanguay got third star of the game for his two assists. Looks like that acquisition was a good call.
- There was a kid in a Domi jersey amid a family of Canucks fans with a sign saying he has diabetes too. Domi tossed the kid his stick on his way off the bench. That was a nice moment.
- Once again, a Canucks fan apologized to me for his team winning. Gotta love Canada.
