Last weekend the Ogden Mustangs had a scrimmage game. It was free, fun, and exciting. There were a lot of players out there, and even though it was a scrimmage, there were some gloves thrown down, some fists thrown around, and laughs all around.
Of course this isn’t the NHL, so it was a little messy and crazy out there, but they were all playing hard and doing their best. I don’t keep up on the Mustangs well, but I think this was also the tail end of their training camp / tryouts for the team. Most players did not have names on their jerseys, their leg pads and skates were all rainbows and scotch tape and some of the players were a little out of their element. The Mustangs play in the USPHL – NCDC league. They are aged between 16 – 21 I believe. They are also a feeder team to the Minnesota Squatch hockey team.
I took a bunch of photos, but we were sitting nice and close so the glass got in the way of a lot of action (for the camera, we were fine). Like I said they did have a few skirmishes at this game (kind of unusual for a scrimmage since they’re all teammates).
The Mustangs also have a mascot: He came and said hi to everyone. The security was also on point. They harassed these two young ladies about their hand righting or color choices on their signs (or he told them not to lean on the glass or they’ll get bonked when the boys slam into the boards).
Something else that you encounter when you sit up close at a hockey game is the aroma of expensive pads with a few games worth of sweat soaked in. I don’t think it is quite so bad at an NHL, AHL or ECHL game, but we have yet to afford tickets that get you close enough to know. Utah also has another hockey team down in Salt Lake called the Utah Grizzlies. They’re in the ECHL and have been here since ~1995. They’re a team I love to watch as well, but driving to SLC is a pain in the keaster, so we really limit our trips down there. Ironically, the Grizzlies are not the feeder team for our Utah Mammoth, but for the Colorado Avalanche.
Back to the Mustangs, this game was scrappy too! Of course I had to try to take a few pictures of the puck drops. It took a few tries, but I finally got a couple of the puck before they shot it off out of frame.
I took too many pictures of them scrapping a little bit too. Sometimes it was almost a bench clearing event, but mostly, they hugged and laughed after the fight (kind of like siblings).
When you scarp, someone usually ends up in the penalty box. Of course no hard feelings, and even the ref was smiling as he took one of the instigators to the penalty box.
Overall it was a lot of fun to see some live hockey. The next planned time we get to see live hockey will be in October, but maybe we can sneak in a Mustangs game if they meat the Mammoth to the punch.
A few straggler images that caught my eye.
It is so much fun to enjoy hockey with the woman I love. Even the stench of stinky hockey pads couldn’t take the enjoyment out of this date night.
~me
