Hockey Night in California

I spent my childhood in Minnesota, which has the nickname, The State of Hockey. I grew up a Gopher/North Stars/High School Hockey fan. It was a great time to be a hockey fan. The Stars played in the Stanley Cup Finals in '91 (unfortunately they relocated a couple of years later), I went to school with Krissy Wendall (who later went on to get a silver and bronze medal playing women's hockey in 2002 and 2006) and I was part of some sort of hockey marketing revolution known as The Mighty Ducks. The first film takes place in Minnesota and the kids actually goto a Minnesota North Stars game. Out of coincidence I was there with my parents and apparently Disney was going to call the movie Bombay. (Terrible right?)

I moved to San Diego at the end of '93. San Diego had a hockey team known as the Gulls. I don't think they exist anymore and I think calling them a minor league team would be giving them too much credit. So basically, I was resigned to watching hockey on TV until I moved up to Orange County for college (and for some reason I haven't left). So guess who plays in Orange County? That's right! The Ducks. It's the circle of life.

I've been going to a lot of games the last couple of seasons because my friend Jessica has season tickets. We watch them fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight, and sometimes a hockey game breaks out. The games are entertaining, but what we find more entertaining is introducing people new to hockey, what the Ducks experience is all about. See, if you goto enough games, you realize some things, like it's the same people singing the national anthem before the games over and over again. There's also the "goal" song. Whenever the Ducks score, you hear the chorus of "Bro Hymn" by Pennywise, which they use even though it's a tribute to friends who have died in the past. (I just looked this up) I assure you that no other hockey team uses this song. Gordon Bombay would be proud.

There's also the issue of the DiPenta Lady (Lets use DL for short). The last couple of seasons the Ducks have had a player named Joe DiPenta. He's known to most Ducks fans as the worst player on the team who must have blackmail worthy pictures of their coach to be on the team. Not too flattering, to say the least. There's this lady (an older lady, in her 40s at least) in this section that we used to sit in, that would wear a DiPenta jersey and would look through a scrapbook of DiPenta pictures with the aid of a magnifying glass. She's there every game, even this season though he's not on the team anymore, but she still has her scrapbook and DiPenta jersey. Apparently Joe plays here now and apparently DL has purchased his jersey from that team and wears it occasionally (Jessica has seen it, I have not).

See, the Ducks experience is more than a game. There's a strange lady, good churros, and a bizarre choice of music every time the Ducks score. This is why is so much better to experience a game in person and this is definitely something you can't experience even in the State of Hockey, or at least not until the Wild sign Mr. DiPenta.