Star Wars Night with the Gladiators!

 

Tonight was Star Wars Night at the Gladiators hockey game, and it was pretty fun!  This was a Christmas present for Maddie - along with an extra ticket to bring a friend.  Maddie chose her friend Maddie, and the two of them got ready for the big game.  Maddie wore her new Mighty Ducks jersey, and we braved the cold (temperature in the twenties as we arrived!), and got to the arena for the big night.

This was one funny addition to the night - they were playing "Duel of the Fates" before the Zamboni drivers went out on the ice tonight.  Audience members voted for who they thought should win, and it seems the audience was in favor of the dark side tonight!

Our seats were fantastic, dead center in the club seats with a perfect view of the whole game.  The two Maddies were enjoying the game, along with snacks and/or a meal.  Mom and Maddie both had spicy chicken wings, which according to them were pretty good.  

Before the game began, we were wandering out there in the lobby area, and that was super fun.  There were dozens of 501st members out there, all of them more than happy to pose with us for a photo.

Maximus (the team mascot) was wearing a pretty awesome Darth Vader Gladiators jersey.

The dark side I sense in these ones!

So Maddie wanted to pose with a beaver.

Ah, here we are with some characters from "The Mandalorian."  See my hat?  I'm a Mandalorian too!

 

These costumes are our favorites of the night.

But how can you forget Chopper!  He looks great... and quite dangerous!

Clash of lightsabers!

Ginormous cookies!

The girls pose with some good guys...

...and they pose with some bad guys!

Chopper looks great!  Keep an eye on that jawa though!

Good idea, Chopper.  Get away... go get some free merch!

Outside in the bitter cold, the girls meet some fashion-minded Imperials.

Kylo Ren says "hi!"

It was a close game with some Star Wars themed mini-games for the audience, like the "pod racing" event where rows of people passed along large pictures of pod racers, seeing who could get theirs to the finish line first.   Plus all the music and an exciting intro video that tied "Rogue One" to the Gladiator players.  Tonight we all got these hockey pucks that were soft like stress-relieving hockey pucks, ones with the Gladiators logo on them.  There were all kinds of extras tonight!  We all had a great time at the game, and as you can see, Maddie looked sharp in her Mighty Ducks jersey.  It seems super likely now that we'll be having a Mighty Ducks marathon!

The rest of the day was relaxing for Maddie, having fun with games at hoe while Mom and I were at the church working on the props and costumes and so on.  Lots of clearing, purging, and moving things about.  It was a pretty big work day, one where we earned a fun night at the game.

We got home tonight and it was late of course.  We read, and we prayed.  And it's cold out there.  We got under a mound of blankets, nice and cozy!