Watching the Chops take on the Moose

Linda and I had seen the Iowa Chops play an exhibition game at the old KGGO arena; we wanted to see them at their official home, Wells Fargo Arena. The Manitoba Moose were in town so we took the opportunity to see how they'd play. As we'd seen at the exhibition game, the Chops played a fast and physical game and the Moose responded in kind. It was a very close and entertaining game until a rush on the Chops goalie resulted in an injury that sent him to the showers. The backup goalie was not up to the task and soon the Moose were scoring often. As the frequency of Manitoba goals went up, so did the frequency of hard hits and, ultimately, a few fights. On one occasion, over half of the players on the ice had dropped their gloves. Ejections, penalties and warnings got the game back under control and the Chops lost 1-6.