Hockey night in Kandahar!

[star_deceiver]

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servle...aHome. ... .Canadians beat Americans in Afghan ball hockey gameBy: The Canadian PressDate: Sunday Feb. 21, 2010 7:47 AM PTKANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The most senior American general in southern Afghanistan was talking pretty tough before the ball dropped at Kandahar Airfield. "How hard can it be?" Brig.-Gen. Ben Hodges said with a good-natured grin. "I mean, you chase a ball around and hit it with a stick." Maybe the Canadians just make it look that easy. Sixteen times the Canadian soldiers lit the lamp to the Americans' two. Every goal sent the Canuck faithful into a maple syrupy sweet frenzy of flag waving and blaring air horns. The game's organizers billed it as Hockey Night in Kandahar -- never mind that the teams played under the blazing mid-afternoon Afghan sun -- and for a couple of hours Sunday players and fans forgot a war is raging outside the walls of this sprawling military base. At least 500 spectators packed the airfield's wood-plank boardwalk to take in the game. They crowded around the boards and stood on the bleachers. Some sat atop two sand-coloured armoured trucks that had a giant Canadian flag tethered between their antennas. Others sat on a pair of yellow cherry pickers bedecked with familiar red-and-white flags, or on a white sea container where the players store their gear. The fans were so into the game that, for once, there wasn't a line at Tim Hortons. The only other time people aren't waiting for their double-doubles is when the shop is closed. You'd never know there are more Americans than Canadians now living at the airfield if you arrived here for the first time happened upon the game. There were maple leafs everywhere -- painted on the boards, fluttering in the crowd, even knitted on one woman's tuque. The top commander of troops in Kandahar joked that he'd called back his Canadian soldiers for the game. "One or two," Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard replied when asked if any troops were left in the field. "But not too many good hockey players." There were American fans, too, just not nearly as many. They were tucked away in the corner of the rink and behind the U.S. net. But their smaller numbers didn't stop the Yanks from trading some playful banter with the Canadians. "Hey, next time we're returning fire," one American fan joked after a Canadian goal. "I'll point out the fact that we're still winning the Olympics," said another. One of the soldiers who put the game together said he hoped a big Canadian win in Afghanistan would spur on Sidney Crosby, Jerome Iginla and the rest of Canada's Olympic men's hockey team in their Sunday match against the Americans. "We planned it to inspire (and) just show the guys back home that even though we're out here, we're thinking of them," Pte. Shawn Denesha said. "Hopefully once we beat the Americans today, it'll inspire (Team Canada) to beat (the U.S. team) back home." The Canadian troops trounced the Americans without the help of a lucky Loonie tucked under centre "ice," a tradition that began at the 2002 Winter Olympics where both Canada's men's and women's teams won gold. "Everything here is 100 per cent Canadian made, so therefore luck is spread all over the place," Denesha said. Luck seemed to play little part in the win. The Canadians were clearly the stronger players, in part because the team was drawn from the best players in the airfield's ball hockey league. To be fair, the Americans only had four days to get ready for the game. "We knew it was going to be a really tough game for us because that's what these guys do all their lives. They get sticks and pucks when they're kids. We don't," said Lt. Jeremy Patelzick, who played forward and serves in the U.S. navy. "They didn't score over 20 goals, so that's good."

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[Old Tele man]

...obviously the "refs" don't have to worry about any "icing" being done there!

[star_deceiver]

Quote, originally posted by Old Tele man »...obviously the "refs" don't have to worry about any "icing" being done there!Are you sure? There is a Tim Hortons nearby... And let's face it, who can resist a nice warm honey cruller!!!