Toledo, Ohio: Wine on Ice

This past Saturday, the Toledo Walleye hosted a wine tasting before their game against the Evansville Icemen.  The wine was tasty, and the hockey game was even better.

SB and I went with Ayo (a friend from college) and two of SB's co-workers, Chithra and Patrick.

Clockwise starting from the left: Patrick, Ayo, SB, and Chithra

The engineers had a difficult week, so they were looking to try a bunch of wine before the hockey game started.  I went as the designated driver.

When we got to the Huntington Center in downtown Toledo, the Wine on Ice event was underway.  We grabbed our etched Toledo Walleye wine glasses and hit the hors d'oeuvres line before sampling the wines from three different regions:  West Coast, South America, Europe.

Each region had four different wines, and each of our five tasters managed to try most of the twelve wines available.  The samples weren't always full glasses, but a few of them were.  By the time the game started, we were ready for the fun.

Toledo Walleye games are the winter thing-to-do in this area (the Toledo Mud Hens are the summer thing-to-do).   The arena seats about 7,000 people, and one avid fan said they sell out standing-room-only tickets, bringing the total attendance to around 8,200.

The Walleye are two leagues below the National Hockey League (NHL), but a few of the players will go on to play for the Chicago Blackhawks or Detroit Redwings.  The play is competitive and fast, and the fans are as die-hard as any NHL team.

Our seats were one row up from the glass.  It was the Pink in the Rink event to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research.  The ice was dyed a spotty pink, darker in some areas and lighter in others.  SB said it looked like there was already blood on the ice.

SB thought the ice looked bloody.  She was half-correct.
The Icemen bled goals all night.

We sat behind an eight-year-old birthday party, so we were already entertained despite having a game to watch.  They cheered, banged on the glass, and shouted the team's motto, "Hit Somebody," with more passion than any of the adult fans around them.  They were jacked up.  It didn't help that their parents were feeding them a steady stream of junk food, candy, and soda.

The Icemen took an early lead, but by the end of the first period, the Walleye had managed to go up 2-1.  The first period was docile compared to the second.

Ayo, Chithra, and Patrick bought some beers for the group at the break (I got a water).  With newfound, liquid vigor, our cheering section got louder.  The eight-year-old birthday party in front of us tried to start the wave.  Our party joined the effort.

SB high-fiving our cheerleading section

At first, our success was only isolated to our two rows.  Then, we were able to get most of our section involved.  After about a half-dozen more tries and pleading it was an eight-year-old's birthday wish, the section next to us was involved.  Finally, after two more tries, the wave took off.  It circled the arena three times, and we could all check "starting the wave" off our bucket lists.

In the aftermath of our wave, the Walleye went on to score three goals that period, bringing the total to 5-1.  It was becoming a route.  I took the apparent lull to sneak away to the Swamp Shop, the team's pro-shop, and buy a foam Walleye hat that we made Chithra wear the rest of the night.  She wore it with pride and class.

The foam hat really brought out the tannins in the wine.

The third period started in a lull but finished strong.  Chithra and Patrick snuck away for most of the period to see some of their BP coworkers who had box seats.  Ayo, SB, and I cheered the Walleye onto their sixth goal.  Our little cheerleaders up front were also tuckering out, and a few of them left to get University of Michigan quarterback and future NFL draft selection Denard Robinson's autograph.  He was at the game raising money for Pink in the Rink.

For the final five minutes, our cheering section was back to full force.  We tried to start the wave, again, but our attempts were blocked by the Walleye's seventh goal and the final whistle.  The game ended 7-1.

The group finished their beers, and we headed back to our apartment.  We met up with Katie, another of SB's coworkers, and that's when we made the last-minute decision to shoot the Harlem Shake video.