David in Geneva - Part III

On Tuesday night the 16th, David decided to go to a Swiss hockey game. He'd seen some ads for the team on the buses and saw the schedule and decided to go. He almost talked one of his NASA colleagues (also a hockey fan) into going, but he was too tired. By the time David got back to the hotel after the meeting to change, the game had started, so he tried to call to see if tickets were still available. After only hearing a pre-recorded message in French, he decided to just go out to the arena and risk it. The arena was only ~95% full and David got there in time for the start of the 2nd period.
The fans were very vocal during the entire game; it was like watching a European soccer match. Many things at the game were the same as American hockey (rules and style of play, food, mascot, zamboni). But some things were just different enough to feel odd. There were NBA-style cheerleaders, who danced to music in the aisles during breaks in play. Even stranger was that half the music was European disco-pop and the other half was American arena-rock standards (The Offspring, Outkast, Donna Summer, etc.). The home team won 4 to 1.