I enjoy attending sporting events live to see the games and experience the atmosphere. Sometimes I’ll go to another town in Sweden to see “my” team and make a weekend out of it. This time the goal was Gothenburg and the game between Frölunda HC and Leksands IF in Scandinavium. I’ve been here once before because of hockey but at that time there was a horse show in town so the game was moved to Frölundaborg. Now I was about to see the “famous” Scandinavium.
I booked hotel, train, and game tickets a couple of months ago and I was scheduled to leave on Wednesday, attend the game on Thursday, and go back home on Friday. I usually don’t dare to take a train somewhere far away on the same day as an activity since trains seem a bit too unreliable (sadly enough).
Luckily though the train down to Gothenburg was uneventful. Watching a couple of TV shows and working some made the three hours pass by rather quickly. At a couple of the stations the conductor warned disembarking passengers of the snowy platforms and to be careful because it could be slippery. I prefer snow over rain since you can brush it off, however, when I arrived on the west coast, it only had a liquid downfall, delivering on its nickname “Blöteborg” (blöt = wet).
While walking to Elite Park Avenue where I was staying I checked two different O’Learys to see if I could see the World Junior Championship in hockey between Sweden and the Czech Republic. Reserved a table and went on to find myself some late lunch, a schnitzel at Ölstugan Tullen Wärdshuset just across from the hotel.
After check-in, I relaxed for a while in the room which I apparently had booked as a bit more spacious type before heading to meet up with Anna, who where to hand me a package for Lars, who lives in Uppsala. Felt like a secret agent meeting up outside a pub on a busy street to avoid suspicion. I got back to the hotel and worked some more before heading off to O’Learys Avenyn to watch the game. Entertaining match but a tough result. Good night!
Slept really well all the way until the alarm went off. My colleagues needed some more help so instead of tv shows along with breakfast I brought the laptop and worked some more. I had booked The secret at the magic school at Paladia Escape Room at 12:15 and Stefan, Robin, and Eric would meet up and join. Nice to see the old friends from Dreamhack, it was some time since I saw them. The room started off with a rather big blunder on our part, after that it went pretty smoothly and we finished in about 35 minutes. A couple of too many padlocks for my liking but they compensated for that with a great atmosphere and environment. I’ll definitely try to get back there next time I’m in town. After we completed the room we headed off to a café and just talked. Amazing how time can fly by while just having a conversation. Finally, I had to break off to prepare for the evening.
Got back to the hotel, took a shower, and then started to look for some dinner. I got a recommendation from the other about Buenos Aries, an Argentinian steak house but since it was closing in on face-off I was looking for a pizza place because I thought it would go quicker. I realized I wasn’t the only one and after being rejected at three restaurants since I didn’t have a reservation I headed to the steak house anyway since it seem to not be as full as all the others.
I don’t think the waiter understood my question if it would be a problem to get the food before the game but I got a table and the food came rather quickly, and it was delicious! I wouldn’t say I rushed it but I could definitely have taken a bit slower and enjoyed it more, especially in the company of some friends.
I left the restaurant for the arena, and it was a nice feeling walking among the crowd heading for a sporting event. Everyone is positive, hopeful, excited, and looking forward to what’s coming. Entry was smooth and I went to find my seat which, except for a bit off the middle, was a jackpot. A fence in front where I could put my drink, seats to my left were empty, some LIF fans to my right, and a couple of nice FHC supporters behind me. Further to my right was the away section, filled with singing LIF fans, they did a great performance!
The arena itself seemed a bit old but functional. The toilets had a “direction of flow which probably would have worked pretty well if people weren’t sneaking in through the exit which blocked the whole thing. Comfy seats, a bit far from the ice but I can’t say it felt especially crowdy even though it was about 10,7 out of 12 k in attendance. Unfortunately, the game didn’t go as I wished with Frölunda beating Leksand with 4-2.
Walked back to the hotel and went to the pub, Bishops Arms, to watch the second period of the bronze medal game between the USA and Sweden. Moved up to the room for the third period and it was quite exciting but ended in a loss in overtime. And since Sirius lost against Sandviken earlier the same night I can sum up the 24 “sports hours” in Gothenburg as a catastrophe. Four out of four losses. Hopefully, it is reversed on Saturday. I tried to improve my spirits by playing with the bag of candy I had bought earlier. I didn’t dare to post the image without the bag 😉
Slept well again, ate some breakfast, checked out, and then took off to the train station. Now the snow had started to pour down and it was quite windy as well. Had to protect my eyes at times to see where I was going. Not too cold though!
The train ride home went smoothly as it should. Spent the time writing this blog post and hoping that writing this last paragraph before I’m actually home won’t bite me in the ass 🙂
