Hockey Hockey Hockey Hockey

Yesterday was the first game of the Cal ice hockey season.  They played versus UCLA at the venerable Berkeley Iceland rink.

Now let me preface this all by saying: I love hockey.  It's the most fun sport, in my opinion, to either watch or play. (My experience was all street roller hockey.)  Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping like the breakaway, crushing checks, or slapshots through heavy traffic from the point.  And when everyone bunches up in front of the crease trying to move the puck and you're just waiting to hear the siren any instant... Yeah, BABY!  YEAH!

I tell you this so that when I list my complaints, you'll still understand that I was having a great time.

But first, let's talk history.  In the 1930s, the citizens of Berkeley decided they wanted an ice rink, but the city didn't have the money to construct it.  So the citizens themselves bought shares of the rink, and construction was so-financed.  The Berkeley Iceland rink was built in 1939 and opened in 1940 to much fanfare.

And it was a fine-looking rink.  Art deco exterior, with heavy steel infrastructure inside holding the ceiling aloft.  The lobby area was finely tiled and sported a fireplace.  Overall, it was a world-class rink.

Proving this, several national competitions were held there in the 40s and 50s.

Cut ahead 55 years to today.  The rink has aged, and, while you can see a shadow of its former self when you walk through the doors, the grandeur is largely gone.  Paint is needed, the floor is stained, the lobby is darkened, rows of hodgepodge soda and videogame machines line the walls.  The steel trusswork is over the rink is horribly dated (superior construction techniques having since been invented), and it obstructs the view of the rink no matter where you sit past the third row.

Imagine now, you're at the 17,000+ capacity gleaming pre-dot-com Shark Tank in San Jose.  You might be wearing shorts and a sweatshirt.  Why?  Because they keep the audience comfortable while the ice is kept freezing, probably at great expense.

The frigid reality of Berkeley Iceland is that the entire room is kept at near-freezing temperatures.  You can tell which people have never attended a game before because they show up underdressed and spend the first period and a half shivering in a ball before calling it quits.

I, however, have been to a number of games and know the drill.  Ski socks.  Long fleece pants under my jeans. T-shirt with longsleeve fleece overtop, and above that, my winter jacket.  Gloves.  Hat. Toasty warm.

And now that I've moved to Ashby and Shattuck, I'm only a short walk away from the rink!

So I strutted over there, trying not to overheat, carrying my coat and all that over my shoulder.  The game started at 9:30pm.

Walked up the steps, and the nice lady said, "$8 for students, $10 for general."  Damn--it was $8 for general the last time, and I only had $9.  It would have been 25 minutes of walking round trip to get to the ATM.

I said with sheepish eyes, "$9?"  And she said, "Close enough," and directed me through the turnstile and on inside.

The Zamboni was just finishing the work on the ice when I sat down, and then the players came out for a 10-minute warmup on the ice, UCLA to jeers, and Cal to cheers.

Game on!!

UCLA looked lackluster during the warmup, and I thought it would be lopsided.  But as soon as the puck was dropped, it was obvious they were on fire and took command of the situation.  Cal scored early, but UCLA quickly responded with two back-to-back powerplay goals, one of them 5-on-3.  Cal scored again, but then UCLA scored two more times in under a minute, both shorthanded goals on the same penalty!

The scoreboard wasn't working, so it was tough to tell when penalities were about to run out, and even what the score was.

During each intermission, I'd run out to the lobby and sit on the old wooden benches in front of the fire to warm up again.  This is the one place you can go in the rink and imagine that it's still 1945, and that everything around you is gleaming and hopeful and new.

But after 10 minutes of that, you're ready for more hockey!

For the first two periods, Cal had tried to keep some semblance of teamwork going, but by the last period it was just crazy 1-on-3 drives to the goal and desperation shots.  Tempers started to fray, but there were no fights.  (Fighting is an ejectable offense in college hockey.)   Cal finally scored again, only to have the goal harshly revoked due to a delayed penalty.  Then, finally, with 6 seconds left in play, Cal scored and brought the final score to 3-6, UCLA.

And that was the end of that.

Thank God it's hockey season again!  Take shots!