Confusingous

Dateline: Tuesday December 30, 2008

Confusingous entered Codey Arena not knowing what to expect. His trip to West Orange was to see the Danbury Mad Hatters take on the hometown Jersey Rockhoppers. He was amongst the 923 fans that made their way to the former South Mountain Arena to see some EPHL hockey.

He was struck with the scale of everything. Certainly he had been to minor league baseball games and knew that they were different from major league games. Why would minor league hockey not have the same difference in scale to the NHL? But it was more cozy than even Single A baseball. You walked between the players on the way to the bathroom. You can have conversations with them on the bench if they desired. And these were normal men. They could be sitting next to you at the bar or behind you at the checkout counter and you would be none the wiser. Players would call out to their girlfriends from the ice. It was fantastic.

Game play was not top shelf. But this was to be expected. This was not The Show. This is a step on the way there (hopefully). But the game was exciting. Hard hitting. There was even a fight (Note: Teague Willets-Kelley became Confusingous’ favorite Rockhopper based on the claim that he would adopt the first Rockhopper he saw fight in person as his favorite). There was even a scuffle at the end of the game. These players wanted to win. The fans wanted a win. The crowd yelled down insults at the refs and the players. It was great. Like something out of ‘Slap Shot.’

Confusingous sat right behind the home teams bench to get as close to the action as possible. And he was close. So close that he can smell the players (note: Our resident Seer does not feel the need to smell the players again). In the beginning, he clapped for good plays. By the end he was on the edge of his seat yelling at the players. He was converted. The players looked at him as they were skating towards the bench. Truly they did not know who the crazy man in the front row was.

It was not the night for the Rockhoppers as they dropped a close one to Danbury 4-2 (was 3-2 prior to an empty netter in the last minute). If you get a chance, be sure to check out a EPHL game. It’s affordable fun.