On Sunday afternoon we went to another Portland Pirates hockey game. The kids were pretty excited to sit next to Salty Pete for a while. He usually doesn't make his way to the cheap seats, at least not during the last few games we've attended.

The Pirates won which always makes the kids very happy. Screaming and clapping at the game are definitely part of the appeal for them when we go.

But I was feeling a little queasy near the end of the game. Initially I thought it was the geyser of blood that spurted out of the head of one of the players on the ice. The girls and I were kinda horrified but it turned out the player just needed a bunch of stitches.

Sunday's victory was marred by an injury to defenseman Kenny Smith, who suffered a severe face laceration when he was cut by a skate blade after a collision just outside his blue line with less than 3 minutes left in the game, leaving a large pool of blood on the ice.

Less than an hour after the game, Smith was in the Portland locker room,
"He took a lot of stitches," Dineen said, "but it's not life-threatening or career-threatening."

And although watching the blood getting scraped off the ice was unpleasant - and a real education for us as new fans this season - my queasy feelings turned out to be the stomache flu.

This afternoon I'm feeling a little better and trying to get caught up some things. As I checked out the forecast, I suffered a bit of a shock.

wcsh6 weather graphic

I thought we'd moved on...