The Jetpacker

The Czech Republic cultivates some of the best hockey players in the world — the country won gold in the 1998 Olympics and bronze in 2006.  So as huge fans of the sport, we couldn’t wait to go to a hockey game in Prague.  We just didn’t expect it to be so… different.

Of the 14 teams in the Czech Extraliga — the top professional ice hockey league in the Czech Republic — two of the best teams are located in Prague: HC Sparta Praha and HC Slavia Praha.  Sparta won the league championship in ’06 and ’07 while Slavia won it all in ’08.  We wanted to check out both teams, but only Sparta was playing at home when we visited Prague.

Sparta plays at Tesla Arena, an old arena with a capacity of just over 10,000 (as opposed to Slavia’s recently-constructed 17,000-seat O2 arena).  And it just so happened that during our visit Sparta was playing a big game against a major rival: HC Pardubice (with only 14 teams in the league, isn’t every team a major rival?).

How The Hell Are We Going To Get Tickets?

The city of Prague is so English-friendly that we assumed it’d be a piece of cake to order tickets at the box office.  But Tesla Arena is located on the outskirts of the city where not many tourists frequent and English speakers are few and far between.  When we got in line, it finally hit us: “How the hell are we going to get tickets?”

There were tons of people waiting in line.  There were fans of the opposing team trying to cause a stir and cutting in line. And no one spoke English.  As we inched closer to the box office, we tried to come up with ways to communicate our ticket order.  Maybe signal the number 2.  Maybe plop down a large bill and see what we get.  We had no clue.

But just before we got to the window, Jackie asked a nice guy named Michal for help. Fortunately, he had just spent 6 months studying English in Australia.  What a relief.  We gave him money and he bought our tickets.

Michal was attending the game by himself and was eager to practice his English, so the three of us sat together.  He was a fantastic guide with a surprisingly firm command of the English language despite only learning it less than a year prior.  He was like our personal Czech hockey guide: he talked to us about the great players on the team, the rivalry between the two teams and what was going on during the game.  And we in turn told him about the NHL.

NHL Vs. Czech Extraliga

We’ve been to a lot of NHL games, including games at six different NHL venues across the U.S.  So we have a pretty good grasp on what makes a great hockey-going experience.  And while our experience at the Sparta game was certainly great, it was also very different from what we’re used to.

The Czech game isn’t as fast paced as the NHL and the goal celebrations aren’t as theatrical (check out video of Sparta scoring a goal here).  But the experience in the stands is vastly superior to the NHL.

Fans of the opposing team sit in a secluded section on one end of the ice and the hardcore fans of the home team sit on the other end.  And for the entire game, both fan bases compete for supremacy.  When Pardubice scored, the fans would chant and ridicule Sparta.  When Sparta scored, their fans would do it right back.

And for the entire game, drum lines from both teams wailed away, the rhythm getting faster as the momentum shifted, frenetic thumping when their team scored.  Each side had a designated fan with a bullhorn that would shout instructions to chant or dance or wave flags.

So even though the game on the ice wasn’t as fast as we were used to, the show in the stands amplified the speed and energy of the game.  It was exciting and entertaining; we couldn’t help but get wrapped up in the spirit of the competition.  I’d take this any day over an NHL game where fans remain quiet in their seat until things start to go their way.

Well, I’ll take everything besides what sounded like a small bomb that went off in the Sparta Praha fan zone.  Jackie and I were the only people startled by this, so perhaps it’s a regular thing to have small explosive devices detonate in the middle of a game.

A couple other things we loved about the game in Prague:

#1.)  Tickets are cheap!  The most expensive tickets for the best seats are less than $10.

#2.)  The players shake hands after every game.  We rarely see that display of sportsmanship in the NHL — only when a playoff series ends.

#3.)  There’s a strange ceremony at the end of the game where if Sparta wins, the team stays on the ice and the hardcore fan with the bullhorn tells ‘em what a good job they did.  Then the players dive across the ice to celebrate.

Luckily, we got to see this first hand — Sparta Praha won 5-1.

Check out Sparta’s home page here.