Finally a Fan

Another season, another attempt to introduce Naomi to Stars hockey. Past attempts were met with midling success. But she's a whole year older now, so she must be ready, right?

YES! Of course, we kinda stacked the deck...

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We started the game in our assigned seats in the upper deck, discussing the finer points of the game. Naomi: "Are the white guys the mean guys, or the black guys the mean guys?" (not racial, Stars were in their home blacks, San Jose were in whites)

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The big cross-our-fingers moment came in the first intermission. Once again, I'd squared it with my boss for Naomi to ride the Fan Zam. This time, we made sure to prepare her for how loud it was gonna be, comparing it to Speed Racer's car, the Mach 5 (a current favorite of hers, odd, we know). Also, from some inside info, I knew a sponsor's bear mascot was gonna be riding, so we played that up. And when the moment came to climb aboard, Naomi happily followed the other kids up the stairs without looking back. Still not sure she wasn't gonna freak out, and wanting to give her a last chance to bail, I reached up, tapped her and asked "you ok?" Sitting next to the bear, she looked down, smiling and said "Look! He's holding my hand!" Yeah, she's ok. :)

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Then it was time to call in favor #2 - a seat upgrade from an usher friend. We watched the rest of the game from some primo seats in the lower bowl, where the players ("nice guys and mean guys") looked much bigger, which in turn, seemed to make the game more interesting to Naomi. We saw alot of the back of her head for a while. Could she actually be into this???

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2nd intermission, time for one last favor. We pointed out the Ice Girls to Naomi a couple times during the game, playing up the princess angle (sparkly uniforms, shimmering pom-poms, etc). Again due to some inside info, I knew just where to find em and made sure Naomi got a meet & greet with two of my favorites. Thank you Rachael and Yvette.

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That's all I had planned, but wait - there's more! The Stars treated us to an 8-2 blowout of the "mean guys" which meant lots and lots of goal celebrations. By the end of the game, Naomi had the goal song and accompanying "Hey!" with fist pump down. The third period was pretty much a blur of "Hey!" with a large popcorn and some dancing thrown in. Hockey party.

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Needless to say, Naomi had a GREAT time. We spent the ride home re-enacting the Fan Zam ride with Jenny playing the familiar part of the Ice Girl and me as the big blue bear. And we're already hearing about "next time we go the the Stars game...". Mission accomplished.

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If you're wondering where Danielle was during all this, just remember, we've been down that road before. She'll be ready to join us next season. One fan at a time...