Cassy and I had tickets with Mike and his chums to see a minor league ice hockey game.  But Cassy was too cool (hungover) to leave the apartment and go to the game.

Just under 8000 people were at the stadium to watch the minor league game; the teams were restricted to players aged between 16 and 19.

I had never seen an ice hockey game before.  Watching the game is a study in sound and motion.  The sounds tell the story of the game; the scraping of ice as players come to a halt, the sound of the stick smashing the puck, the crash of helmets, bodies and sticks against the perspex barrier surrounding the rink, the ping of the puck striking the goalpost.   All of the players are constantly moving and it was tiring as a new spectator to make sense of what was going on.  Particularly in the first period when I didn't realise there was a weird offside rule!

The players smashed each other hard against the barriers and intermittently would remove their helmets and start punching on.  This is such a bizarre concept that is ingrained into the course of the game.  A fight between players is part of the entertainment.

The arena was typically North American so every marketing and commercial opportunity had been snapped up.  You could win a prize dropped in an envelope from the small blimps circling the stadium, get a haircut whilst watching the game or buy any number of snacks and services.

It was really interesting to watch a new sport at a packed arena. It's a pity the Giants lost their leading goalscorer to suspected concussion minutes after the puck was dropped and went on to lose 5 - 0.

Mike, Jamie and I spent the day walking around downtown Vancouver, getting our bearings and checking out the beautiful town. It was a brisk 6 degrees, but the walking and frequent food/hot drink breaks made it perfectly tolerable.

We headed out from Mike's pad on Keefer place, and made our way via central Vancouver to the Burrard Inlet. Vancouver central is on a penninsula, surrounded by water and views of snow capped mountains on all sides. It's stunning, and the mountains inspire awe whenever they sneak into view.

The city has some beautiful architecture, and a strong 'arty' feel with many installations and sculptures. It's a neat and clean city, and the traffic is orderly and gives way to pedestrians - which is nice after Derby traffic (sorry Derby, but it's true).

The convention centre (below) puts the Perth one slightly (vastly) to shame - it is a huge and well designed building with a rooftop garden (inaccessible, we found...) and contains 3 giant flying straw eggs. We liked the eggs.

We stopped for lunch at Templeton - an original refurbished 1950s diner. The menu was extensive and included healthy vego/vegan options, original diner food choices as well as the Canadian classic "poutine" - chips with gravy and cheese curds and tomato sauce. We gave that one a miss, and had fab salads instead. All was well except my sesame tuna looked suspiciously like chicken...and I ate it, and it was. 2 years of pescatorian-ism ruined in one FOWL swoop. Damn. We didn't have to pay for the tuna though... 

The pic below is Jamie and Mike wandering back through downtown Couv - I was a bit taken with the strange green colour of the roof behind them, although the cold overcast day washed the colour out a little.

The final pic is the boys playing in the mud with some large friends they found on our stroll.