 |
| Some Lev Praha fans on the Jumbotron at O2 Arena in Prague. |
I’m talking about getting a different sports fix, of course.
Can’t be getting too multi-dimensional now, lest I become more of the marrying
type and less Joe Single.
With that in mind, and after months and months of
baseball-related blogs, I decided to give everyone a break and introduce you to
what has to be one of the most hockey-mad cities (and countries) in the world.
Three major hockey clubs call Prague home, longtime bitter
rivals Slavia Praha and Sparta Praha from the Czech Extraliga; and now, Lev
Praha, which is in its first year in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey
League. Nearly 200 Czech-born players have played in the NHL, and the country’s
national team won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1998, the first year NHL players
were allowed to play. The country has a buzz when it’s Extraliga finals take
place early in the spring, and the tension could be felt in this region when
the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which used to comprise the former
Czechoslovakia, squared off in the semifinals of the World Championships in
May.
Last week, I managed to finagle press credentials
and went to see Lev Praha host CSKA Moscow. Both of the teams, like most in the
KHL, are chalked-full of NHL players who are currently locked out in their
labor dispute.
The game itself was much like going to an NHL game, though
the fans of each team had several chants they do in unison, which gave it a
college basketball kind of atmosphere. Red was everywhere (it seems every team
in Europe has some form of red in their color scheme), and so was what seemed
to be a ridiculously large police presence, with most of them in full tactical
gear, ready for a riot to break out between the passionate fans.
After literally dodging the Zamboni as it came off the ice while
searching for the area where I was credentialed to sit, I wandered around the
concourse to see what the prices were for food and beer. As everyone knows back
home, you’re looking at $8 or so for a beer and at least $5 for a hot dog or
sandwich when you go to a professional sports event. It was refreshing to see
that the prices at the arena weren’t much more than you’d pay anywhere else in
the city. Forty Czech koruna (about $2 USD) would get you a beer, and food
wasn’t much more expensive than that. Take notes, Daniel Snyder.
During the breaks between the three periods, it was
literally a mass exodus towards the concession stands and restrooms. Czechs do
drink the most beer per capita of any country in the world, after all, and what
better way to drown away another loss by the home club than to suck down
another Pilsner Urquell or Staropromen.
Lev Praha took another loss, their seventh straight and
ninth in 10 games, but the arena was remained packed until the end, with over
14,000 fans in attendance. Kladno, a Czech Extraliga team located about a
half-hour outside of Prague and the home club of Jaromir Jagr, set an arena
record with over 17,000 the previous weekend, and Lev Praha set a KHL record
with a crowd of over 16,000 when Alexander Ovechkin and his Dynamo Moscow team
visited a couple weeks ago. So, in case you were still wondering, yes, they
like their puck over here.
Admittedly, I’ve never been a huge fan of hockey; I’ve
always been your typical (American) football, baseball, and basketball guy. But
I might have gotten hooked after attending the game, and next up on the wish
list will be to someday attend a Slavia-Sparta game, which I’ve been told can
get pretty intense – on the ice and in the stands. Think Cowboys-Redskins on
ice.
I’d love to watch some more games while home over the
winter, but thanks to the second millionaires (players) vs. billionaires
(owners) squabble this decade, it looks like this newest sports fix of mine may
have to resume when I come back east in a few months.