Penalty Box: Five for fighting

Dating does stink at times... but damsels must be rescued and frogs must be kissed, or in this case, there needs to be a body checked into the glass.

'Joe' learned from a mutual friend that I am a huge ice hockey fan and really what girl isn't! We began to talk to each other about lists of stats that we knew from our favorite teams, his being the Anaheim Ducks and mine the Calgary Flames, we soon learned that they were going to play each other at the Pond. So, he asked me out to the game. Hockey and a cute boy, what could go wrong?

Joe was a season ticket holder and suggested that he pick me up, since he had parking covered. He showed up in a Ducks jersey and I walked out in my Flames jersey. While looking me up and down he said, "This is going to be a fun night! I can already tell." I simply shooked my head and got into the car and off we went.

We were 10 rows off the glass, dead center of the rink. If his goal was to impress me and change me into a Ducks fan...these seats were a good start. Okay, home field = Ducks and I was surrounded by a brace, a flush, a flock and a paddling of Duck fans. So, I did what comes naturally to me at any sporting event "GO FLAMES!"

Those around us were all good sports about the little Flame's fan. The Flames were in the lead early in the first, then the Ducks came back to tie the game. By the second period the Ducks lead 3-1. I still had hope. But when the hometeam is winning at home the beer flowed a bit more around those who surrounded of us. Now there was drunken trash talk aimed at me and my mortified date.

I was a good sport about the talk since I knew that my team would come back, until my date began to heckle me. "You need to sit down, You are embaressing me and They can't hear you!" Needless to say, I was shocked, as were the people around me. So, I didn't yell as much... "Come on, body check him already, Pass the puck, POWER PLAY!!" Well, by the end of second period, Joe got up and yelled at me, "I'll be in the car waiting to take you home!" Oh, you read that right, my date walked out of the game that his team was winning and waited in the car for the game to be over.

I'd like to think that this moment would have unsettled me, but a Duck winger was checked right in front of me! My newly formed friends kept me company for the rest of the game. Some even asked why I would put up with that behavior from my boyfriend. They were dumbfounded to find out that this was our first and more than likely last date. Some of them were kind enough to walk me to the car, just in case, he decided to leave me at the Pond. True to his word, he was in the car and more than happy to take me home.

The Flames won 5-3 with a late third period power play, but he didn't want to hear it. The Flames may have won but my date went down in ...thanks to the Flames!!