On Tuesday night, I went to my first Toronto Maple Leafs game. While being a huge fan of hockey, I just haven't had the extra cash to go, and the opportunity never presented itself either. Finally, I was able to see hockey the way it was meant to be seen, at the rink.
I got tickets from a friend of mine. He had the chance to upgrade his tickets to reds, which are great seats and he asked me if I would like his old tickets, which were greys. Not the best seats, but hey, I'll take what I can get. So I called up a buddy of mine and off we went to the game.
So we went down, found parking for $25, and went in. Once in the Air Canada Centre, we were told to keep going up, going up, and going up. We found out the seats were not actually seats, but a portion of the floor behind the very top railing in the ACC, so we decided to find some empty seats to make ourselves home in. Not 2 minutes into the game a couple presented us with their tickets for the seats we were in, so we promptly moved to our allotted floor space.
First period was great, and even though we had to stand, one could see clearly enough to make everything out. We went for intermission, grabbed another beer, (for $12.50!!) and proceeded to climb the stairs back up. The arena had a problem with the lights, and we heard a voice from our right; "Guys, you can't drink here". Huh? "No drinking in the standing area. Didn't you see the sign?" Um, no, because the sign is maybe 6" square, almost behind a pillar, so I didn't see it. Maybe if it was on the ground where I am putting my beer down, I would have seen it. Needless to say, we got kicked out to the concorde to finish our drinks.
So we decided to say screw it and leave. I mean, who wants to stand watching a game when you can not enjoy your beverage of choice? So, we left, all was cool.
Until we hit Erin Mills Parkway and Dundas.
Some man, I guess he was in his early sixties, decided that he didn't want to turn left after all onto Dundas, and proceeded to go through – and take down – the traffic light post, cut-off a car in the left lane, which cut us off, which made us cut-off the car in the farthest right lane. He kept going, and plowed into a lamp post. His car was totalled.
So here we were, standing again. In the rain. Waiting for the police, fire trucks and ambulances. We were fine, not much besides being a little shaken up and sore. My friends truck didn't have much damage besides a few dents and in need of an alignment.
Two hours later, we finally made our way home, because the police took their sweet time filling out reports, and it didn't help that the guy who caused the accident had a heart attack on the side of the road after he realised what shit he was in. I wonder if he made it...
I guess it could have been worse, we could have been easily been seriously injured if we were a few seconds earlier, but I'll tell you one thing, it will be a while, maybe another 30 years, before I go to a Leafs game again. ;)