Boom. Boom. Boom.
Loud drums beating in sync.
Colorful flags waving wildly.
The cadence of organized chanting.
Intimidating yelling in a strange language.
Sounds like the front lines of a foreign battle, doesn't it?!
Nope, just pregame intros at a European hockey game. And it is awesome!
I had no idea what to expect at my first hockey game in Germany. I remember walking into the arena and being blown away. It was so loud and the people were so involved. It was great, and I really was left a bit speechless. The fans in that rink three years ago were wild. Multiple drums on different corners of the rink. Loud, yet organized cheering. You knew they had met up to practice all the chants they come up with. Mix that in with LOTS of beer drinking and an arena that was more metal barn than rink. And that wasn't even when their team scored a goal. Can you imagine the insanity then!?
Yeah, good luck to any team that was on the road there. You didn't stand a chance.
Back in North America, pro rinks are fairly quiet (I have heard college rinks are loud, but never having been to a college hockey game, I don't know). When we would go to the hockey games at home, it was usually a fairly mundane deal. You could look around and see that it was more of a social event rather than a chance to really get into the action.
People sit on their hands, sip their beers and cheer for goals and boo at bad calls, but very little in between. I don't know if I could go back to watching hockey like that, it's just too eerily quiet.
Mimicking themselves after the crazy German soccer fans, the ice hockey fans go all out preparing for the games. They practice their chants, and there are a lot of them. In most cases, the announcer at the game only says the first name of the player, and the crowd chimes in with the rest. And they all know the names by heart.
They have professional looking posters and flags made. You just aren't part of the group unless you have a scarf to represent your team. And everyone wears a jersey. Some even wear two; one on normally, and the other tied around the waist so that both names show. I guess it's just in case they couldn't decide who was their favorite that day.
Everyone knows when to say what, when to clap in rhythm. Heck, even the our arena plays this one German song when the other team gets a penalty. And everyone, I mean EVERYBODY (especially the kids), knows to yell "Arschloch" at the end of it. Have a guess at what that means, isn't too hard to figure out.
But of course, it can get out of hand. In the hubs' game just last night, a visiting fan was hit pretty badly in the eye with one of the flags. He was tended to and had to be taking out of the rink.
The hubs has gotten pelted with various things on the ice, usually a rain of empty plastic cups from those really trashy rinks. Fans have even tried to fight him and his teammates when they were coming off the ice. Not joking. Hey buds, maybe not the smartest idea to fight a guy with a helmet, full padding, sharp skates and a weapon. Stay sober!
Here is a video of some angry fans I found from a years back. This video scares me! (BTW, whistling in Europe is booing). Why is the announcer yelling like that!? He is actually wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Lovely.
It is so crazy and loud in the rinks that I wince at the volume of it all. But I wouldn't have it any other way. And I don't think the hubs would either. Talk about motivation on the ice!
Jump around in the video below to get a bit of a feeling of the madness I am trying to describe. If you ever find yourself in Germany, hockey fan or not, you have to check out a game. This party is worth going to!
Loud drums beating in sync.
Colorful flags waving wildly.
The cadence of organized chanting.
Intimidating yelling in a strange language.
Sounds like the front lines of a foreign battle, doesn't it?!
Nope, just pregame intros at a European hockey game. And it is awesome!
I had no idea what to expect at my first hockey game in Germany. I remember walking into the arena and being blown away. It was so loud and the people were so involved. It was great, and I really was left a bit speechless. The fans in that rink three years ago were wild. Multiple drums on different corners of the rink. Loud, yet organized cheering. You knew they had met up to practice all the chants they come up with. Mix that in with LOTS of beer drinking and an arena that was more metal barn than rink. And that wasn't even when their team scored a goal. Can you imagine the insanity then!?
 |
| What an awesome mood to set for a game! *not the rink then, just an example (source) |
Back in North America, pro rinks are fairly quiet (I have heard college rinks are loud, but never having been to a college hockey game, I don't know). When we would go to the hockey games at home, it was usually a fairly mundane deal. You could look around and see that it was more of a social event rather than a chance to really get into the action.
 |
| (source) |
Mimicking themselves after the crazy German soccer fans, the ice hockey fans go all out preparing for the games. They practice their chants, and there are a lot of them. In most cases, the announcer at the game only says the first name of the player, and the crowd chimes in with the rest. And they all know the names by heart.
 |
| Get into the cool club with a scarf (source) |
 |
| Can you imagine the money spent in these fan clubs?! (source) |
Everyone knows when to say what, when to clap in rhythm. Heck, even the our arena plays this one German song when the other team gets a penalty. And everyone, I mean EVERYBODY (especially the kids), knows to yell "Arschloch" at the end of it. Have a guess at what that means, isn't too hard to figure out.
But of course, it can get out of hand. In the hubs' game just last night, a visiting fan was hit pretty badly in the eye with one of the flags. He was tended to and had to be taking out of the rink.
The hubs has gotten pelted with various things on the ice, usually a rain of empty plastic cups from those really trashy rinks. Fans have even tried to fight him and his teammates when they were coming off the ice. Not joking. Hey buds, maybe not the smartest idea to fight a guy with a helmet, full padding, sharp skates and a weapon. Stay sober!
(if for some reason it isn't working, check it out here. I thought it was still worth sharing!)
Here is a video of some angry fans I found from a years back. This video scares me! (BTW, whistling in Europe is booing). Why is the announcer yelling like that!? He is actually wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Lovely.
It is so crazy and loud in the rinks that I wince at the volume of it all. But I wouldn't have it any other way. And I don't think the hubs would either. Talk about motivation on the ice!
Jump around in the video below to get a bit of a feeling of the madness I am trying to describe. If you ever find yourself in Germany, hockey fan or not, you have to check out a game. This party is worth going to!
