THIS IS SPARTA

Mackenzie Fisher
Feb 28, 2017
3 min read

I would like to first start off by saying I have been to hockey games before. I am a Washington Capitals fan, and am used to the rowdy bleachers and occasional fights on the ice. NOTHING prepared me for the craziness that is a Czech hockey game. Hockey is the Czech Republic's main sport, and they won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and won three straight gold medals at the world championships from 1999 to 2001. Needless to say, they are pretty awesome. We went to see Prague Sparta at the O2 arena, which is the largest hockey arena in the Czech Republic with a capacity of over 17,000 spectators! It was filled to the top!

It is not every day you walk by a swat team to get into a hockey game.

We were sitting far away from all of the crazy super-fans, so we weren't too worried! Shannon and Britney did get a beer spilled all over them, but at least it was when Sparta scored! Love my roommates!

Kelly is a sports marketing major, and a huge hockey fan too, so we bought jerseys! Sparta's colors are burgundy for home, and white for away.

I bought forward Jaroslav Hlinka's jersey, who has one of the best records this season! He actually got the first goal of the game! Kelly got forward Miroslav Forman, who ended up getting player of the game. We definitely got lucky with the men we sported on our jerseys!

HC Sparta Prague was playing Kladno, also known as Rytíři Kladno, which is a team based in the city of Kladno. They had a ton of fans come to the game, and the entire away section was filled to the top! The team president is Jaromír Jágr, who is actually the father of NHL player Jaromír Jágr! (Who played for the Caps!)

Sparta scored twice in the first period, and the crowd went crazy! The only chant we understand was "Let's Go Sparta!" and the rest were in Czech! We tried multiple times to figure out what they were saying, and just ended up yelling random sounds that went with the rhythms.

One thing that I have never seen in an American hockey game was that in the third period, both teams put tarps over their standing sections.

I will give it to Kladno's fans, they stayed the entire game, even with a 4-0 loss! This was so cool to me, because in America, so many fans would have left early. The stadium was still filled to the top until the last second of the game!

Sparta came out with the win 4-0! The fans went crazy!

There is an after game ritual that is common for Sparta fans in the Czech Republic. The team will line up and then skate over to their fans. They raise their sticks high in the air, and all of the fans bow to them. This is a sign of victory, and then they wave at the fans and thank them for their support. How cool!