Thespian attends local high school hockey game

On Tuesday, November 14th, at 7:15 pm, local thespian, Sartell senior Laura Carlson pulls herself out of bed to attend the Sartell v.s. Rodgers girl’s hockey game at Bernick’s Arena to review the game for her school’s newspaper.

She jaunts in with a swift aroma of chlorine, popcorn, sweat, and hockey moms hitting her right away. She is wearing pajama pants, an Ireland sweatshirt, and a pair of clogs; she blends right in. Laura has never experienced this sort of regime. Everything is loud, and she looks for a place to sit like a lost puppy. A young boy even had to direct her to where the stands are. However, Laura doesn’t understand why they are called that. 

She is used to red cushions and carpeting, and that was just not the case. Laura finds a little corner where no one else is sitting to set up camp. She is cold, tired, cranky, and hungry, and it’s only 7:21 pm.

The motivation finally begins to kick in as she sets up her camera. What she thought was called an inning, but is called a period, begins. She is hoping someone will begin dancing on the ice when the music interludes come on; however, she was disappointed more than once. The athletes are skating in an unchoreographed pattern. They begin whacking their sticks violently against the ice to hit what can easily be mistaken as a stale bagel.

“The first round, I mean inning, I mean period, is done with each of the teams scoring no touchdowns. All of the hockey Mom’s deemed this little break as an appropriate time to yell at me for taking pictures in front of them.” Laura said this is the first time she has experienced real fear. A combination of an aggressive tone, teased hair, and tie blanket made her shrivel up and walk away. Laura made sure to stay clear of the sight lines for the rest of the game…

By the second period, the opposite team has “baked a bagel” (scored a point). The tension started to heat up when the Storm’n Sabres brought their A-game and tied up the score.

“Is it time to go home now?” is all Laura could ponder when the final buzzer rang and the score was tied. However, she was sadly mistaken when the players skated out and the clock read 8 minutes.

The clock buzzed, the players sighed, and Laura ran.

The game ended with each team scoring 1 point and with a pack of riled up parents. Overall, there was a lot of noise and anger, but everyone was getting together to show support for their children and passion for the game; and that is the beauty of sporting events.