Our next stop was to watch a 6 o’clock NHL hockey game:  the Arizona Coyotes vs. Detroit Red Wings.  I was pretty excited to see my first NHL game.  We drove around the 101 again and found the huge football stadium.  The hockey arena was next to it, but we parked in the overflow parking at the stadium and walked across.  (Turns out that was a good move because we were able to beat the traffic by exiting away from the main parking lot and get home in great time!)

The first tail-gate party we see has a huge Saskatchewan Roughrider flag!  Walter happened to wear his Rider t-shirt that day, so we stopped by to greet them.  We saw several other Rider caps or other paraphernalia at the game.  Apparently, half these hockey games have Canadians as their major supporters and fans.

In planning our day, the hockey game was sort of “iffy”, so we had on our shorts and t-shirts from the day.  Everyone we saw had jerseys on or sweaters and jackets slung over their arms!  Oops, rookie mistake!  We had plenty of time to wander the outdoor concourse of stores, bars and fast food restaurants.  We treated ourselves to frozen yogurt before heading into the game.  It was still warm and summer weather outside.

Tickets cost twice as much as our friends had estimated!  But we had excellent seats, which were behind and with family and friends of the Coyotes’ hockey team. Fun!  The goalie, Mike Smith’s wife and two little ones sat in front of us.  We chatted with our neighbours.  Someone told us there was a “Tim Horton’s” in the arena, once they heard we were from Canada.  So Walter, my hero, got us coffees and Tim Bits! 

The game itself was a very exciting game but the home team was behind 2-0 by the third period.  There were a surprising number of Detroit fans in the stands and we felt bad for the Coyotes.  Whenever the Red Wings scored, Mike Smith’s wife would put a hand on the older son’s shoulder and console him!  As it turned out, the Coyotes scored a goal in the last few minutes and so there was a chance of tying if they got one more.  They pulled the goalie but alas, the Red Wings scored on the open net.  Oh, well!  We still had a great evening, and made it home before 9:30 pm!