“You look a little pale,” I tell Heinz, our sports writer, after I greet him.

“But I am feeling better, for sure,” he yells. He was sick for a few weeks and I was happy to meet him at the stadium, even though it’s so loud that we have to yell at each other. In 20 minutes, I will see my first ice hockey game in a stadium. I am excited. The fans of our local hockey team, the Wild Wings, are singing chorus after chorus on the right side of the stadium. On the left side I can see policemen lined up next to a group of fans from the other team, Adler Mannheim. Two rivals are playing against each other tonight and the place is full—5,000 people and hundreds of policemen. One could say they are like the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers—enemies. The fans of each team can get a bit … rough. That’s why the police are watching the whole stadium.

Schwenningen is a small town in the Black Forest region, with a population of 36,000. What makes this town special is its local ice hockey team, Wild Wings. They are playing in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the German Ice Hockey League. Tonight is the first game of the season and I am sitting in the Edmonton Oilers press box with Heinz, our ice hockey expert for the newspaper I am working at. I am here to learn from him. A few weeks ago, he was sick, my co-worker was on vacation and I was the only editor left at the newspaper. I am working—writing about ice hockey. It was just a pre-game but, still, I had to report about it. The pre-game was taking place in Switzerland, so I wrote the report while watching it online. It went okay. I followed the comments of the sports reporter but realized I had no clue about hockey. That’s what I am trying to tell Heinz over the noise of 5,000 fans. He looks at me and says, “But you have lived in Canada, right?”

I nod. Shame on me.

Anyway, tonight I will learn from Heinz, who is writing his articles live at the stadium. The game starts at 7:30 in the evening and the report has to be at the newspaper by 11 o’clock, to be printed in the next day’s issue. We are Schwenningen’s local newspaper, and ice hockey is important … don’t make any mistake.

Heinz has his laptop set up in front of him. Our row is full of reporters. I prepare my pen and paper. The moderator lets us know that the game is about to start. He calls the players out, one after another, by name. The Wild Wings fans are cheering them on already. I am familiar with some of the names: the Spink brothers, for example, are twins from Ontario. Tyson and Tylor Spink have been playing for the team since 2020. They are pretty good, and fast. The coach is from Ontario, as well—Steve Walker. I can spot him in the Coaching Zone.

Usually I am on the other side, sitting at my desk in the newspaper office and waiting for the hockey report. But now I am here and it’s already time for bully. The game has started and Heinz and I are following along. He explains the rules about the two blue lines on the ice, while typing notes on his computer. Suddenly he is yelling. I realize he is not yelling at me but at a player on the ice. Heinz is not only a reporter, he is a fan. He doesn’t even try to hide it or to be neutral. After the first period, everybody in the press box agrees that the Wild Wings are too slow. The Wild Wings didn’t have much of a chance against the other team.

That is changing in the second period. The Wild Wings are picking up speed and I am captivated. Heinz comments that they play unusually fair (no fights, so far, on the ice). After the second and third periods, the score is 1:1.

Now I am hooked.

The team is getting better, the fans are singing and the Wild Wings are fighting like no other team. The clock is ticking and, still, the score is even. Ten minutes to go. The team is fighting to get hold of the puck. Overtime. Penalty for Mannheim! Finally, Wild Wings player Max Görtz scores a goal and it’s 2:1 for Schwenningen.

They won! We won!

The stadium is bursting with joy. I glance at the clock and it’s 10 o’clock, already, and we still have to go to the press conference to get quotes from both coaches. We make our way through the stadium and rush to the conference. Photographers and reporters are waiting for the coaches and the manager.

The clock is ticking and I am nervous because we do not have much time left before our deadline. On my way back to the press box, I realized how quiet it is. The fans have left and the stadium is almost empty … just a few ice machines cleaning the rink. I dictate quotes to Heinz, so he can finish his article, and with five minutes left before the deadline, the article is emailed to the newspaper.

We won!

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