The Arena

The first game we attended. 7pm at the Peaks Arena in Provo, Utah.

Half an hour south of SLC, Provo is best known for being the home of BYU. The people of Provo are extremely proud of being able to host part of the Olympics and the people there were very nice.

But the Peaks Arena was a total dump.

Peaks is normally two ice rinks, side by side, as part of a big entertainment complex that includes the water slide park next door. It's a miracle that they were able to turn this place into a "suitable" Olympic venue. They covered up one of the rinks with wood boards, then brought in hard metal benches that look like used high school football bleachers. As a result, people are squished like sardines into these uncomfortable seats, where personal items are free to fall from your feet through these giant gaps onto the ground below. It's a miracle that no children were killed.

And there was a security officer whose sole job is to go underneath to pick up dropped personal belongings, while dodging beer bottles falling from above.

If you were unfortunate enough to be in the 200s section of seating behind the net, there are two giant blue columns that obstruct your view. And there's no indoor plumbing in any of their bathrooms - all porta-potties. And there's no parking on site - you have to be bused in and out, which created massive wait times trying to get out of the arena. And the ushers had no concept of hockey ettiquette - orange pylons could've done their job.

We affectionately nicknamed Peaks, "The Ghetto". Not a good place to watch hockey.

The Crowd

Probably the biggest shock to me was the make-up of the fans. Because this was a preliminary tournament game with minor hockey powers, the tickets were probably given out at heavy discount and/or free.

The crowd was made of groups of elementary school kids who were busy exploring their new found feelings for the opposite sex, locals who had never seen a hockey game before and just wanted to go see an Olympic sport, and morons.

Remember when Alvy Singer is in line at the movies in Annie Hall? I had to listen to this expert talking about about how Chris Chelios would be a better defensemen "if he only hit people" and how Team Ukraine was going to win a medal because "their guys look tougher than the other countries"....

And just when I thought it couldn't get worse, a bunch of the elementary school kids behind me decided to arbitrarily root for the French and started chanting, "Go France! Go France! Go France!" non-stop.

And the entire arena went silent whenever there was an icing call, because the crowd didn't know what the heck was going on.

The Game

It was a Preliminary round game between the Ukraine and France - despite that neither country is a hockey powerhouse, the game featured some interesting players. The star for the Ukraine was NHLer Dmitri Khristich. Team France featured former NHLer Phillipe Bozon and recent Kings draft pick Cristobal Huet.

Ukraine jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one. Phillipe Bozon tried to single handledly bring France back, but France's penalty killing gave up three Power Play goals. France lost 4-2.

Neither team advanced to the Final round after the Preliminary round. Ukraine played the next night against Latvia in the 9th place/10th place game - France played the next night against Slovakia in the 13th place/14th place game.

It was a disappointing start to my Olympic trip. An interesting game but a horrible viewing experience.

                        1ST  2ND  3RD     TOTAL
                        ---  ---  ---     -----
    FRANCE               0    2    0        2
    UKRAINE              2    2    0        4  FINAL

    GOAL SCORING:

      1ST PRD: UKR - (PP) IGOR CHYBIREV 1 (ROMAN SALNIKOV, VALERI
                     SHYRYAEV) 12:00
               UKR - (PP) DMITRI KHRISTICH 1 (ROMAN SALNIKOV) 18:36
               Penalties-
               V. Bobrovnikov, Ukraine, (holding), 1:51; 
               V. Timchenko, Ukraine, (highsticking), 4:24; 
               D. Perez, France, (holding the stick), 7:21; 
               A. Carriou, France, (cross-checking), 10:32; 
               A. Briand, France, (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:52; 
               P. Bozon, France, (highsticking), 10:52; 
               V. Shakhraychuk, Ukraine, (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:52; 
               V. Timchenko, Ukraine, (roughing), 14:55; 
               B. Bachelet, France, (hooking), 17:49.
               
               
      2ND PRD: FRA - PHILIPPE BOZON 2 (UNASSISTED) 2:42
               UKR - VADYM SHAKHRAYCHUK 2 (ANDREI SRYUBKO, BOGDAN SAVENKO)
                     3:39
               UKR - (PP) OLEKSIY PONIKAROVSKYY 1 (ROMAN SALNIKOV, VALERI
                     SHYRYAEV) 4:38
               FRA - PHILIPPE BOZON 3 (VINCENT BACHET) 5:59
               Penalties-
               Y. Treille, France, (interference), 3:48; 
               A. Sryubko, Ukraine, (holding), 9:27; 
               L. Meunier, France, (charging), 14:11; 
               O. Ponikarovskyy, Ukraine, (cross-checking), 14:11.
               
      3RD PRD: NONE 
               Penalties-
               R. Salnikov, Ukraine, (kneeing), 6:49; 
               R. Salnikov, Ukraine, (cross-checking), 6:49.

   POWER-PLAY CONVERSIONS: FRA - 0 OF 6, UKR - 3 OF 5.

   SHOTS ON GOAL:       1ST  2ND  3RD     TOTAL
                        ---  ---  ---     -----
                  FRA    6   15   10       31
                  UKR   14   13    5       32

         GOALIES: FRA - CRISTOBAL HUET
                  UKR - KONSTANTYN SIMCHUK

       OFFICIALS: REF - Ulf Radbjer, IIHF
                  LIN - James Donald Garofalo, IIHF, Eduards Odins, IIHF

             ATT: 6,019