hockey and cops, you can't go wrong
Aug. 30th, 2009 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisalikTwo weeks ago, a cop was killed on duty here. It happens more often than I'd like, but not often enough to just be another thing; people talk about it, when it happens. This cop happened to be the goalie for the TPD hockey team, which I did not know existed before now. When the Lightning heard about this, they quickly reworked the fan-fest they had planned, to honor said cop. They invited the rest of the cop hockey team to come play against (and with) some of the Lightning guys in a scrimmage, where everyone on the ice wore the guy's number on their jersey. They split it up into two teams, White and Navy, with sports-radio people and old Espo as the "coaches" for each side. The teams were mixed up, part cops, part Lightning players, part staff, and part Lightning alumni.
All the proceeds from the raffles and auctions went to a charity fund for the cop's family. They also had a yard-sale of used gear (get your stinky old gloves here!) and a hockey clinic for kids barely tall enough to see over the boards and a bunch of autograph signing and picture-taking and other good things, but Bleu and I were in it to see the scrimmage, 'cos come August we get the hockey jonesing something wicked and every bit helps.
The turnout was enormous and even the guys who have been around for years were surprised at how many people came for it. (Ohlund, particularly, was impressed; the interview-guy made a note of telling us about that. Welcome to Florida, big borky dude.)
The best thing is, they were totally fucking around the whole time. They'd drag each other around with their sticks, collide into the boards and bust up laughing, trip over each other on purpose. So they were down there cracking up on the ice, and all us fans were cracking up in the stands. Was a good sendoff for the guy, I think - a ton of people having fun. Stuff like that makes me happy to be part of the Bolts tribe.
Ryan Malone seemed to be having more fun than everyone else put together. Which is not surprising, really. Marty would like Malone to get the hell out of the way so he can see the game. (This accurately depicts what was going on the whole time. They needed Yakety Sax or something, they really did.)
All the proceeds from the raffles and auctions went to a charity fund for the cop's family. They also had a yard-sale of used gear (get your stinky old gloves here!) and a hockey clinic for kids barely tall enough to see over the boards and a bunch of autograph signing and picture-taking and other good things, but Bleu and I were in it to see the scrimmage, 'cos come August we get the hockey jonesing something wicked and every bit helps.
The turnout was enormous and even the guys who have been around for years were surprised at how many people came for it. (Ohlund, particularly, was impressed; the interview-guy made a note of telling us about that. Welcome to Florida, big borky dude.)
The best thing is, they were totally fucking around the whole time. They'd drag each other around with their sticks, collide into the boards and bust up laughing, trip over each other on purpose. So they were down there cracking up on the ice, and all us fans were cracking up in the stands. Was a good sendoff for the guy, I think - a ton of people having fun. Stuff like that makes me happy to be part of the Bolts tribe.
Ryan Malone seemed to be having more fun than everyone else put together. Which is not surprising, really. Marty would like Malone to get the hell out of the way so he can see the game. (This accurately depicts what was going on the whole time. They needed Yakety Sax or something, they really did.)
