Russian Hockey

Today we went to a K.H.L (Kontinental Hockey League) game between the St. Petersburg team and a team from Riga, Latvia. This Russian league is supposedly the best in Europe, with players like Alexei Yashin, Sergei Zubov, Marcel Hossa, and Paul Kariya's brother Martin.

It was definitely a Canada-like experience. The game made me want to start playing intramural hockey again.

It was a great game, the St. Petersburg team killed off a 4 minute major that they took with 3 minutes left in the game and won 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Alexei Yashin. I Couldn't have asked for a better ending.

Here are some photos with explanations of the game included.

We had really good seats for the game for under 10$. We could have sat next to the cheerleaders for under 20$ but that might have been distracting.

A view to the far side of the ice.

Fans who came from Riga, Latvia. You can kind of see it in this picture but their section was lined on both sides with military personnel to prevent any rowdy fans from 2nd degree murder. Several times during the game people would turn to these fans and shout what may have been profanities or give angry looks. Sounds kind of like the Theology profs at a clippers game...

Here are the cool Russian cheerleaders that I mentioned in the first caption. My favourite part of the entire night may have been when they danced to a Russian folk song. Other than that it was mostly Blink-182 and rap I didn't recognize.

Definitely a fun night.