OK, let's try this again, and maybe the third time will be the charm. I already tried to post this twice via ping.fm over the past two days, but neither post appeared.

On Tuesday evening, I attended an event that I've looked forward to since the start of the hockey season. It's the annual Season Ticket Holder Dinner With the Team/Skate Party. In prior years, this event was held at the Skate Zone, where the team practices. However, this year, it was held at the Spectrum.

Since the Spectrum is slated to be demolished at some point after the hockey season, this was going to be the only chance I ever would have to skate on the Spectrum ice. Needless to say, I was determined that I'd be out on that ice to take advantage of that opportunity, arthritic knee or no arthritic knee.

The plan was that when we RSVPed, we were to inform the front office if we needed skates. The rental skates that are normally made available to us at the Skate Zone, which also serves as a public skating rink, were going to be brought in to the Spectrum, and they wanted to know how many skates to bring and what sizes were needed.

When I called, I was told that there would only be men's sizes available, which I found to be a curious restriction. But I told them I'd need men's size, 6, which is what I am told would equate to a women's size 8. However, upon my arrival, I discovered that they DID have women's skates available.To make a long story less long, I wound up with a pair of women's size 6 skates... two sizes too small.

But did I mention that nothing short of the end of the world was going to get between me and skating on that ice? So I loosened the living daylights out of the skate laces,to the point where I couldn't lace the left skate all the way to the top. Then I wedged my feet into those skates. They JUST BARELY fit, and oh boy did that hurt, more than enough to distract my attention from the knee pain. ;) But by gosh, I was going out on that ice in those skates, and that was FINAL.

And sure enough, I did. I was able to get two full laps in before my feet escalated the pain to Crisis Level. At that point, since there was a shortage of rental skates, I turned the skates back in to let someone else have a chance at Skating On The Spectrum Ice for the last time.

So while I would much rather be able to keep the Spectrum, and my team, close by, at least we did get the chance to skate on the Spectrum ice, an opportunity which not many members of the public have. And now I've done just that. At least no one can take THAT away.

BTW... I also made sure to take pictures of Hat Trick on the bench, in the penalty box, and in the announcer's booth.:) And when I went on a guided tour of the locker room, I got a shot of Hat Trick in the stall of his fellow wearer of #10, David Laliberte. :) So it was an eventful night for Hat Trick,too.