I was still feeling the pull of the Megamall. Moreover, I was feeling the pull of Grand Casino Arena, which was staging both Semifinals of the World Juniors. I stay pretty late after Vikings Games to make sure the traffic thins out, but I could move it up and still leave without getting stuck. So I formulated a plan to go down to the Mall Of America, buy some stuff at the pop-up store, eat at Popeye's (I had this digital coupon of three tenders for a buck), then drive to downtown St. Paul. If I could find parking close enough to the arena (parking meters aren't enforced in St. Paul on Sundays, so yay for me), I would park, buy a ticket, then see the second Semi at 7:30.
That last bit was buoyed in part by the prices I saw at scalper sites. I checked after Friday night's Quarterfinals, which included the United States losing to Finland in Overtime. I thought the prices would crater because the host U. S. was no longer in it, but prices were too high for me to entertain. In fact, I think StubHub told me there were no tickets to sell. But I checked again Saturday, and not only were there many tickets, prices were falling like a stone. SeatGeek's cheapest ticket Friday night was $93; it became about $50 Saturday, and while at work, I checked again and it fell to $39. That's it, man; even though I was tired as hell and I would be driving all around the Twin Cities, I decided to do all this.
Well, first of all, me eating so much after the Game that I had to shit really bad threw the Popeye's deal out the window. I felt this push out of my asshole while I was driving down to MOA, and if you know that feeling, it feels like you're about to fucking shit your pants so bad everyone will see and point at you and laugh. Scariest feeling in the world, am I right?
But I made it to the public men's room next to the doors at MOA, aka the last place I would want to evacuate my bowels, but of course, I had no choice. This diarrhea attack made me second-guess if I should even try and go to the Game. Good thing, then, that I didn't plan on buying a ticket unless I found a space to park in St. Paul.
Systems back to normal, I went to the pop-up. That orange quarter-zip that probably was going to be the thing I buy? Well, it went from one or two of those to six or seven. Unfortunately, the only sizes available were small and extra-large. This was something I saw with several popular items while I was browsing for World Juniors clothing. I couldn't buy that, and nothing else there interested me. So I didn't buy anything there, like I thought I would. Yeah, it was kind of a waste driving down there. But I had to know.
Didn't feel the urge to crap after that excretory meltdown when I cashed in the winning Powerball tickets I bought (oh yeah, I did that, too) on my way out to the car, so I felt good going to the arena. And maybe I shouldn't be surprised considering the half-empty crowds at Mariucci Arena for group and Quarterfinal Games, but I found a spot easy-peasy. And so I turned off the car, leaned my seat back, and looked at SeatGeek and StubHub for a ticket to that 7:30 Game. And I was surprised, and disappointed, that somehow prices for that Game went back up. It can't be demand; these scalper sites are running fucking algorithms to maximize prices. Makes me so goddamn frustrated. But hey, I got there, and I wanted to go, so I bought a ticket for Canada-Czechia for, hrmph, $50.
By the way, great Game. Back and forth, but the Czechs got the upset (even though this is the third straight year the country eliminated the Canadians), 6-4. (That Semifinal, by the way, was delayed from its scheduled start because the first Semi went past Overtime into a Shootout, where Sweden slipped past Finland, 4-3.) I'm glad I went, and this is the World Juniors, so maybe I shouldn't bitch so much over the price of the ticket. Anyway, I had plenty of time to check out the merchandise tables at the "Gicka." You remember my obsession/fear about "exclusivity," buying items that I could only find at Mariucci or the pop-up store at the Mall Of America? Well, that OCD blew up in my face. That hoodie with the huge 2026 IIHF World Juniors logo right on the front that I bought at Mariucci? Saw it there. And I also saw the Paul Bunyan & Babe t-shirts I also bought at Mariucci, as well as the first pair of t-shirts I bought, the ones that had the flags on the hockey blades on the front I bought at the pop-up. Oh, and the pin, too.
So, when it comes to buying things that appeared to be at only one place, I got the scarf that I bought down at MOA and the winter hat with the logo on a plate stitched on it at Mariucci. All the other stuff I bought I could've bought at any of the three places. And the scarf and hat, for all I know, were being sold at the other two places before they sold out. I'll rest in the peace of my ignorance. But I think I could've been more judicious about what I would've bought if I could've went to Grand Casino Arena for that Sunday group stage Game if not for the snowstorm that blew in that day. I think I would've gone up to the merch tables, realize that most if not all the items were the same as that at Mariucci, realize that some of the things I saw down at the Megamall I didn't see there (and vice versa), and purchased accordingly. But now I have a lot of things that, right now, I'm not cool with (see Title of blog post).
But hey, it was the World Juniors!
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