Tuesday, 19 February 2008 09:54

Ladies Night With the Sundogs

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It was loud, it was raucous, it was rowdy - Welcome to Ladies Night with the Arizona Sundogs!

The Sundogs players pose for photos at the end.

It was loud, it was raucous, it was rowdy - Welcome to Ladies Night with the Arizona Sundogs!

Imagine a room full of cheerfully chattering women seated at 20 or so round tables. Now, add a hockey player from the Sundogs to each table and it makes for a rather interesting, if noisy, evening.

And by the way, the hockey players were the quiet ones!

Sundogs team captain, Dan Laperriere stated it best, "What happens at Ladies Night, stays at Ladies Night."

The event was held at the Quality Inn on Highway 69, with about 150 very enthusiastic women in attendance. Sponsored by johnie b. and Prescott Woman Magazine, a delicious buffet dinner was served while the ladies chatted with each other and "their" player. Burnie the Sundog, uncharacteristically wearing a dress for the evening, wandered through the room ready to give hugs, pose for photo ops and even hand out a bit of mischievous teasing. By the way, folks, Burnie does have a MySpace page for you to check out.

The evening's agenda looked pretty straightforward: A Hockey 101 clinic, explaining the rules of the game; a presentation by the trainer, describing the typical injuries sustained by hockey players; and a demonstration of the kind of safety gear a player wears.

Emcee Robby Incmikoski , explained, "The most popular part of the program, in our four times of being here, is the Equipment Demonstration. We've recruited a couple of new players to do it, so once again tonight, these players will drop down to their shorts and t-shirts..." and at that, the ladies broke into loud cheers and applause, drowning out anything else he said.

Incmikoski, who is also the Sundogs radio play by play announcer, did a terrific job of keeping the event moving at full speed. About dessert time, he started the Hockey 101 clinic - designed to help the ladies learn about the rules of the game, and what the possible infractions and penalties are. (You can view the same information on the Fan Zone Hockey 101 page of the Sundogs website.) It soon became pretty apparent, however, that the women in the room weren't exactly riveted to the presentation - they had probably seen it all before, since this was the fourth annual Ladies Night. So, Incmikoski decided to skate through the information, moving faster than most of the slides could be read.

Dan Welch , the Sundogs trainer, known affectionately to his teammates as "Grapes," tried to give a presentation on the types of injuries likely to be sustained by a hockey player, but even samples of smelling salts and photos of awkwardly bent knees and bloody faces didn't phase these ladies. It was obvious they were waiting excitedly for the big event: Equipment Demonstration.

sundogladies_053.jpg
Collins holds up the underwear he had "borrowed".
Three players had been chosen to gear down for the ladies, and they each brought all their gear in large duffel bags. The plan was that they would strip down to their shorts and t-shirts, and then suit up in their gear. But it soon became apparent that there was a glitch in the program - Dusty Collins (#7) one of the players who was supposed to take part in the demonstration, had forgotten to, errr... wear shorts in the first place. While this was being discussed, one lady quietly left the room, only to return with a pair of women's briefs (complete with cute little red hearts) for Collins to use instead. Collins briefly modeled the borrowed attire, but ended up not participating in the final Equipment Demonstration.

But, that was okay with the women, because eventually, that pair of briefs was auctioned off. Even Incmikoski sounded a bit stunned when he announced over the laughter and cheers, "Dusty, someone has just bought your underwear for $300."

Proceeds went to the Sundogs Foundation.

The Equipment Demonstration covered both a skater's gear and a goalie's gear. Putting on the gear wasn't just for the guys; after the player's demonstration, a couple of ladies from the audience had a friendly contest gearing up in the hockey equipment, accompanied by the sound of cheers and laughter.

Once the festivities were finished, the players stayed around to sign autographs, and pose for photos. It was obvious that if these ladies weren't fans when they arrived, they certainly were by the time they left, wearing huge smiles and clutching their cameras and autographed memorabilia.

As the attendees trickled out the door, an unsuited "Burnie" was seen in the corner eating a heaped-up plate of dinner, with the dress laying in his lap. He looked glad to be out of the mascot gear, noting that it gets pretty hot. "When you take the head off, usually you can just see steam rising. The only people that are even close to knowing how hot it is, are the goalies that are on the ice all the time."

April Strunk was asked why she attended Ladies Night, and she replied, "I just heard it was a great time, and an awesome way to meet the players and learn about the game."

When asked if she was able to learn much over the noise in the room, she just smiled and said, "Well, I did learn a little extra."

And not only did Strunk say she'd recommend it to others, but promised, "I'll be here next year!"

Jackie Swenson, a first time Ladies Night attender also said she'd recommend the event to her friends. "The best part was just meeting all the guys. I knew some of them, but not all of them."

 

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Lynne LaMaster

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