Being in that arena, was unbelievable. Everything was marble floors, even in the bathrooms. The bathrooms also had TV’s in there to watch the game while you go. How sweet is that.

When we arrived at the arena we were told to park at 3 blocks south at the football stadium and a shuttle would bring us to the arena…great! As we were leaving the van, I myself, and a few others decided to leave our coats in the car as we didn’t want to be bothered with the extra clothing in the arena. Bad mistake. While the trip there was fantastic, after the gold medal game, trying to shove 9,000 drunk Canadians into buses to shuttle you to your car, is not fun. We stood outside in the -35°C freezing cold, waiting for a shuttle. When one finally did arrive, we were crammed in like sardines.

Here’s a quote from the Winnipeg Free Press:

It was North Dakota’s tournament in name only. Canadians flooded across the border to put their stamp on this shinny gathering.Estimates from the tournament committee pegged the number of Canadians, mostly Manitobans, in yesterday’s crowd at about 9,000 in an overflow crowd of 11,862 at Ralph Engelsted Arena.

Thanks for being a great host Grand Forks. We came, drank all your beer, filled your rink and walked away with the gold. We’ll come to your next party. And the one after that.

With Team Canada facing Russia for the gold medal the tournament recorded its first and only sellout. Canadians flocked to North Dakota throughout the 12-day tourney but yesterday it was wall-to-wall red and white. Sure there was some blue in the crowd too but only due to the hundreds of torn, tattered and forever loved Winnipeg Jets jerseys worn with pride.

It was amazing to see the number of Winnipeg Jet jerseys around. I myself doned the Jet jersey, taking me back to the grand ol’ days, where we could actually watch the NHL in the ‘peg.

At $4.50 for a beer too, Grand Forks made a fortune that evening. For $9 you got this kick ass hologram plastic beer mug, which fit 2 beers. You were told that you could only carry 2 beers at once, although they let you carry 2 - big beers. So that’s 4 beers total in one pass. Now that’s what I call selling to a Canadian market!