Travel hopefully in life.

So, hockey is back. Or, they're doing exhibition games, anyway, with the intent to be back for real come Saturday. I'm still torn about it and kind of worried that it's a bad idea that's going to blow up in some way or another, but at the same time I'm excited to be watching again.

I'm not really sure how this whole situation is going to go for us, because our GM, who I really liked, just fucking quit in a fit of pique or something, so now we're going into a potential playoff situation with an interim guy who is, admittedly, very experienced, so everything will probably be fine, but ANYWAY. It seemed like a good moment to revisit that time earlier this season when Wonder Goalie Darcy Kuemper ^TM threw a man to the ice and kicked off a full-line fight between my darling Coyotes and the Calgary Flames.

Watch on YouTube

It's not super violent but it is very delightful, if you're into that sort of thing. Plus you get to see Johnny Hockey be a mad little baby, which is very satisfying if you get any amount of satisfaction out of seeing the Flames be whiny brats, which I do.

Well, we lost to the Stars by one goal last night, which is actually not that bad considering we had our poor third-string goalie Adin Hill between the pipes. Despite the loss, it was a really fun game with a lot of really delightful people.

Jamie Benn got ejected in the second period after he pulled a game misconduct for boarding, which was kind of a bummer (even if it did probably help the Yotes out in the long run) as I deeply enjoy watching him play. Either way, getting to see my boys live in action is always a treat.

Highlight of the night was being close enough to Conor Garland to see his facial expressions, as well as the couple in front of us who were viciously heckling the Coyotes but were so funny I couldn't help laughing. Our seats were four rows back from the glass on the Stars' goal side, so there was a lot of action to be had, though I am disappointed that nobody dropped gloves. Lawson Crouse is usually good for a punch-em-up but he didn't seem to be in a fighting mood.

It was extra fun to be there on Hockey Is For Everyone night. A friend of mine who tagged along was unfamiliar with the event as well as the You Can Play organization, and it was a really lovely moment to be able to explain to him how important it was to me, as a queer person, to see professional athletes openly talking to a stadium of hundreds about their experiences with the toxic culture of the sports-industrial complex and their hopes to change that landscape for future generations of closeted baby queers and other marginalized groups.

There's a lot of bad bullshit rooted in sports culture but it's nice to see folks actively working to try and make in-roads, even if it's going to take awhile to get anywhere. Slow progress is still progress, as all the self-care listicles tell me.

We had a few unbelievable SNAFUs at the beginning and end of the evening that eventually worked themselves out in true sitcom fashion, further confirming my suspicions that my life may actually be a primetime TV spot I'm not aware is being filmed. Plus, being at an actual game for the first time since my mom and I dropped in to watch the Stars play the Flames when she visited last has really lit my fire to write the TP hockey AU I was talking about on the Discord server the other day. No I did not spend like an hour reading Deadspin articles last night to be sure that I would get the tone right, you must be thinking of some other mildly obsessive war history/hockey fan.

All in all, a thoroughly pleasant evening spent in thoroughly pleasant company, though if I had to do it over again I would choose to skip all the bits that required running through the rain in the cold and the dark.(I've dropped a solid register in vocal tone from all the enthusiastic hollering, which makes it possible for me to sing a few songs that aren't usually quite within my natural range and has been an additional and deeply nerdy joy.)