Ice hockey is an extraordinary sport. Fast and furious, seemingly with no rules, it flashes past like lightning. Unlike football, it flows. Unlike football, no one falls over for no reason. I think they’d be sliced by skates if they did. Tonight we attended the Södertälje SK home game against Tingsryd AIF, and the Scaniarinken was buzzing with fan energy.
We have been wanting to see an ice hockey game for ages and, earlier this week, Jonas messaged to ask if we’d like to attend the game this weekend. I didn’t have to ask Mirinda; I knew what the answer would be. So, tonight, we all joined the long queues outside to enter the stadium. According to KSP, when she was in Canada last year, they waited inside at ice hockey games.
There was a brief moment of despair as both Mirinda and Fiona were turned away by security for having bags but this merely gave me a chance to buy a beanie while they returned to the car and then trudged back through the snow. It didn’t upset the mounting excitement. KSP reckons it was almost as mounting as when she was in Canada last year.
Södertälje Sportklubb is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year and tonight was an extra special event. As we made our way down to our seats, our way was halted when a massive painted tarp was unfurled, covering the heads of everyone in our bank of seats. We saw nothing of what was happening. KSP was very caught up with the excitement of it all and didn’t mention Canada for at least ten minutes.

It was a rather odd start to the game but, eventually, the tarp was re-furled and dragged away, but not before we’d managed to sneak down to our front row seats.
I was lucky, I was sitting next to Jonas, who explained what was happening. Among other things, he explained the off side rule to me, what ice* is and how it’s okay to inflict anything on the player with the puck. It was an excellent education. On my other side, KSP kept up a running commentary in various languages, regarding the differences between Canadian and Swedish ice hockey.
When the game started, the excitement was palpable. Singing was rife but, while it sounded very much like fans at an English football game, there was no feeling of violence directed at the away fans. Mind you, Jonas told me, the opposition was from a long way down south and there were very few of them, so any violence was unlikely. It could be different if the teams were geographically and skilfully closer.
Even considering this, the mood was very different from, say, an Aldershot v Woking game. Though, the SSK equivalent of the East Bank was very vocal for the entire game.

The die hard fans are in the wedge in the photo above. One of them even had a megaphone, though there was no drum or trumpet. Like Slabbers, they stood for the entire game.
The game itself was incredibly exciting, with Tingsryd taking an early lead. They came out of the blocks at full tilt and surprised Södertälje with their eagerness to win. This eagerness, however, may have sapped them of some energy in the latter stages as Södertälje (or “Tälje!” as the fans shouted) dominated the game for the second and third periods.
As much as they dominated, though, by the end of the three halves (as I called them) the score was level at three all. This called for a period of extra time, another five minutes of open play.

This still did not decide the game and, as Jonas explained to me, there had to be a result. In order to determine a winner, penalties started.
The tension was the same as football penalties, though the format was a bit different. While it’s one on one, open player v goalie, the puck starts from the centre and the player slowly ‘dribbles’ towards the goal. He then shoots when he feels he can score. The goalie must fill the goal and prevent it.
Both goalies, who appeared to have been designed by Minecraft, managed to block the puck for quite a few but, eventually, and with much noise from the stands, Södertälje slotted one away. Pandemonium reigned as the players encircled the penalty taker, Meyer, who, incidentally, was man of the match, and most of the 5,096 fans watching, sang their hearts out.
It was the perfect end to a perfect night. Even Mirinda loved it, and she’s not that big on sport generally. We were all buzzing as we headed back to the car, then home.

Thank you, Jonas for organising such a fun night and for driving us there and back in Zed given the snow and icy conditions. And, of course, thank you to KSP for telling us all about Canada.
Here’s a short piece of the game. Unlike Fiona, I didn’t manage to get a goal but I think I managed to capture a bit of the excitement.
* “Ice!” is called out when a player just shoots the puck into another team’s zone from behind the big red line in the centre of the rink, without first passing it to another player. The officials will blow a whistle and call “Ice!” if the puck gets beyond the thin red line in front of the goal without being collected by another player. The game is resumed with a face off in the end zone of the offending team.