Amid the thunderous crowd

THUMBS UP: Mike Dinsdale had a great time at his first professional ice hockey game between the Vancouver Giants and Kelowna Rockets at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum.

If you think Kiwis are passionate about their rugby, it's nothing compared to Canadians and their love of ice hockey.

Ice hockey, or "haw kee" as it's known by all, is more than just a passion, its a devout devotion, a deep, almost religious experience with thousands flocking to their temples of worship - the ice rinks.

As a passionate sports fan it has always been my ambition to watch the world's top sports played by the best teams. So on a recent trip to Vancouver, Canada, I just had to get along to a hockey game.

The Canucks are that city's National League Hockey team, playing in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Unfortunately they were playing away the weekend we were there, but the junior team, the Vancouver Giants, was playing at home, the 16,281 seat Pacific Coliseum, against provincial rivals Kelowna Rockets.

I'd done a bit of homework and discovered that the Giants had already made the play-offs, so thought a "dead rubber" on a spring Friday night might not see many people turning up but, boy, was I wrong.

There were almost 14,000 mad Canadians there. The noise, from start to finish, was at times deafening and sometimes overwhelming. Man, these people really know how to get behind their team, and I wish Kiwi fans were half as loud.

The crowd was whipped up with cheerleaders starting chants in among the fans with the whole experience entertainment with a capital E.

The announcers get the crowd into an almost fervour, constantly urging them to "make some noise" which is accompanied by a huge taped roar.

A remote-controlled blimp about three metres long hovers over the crowd during breaks in play, which, to be fair, are fairly often, dropping cards with prizes, like manna from heaven.

There's also a section for youngsters, which notches up the decibel level even higher, especially when the players get involved in fisticuffs, which seems to happen often.

Use of the fists is a sending-off offence in rugby but it seems to be actively encouraged in hockey. Every time a couple of players throw down the gloves and get stuck in it's greeted by a huge roar of "fight, fight, fight," particularly by the younger members of the crowd. The referees only intervene when one of the protagonists falls to the ice. The penalty then is a couple of minutes in the sin bin for one or both.

While there's plenty of action off the ice, on it the skills displayed are superb, with fast-paced play and supreme ability to move the puck across the ice. Sometimes it's a blur of bodies, but despite this, I managed to keep up with the puck surprisingly easily. With a game of three, 20-minutes periods, with a 17-minute break between, the night went far too fast.

The Giants went 1-0 up early in the first period, but fell 1-6 by the end of the second period. But with the roar of the crowd constantly in their ears the Vikings pulled back to be 5-6 with a couple of minutes to go, leading to a grandstand finish.

They couldn't get that last goal to even things up, but the exuberant crowd still went home happy, while I was buzzing from my first pro hockey experience.

I'll go back to Vancouver, but next time I'll make sure it's when the Canucks are at home. I enjoyed this too much not to see the "big boys" in action, although I've been told I better book my ticket well in advance as the Canucks can have a bit of a waiting list.Mike Dinsdale was in Vancouver courtesy of Air NZ.