Sometimes, a game is simply a game.  There isn’t a lot of depth or wackiness to the thing.  You go, you have a good time, you see a hockey game.  Not every game is a transcending experience.  They don’t all have something you have never seen before, or something so remarkable that it requires some long exposition.

This is one of those games.

Rather then make it out to be something it isn’t, let’s simply enjoy the experience of a fun hockey game together.  This coming weekend is the Pink in the Rink game, and I will have more pictures from that.

Welcome to the Landers Center.

For all the talk I do about cookie cutter arenas, the Landers Center is not that, at least, not on the outside.  It looks like it tries to honor some of the southern Antebellum architecture style (yes, I had to look it up).  There are even some highlights of that in the concourses.

It looks completely cosmetic, but it’s great to see a building try to be somewhat modern while being stylish as well.

Let’s head inside.

This was taken at the second intermission, so no snarking on the crowd.  The crowd was great.  They had more life than I’ve seen at some NHL games.  They love their Riverkings.

We got to the game a little late, due to some work scheduling issues (not mine, as I don’t have a job (but if you have one for me, that contact page is here)), so we missed a few goals, and the Riverkings led the game 2-1.  Right after we sat down, the Riverkings made things interesting my maybe scoring.  At least that’s what the goal judge thought.  Not so much the ref.  In the minor leagues, they don’t have the sort of setup as they have in the NHL.  There is no War Room to call, and the ref’s decision is the final say.  That said, a call was made.  To the goal judge, to see what they saw.

I admit, I had never seen this before.  There was no goal, so play moved on.

Action!
(click any picture to make it bigger)

Yes, the lighting in the corners does leave a little to be desired.

There are a few photos and sequences I have here that I call, “what is going on there?”  Such as the legs of the player to the left.

Or what is the goalie doing here?

I guess that works.  Here is the goalie making a save and batting the puck away.

The mascot for the Riverkings is a turtle.  Here is the turtle mascot scaring a kid.

I’m with you kid, I’m with you.

This goalie looks almost too perfect for a goalie.  He looks like a drawing or a graphic of a goalie you would use on something that you wanted to convey, “this is what a hockey goalie looks like.”  If you made a silhouette of this guy, he would be the perfect hockey goalie clipart.

Let’s head to the pro shop to get our puck.  And some… hockey socks?

Yep, those are hockey socks, and I guess they are for sale.  They look new and unused, maybe overstock from previous games. I like it.

Here is the pink jersey they will wear for their game this weekend.

That could be the most pink jersey I have ever seen.  Wow.

It was military appreciation night, so there were charities set up in the concourse.  The support dogs were the hit of the night.

Here are a few Riverkings alternate jerseys for you.

Wait, is that last guy on the wrong side of the glass, or am I?  I am, and I will get to that in a moment.

Back to the action!

Go Kings Go.

A few nice goalie sequences.

And on the other end…

And back…

And one more time…

And that ends the second.  Let’s see what the booster club has.

You don’t see this often at minor league games, an all you can eat option.

That includes beer.  If this were an NHL game with NHL prices, you would jump at that price.  Here, it’s a little more friendly to your budget (but not that much more), so if you are hungry, it makes total sense.

Back to the third period!

Backup goalies.

The final, YOUR Riverkings 6, the Ice Flyers 2.  Shots on goal were 50-29 favoring the Riverkings.

But we aren’t done yet.  We get to do a post game skate.

They actually have a pretty good setup for a post game skate.  This is why I was on the ice side of the glass for that autism jersey above.

The bench.

Banners.

And that does it from the Landers Center.  Yes, it was JUST a hockey game.  But just a hockey game is still a hockey game, and I love a hockey game.  I had a good time, and I’m looking forward to doing it again this weekend.  It’s going to be hard to bring you much that is new from the game on Saturday, other than a lot of pinkness, but I will do my best.

Until then, happy hockey.