The stands seemed more alive than I have ever experienced inside a hockey arena. The cheering was louder. The music was more boisterous (lots of ear-shattering choruses of Shania Twain’s Man, I Feel Like a Woman.) The applause and foot-stomping seemed more animated.
The energy in the Coca Cola Coliseum for a Toronto Sceptres game I attended last month felt powerful enough to lift the roof off the place. But amid all the hoopla, there was also video on the jumbotron featuring members of the team answering the question, “Who is a role model you look up to?”
“My grandma,” said Sceptre player Lauren Bernard in the video. “She came from East Germany when she was about 20. … She took me to all my hockey games growing up. She’s been the backbone of my journey.” (more…)