The Ice Hockey Game

Raul had been working in Montreal for two months when his colleagues invited him to his first ice hockey game. He came from Guadalajara, where people talk about soccer all day, and he had never watched a hockey game in his life, not even on TV. "You're going to love it," said Julie, who sat next to him at the office. "It's simple, isn't it, guys?" Everyone agreed. It was simple.

The arena was enormous and freezing, and twenty thousand fans were wearing red shirts. Raul sat between Julie and Marc, who had brought a huge bag of popcorn. When the players skated onto the ice, the noise was so loud that Raul felt it in his chest. "How many players are there on each team?" he asked. "Six on the ice," said Marc. "Five skaters and a goalie. It's simple, isn't it?"

It was not simple. The players changed every minute, jumping over the boards while the game was still going on. "Why do they keep changing?" Raul asked. "Because skating that fast is exhausting," Julie explained. "Each group only plays for about forty-five seconds." A moment later, a whistle blew and the game stopped for no reason that Raul could see. "Offside," said Marc. "You know offside from soccer, don't you? It's the same idea. Well, almost."

Then two players dropped their gloves and started fighting. Raul was shocked, but nobody else seemed worried. The referees waited a few seconds, pulled them apart, and sent both players to sit in a small box at the side of the ice. "That's the penalty box," Julie said. "They have to stay there for five minutes. It's simple, isn't it?" Raul wasn't sure, but he was starting to have fun.

By the third period, he was shouting with the rest of the crowd. He had learned that the puck was the small black disk, that a game has three periods of twenty minutes, and that you must never, ever say anything nice about the team from Toronto. With two minutes left, Montreal was losing two to one. Then the Montreal goalie left the ice. "Why is he leaving?" Raul shouted. "Is he injured?" "No! They want an extra attacker," said Marc. "It's risky, but we need a goal!"

It worked. With eight seconds left, a young player shot the puck between the other goalie's legs, and the arena exploded. Strangers hugged Raul and popcorn flew everywhere. The game went to overtime, with only three skaters on each side, and Montreal scored after a minute. Raul jumped up so fast that he spilled Julie's drink.

On the way home, his colleagues asked him what he thought. "I still don't understand offside," Raul admitted, "and I don't know why fighting is allowed. But you'll take me again, won't you?" Then he smiled. "Actually, I've already bought tickets for next Saturday. It's simple, isn't it?" Julie laughed so hard that she had to stop walking.