Author: Filip Polančec, OŠ Cvjetno naselje, Zagreb
When a boy named Noa was six years old, his father took him to his first ice hockey game. It was year 2009. That year Medveščak played their first EBEL season. It was a big thing for a small boy. From the next season they got seasonal tickets with their personal seats within the ice hockey arena. Since then, they have experienced countless wonderful moments and great matches. However, there is a moment, a day that he will remember as long as he lives.
The story goes back to the day when Medveščak played against one of its greatest rivals, a team called Alba Volan from Hungary. After Noa and his dad entered the ice hockey arena called the Home of Sports, his dad asked him: “Noa, where is your Medveščak scarf?” That scarf was his favorite one. His dad bought it for him when he attended his second ice hockey game ever. It was very special because you could only find it in a fan shop during the first EBEL season. The scarf was blue with a white colored bear head logo from Medveščak on the one side and with bear paws with claws on another side. Noa tried to find it around his body, but the scarf was not there. His dad told him to wait for him with his friend Alan and Noa watched him run from the arena to the outside in hope that he would find Noa’s lost scarf. He was waiting in sadness with Alan who is a real ice hockey expert. Dad came back and told Noa he couldn’t find the scarf. They were walking to their seats feeling very sad. Tears were flowing down Noa’s cheeks like an endless waterfall. During the first period of the game Medveščak was losing with 0:1 score and it looked like they would lose the game. Noa’s sadness for the lost scarf was strengthened by the fact that they were one goal behind their rival. He barely watched the game at that time feeling very inconsolable. His dad tried to encourage him but with no success.
Then he told Noa to wait on his seat. He climbed up the arena stairs towards the commentary box. He talked to one of the commentators, the guy whose nickname is Baby Dooks. He asked him to announce, during the game breaks, that Noa’s scarf was lost and kindly ask the potential founder to bring it to the commentary box. His dad returned to Noa who didn’t know at that time why he went upstairs. When he returned, Medveščak was now losing with 0:2 score.
During the first intermission Baby Dooks repeated the request twice. His voice was heard over the arena: ”A boy lost his Medvešak fan scarf, we ask the polite finder to bring the scarf to the commentary box“. Noa’s father raised him in the air so that people could see him. However, the second half passed and Medveščak was still losing 0:2. Nothing could cheer him up. He was able to see sadness in his father’s eyes, too. Soon the third period started and Alba was still leading. Tears were flooding in. And then, during the next intermission, Noa and his father heard Baby Dooks’s voice again: ”Let the boy come to pick up his scarf!” Noa wanted his father to get it but his father told HIM to go instead. Noa will never forget how he felt at that moment. There were no longer tears of sadness running from his eyes but tears of happiness. Noa climbed up the stadium stairs. When he got up the stairs, Baby Dooks handed him the scarf and the whole crowd applauded and the people started yelling: ”Bravo!!!” The intermission was still lasting. Noa returned to his seat and put his scarf around his neck and then performed his standard mantra he did since the first day when he put the scarf on: placing it gently around his neck and tapping bear’s paws for good luck. A minute passed and in the 54th minute (only 6 minutes before the end of the game), Noa’s favourite player Frank Banham scored the first goal and very soon player Adam Naglich scored for the tie. In three minutes Banham scored again for the lead! Everybody was singing and yelling. Noa’s eyes we full again but with tears of happiness. He and his father had their traditional celebration and it looked like this: his father would rise him on his shoulders and they would sing a song Serbus dragi Zagreb moj. The goals were scored so fast that his father didn’t have time to put him down before the end of the game. The victory was sealed with the fourth goal scored by Vyaceslav Trukhno. In the end Medveščak won 4:2.
Everybody was happy and the whole arena was singing. Noa’s joy was immense. He felt as if the crowd in the arena were one big family. He never felt like that before. His happiness was like a big cake, but it was missing a cherry. The cherry was added by Noa’s friends from sector F, one of the sitting sectors from the arena, who approached him and started patting him. They were telling him that his lost-and-found scarf brought the victory. When Noa got home, he couldn’t sleep because of the great event. His scarf was next to him on his pillow. To this day Noa and his father go to the ice hockey games with the same scarf that is now carefully guarded.
Life is a writer of great stories. Noa will always remember when he first looked at the sign inside the arena happy to see the letters joined together to announce the Medveščak motto TOGETHER WE ARE. Truly united, the team and its fans- kids, women and men. The feeling of belonging gives us chills and makes us so proud. We’re all together… as one big happy family.
