Ice Hockey French Cup: Angers!
My family and I drove to see the final game of the French Cup (Angers vs. Gap). Here's a quick recap.
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Why hockey?
Although I do not practice ice hockey, my kids do, so it's kind of natural that my wife and I started watching games. We didn't know it before, so we had to learn the rules, but that's easy enough. And of course, we support our local French team: les Ducs d'Angers!!!
Is it popular in France?
It's not as popular as football, rugby or tennis, but there are some very nice teams and ice rinks, so it's really becoming a thing.
For instance, Angers' rink (called IceParc) is brand new: built in 2019, it replaces the old rink (Harras' rink), which was a bit aged (1982) - and it can also host a lot more spectators, with 3500 seats (vs. 1000 seats before).
Ice Hockey and me
By discussing with some of my colleagues, I discovered that some of them are really into hockey:
- Jakub, a Czech colleague, used to play hockey and is a supporter of Pittsburgh,
- Dave, an American colleague, also likes hockey - we've even been to a NHL game together in San Jose - I'll shortly write an article about that :)
Les Ducs d'Angers
Angers' (the city where I live) Ice Hockey team is called "Les Ducs d'Angers"
(litteraly Angers' Dukes), and their logo is an eagle-owl.
The team has a Wikipedia page
with more details.
You can see the list of players here, including captain Patrick Coulombe and alternate captains Robin Gaborit and Vincent Llorca.
The Game
A bit of background
Last time Angers had been in the Finals of French cup was a long time ago (2014), so when Angers qualified for the Finals, this was really a big deal!
Location
The game was initially supposed to be held in Accor Arena in Paris, but due to Covid-19 restrictions, it got moved to a smaller arena: Aren'Ice in Cergy-Pontoise (North of Paris), whose capacity is ~3.000 seats.
1st Period
Gap scored twice in the first period (2-0), but Angers managed to score just before the end of the period (at 18'02'' and 19'01''), bringing the score to 2-2.
2nd Period
The exact opposite scenario happened in this 2nd period: Angers scored twice (4-2) at the beginning, but Gap scored before the end of the period (4-4).
What a crazy game!!!
3rd Period
No score during this period, so the 2 teams went to Overtime.
Overtime
As a reminder, the first team to score during overtime wins (principle of
Golden goal.
So to say that there was a bit of pressure is an understatement :)
But at 62'43'' (so 2'43'' into the overtime), Robin Gaborit (assisted by Neil Manning) scored!!! - you can see it here on Twitter.
Angers is French champion for the 3rd time!!!
Some pictures
The below pictures are not from me, but from the French Ice Hockey Federation.
Wrap Up
What a super nice game - not only because Angers won, but also because overall, there were very few fouls: the 2 teams played nicely, supporters from both camps were respectful, which made the game even nicer to watch!
By the way, the Wikipedia page I referenced before has not been updated yet,
since it mentions that the team has been French champion in 2007 and 2014, but
not 2022 :)
However, the page for then French
cup is
up-to-date.
Tags: Sport