Pray 4 Snow and MSU Hockey

On Friday night, I had two new experiences at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds (which are in Bozeman). One was the Pray 4 Snow festival and the other was my first MSU hockey game.

Pray 4 Snow is an annual event in which snow enthusiasts of all types get together and, supposedly, "pray for snow." I had never been, but heard it was fun. It started at 6 and went until 11, so I showed up with some friends around 7:30. When we got there, a band was playing inside the barn, but not many people were there—my friends who had gone last year said there had been a lot more people when they went. We decided we were probably early. By 9:00, there were more people, but still not a huge crowd. We walked outside, to where a large wooden dog (about 15 feet tall) was set up with a bunch of firewood below it, waiting to be burned. Apparently, we got there at the right time—some people had just lit it on fire. We watched as the fire grew until it overtook the dog and created an immense amount of heat. I puzzled over the question of how burning a massive amount of wood and releasing more heat into the atmosphere would help encourage snow to fall, but apparently these rituals are beyond my comprehension.

The burning dog, in all its majesty.

After the dog burned, we decided it was time to move on. As luck would have it, some of our other friends were attending the MSU hockey game, which started at 10:00 at the ice rink next door to where Pray 4 Snow was taking place. I didn't even know MSU had a hockey team until I heard about this, so I figured it was worth checking out. Hockey is a huge deal in Alaska, but I hadn't heard much about it in Montana. The rink at the Fairgrounds didn't have much bleacher space, but soon it was packed with people. Apparently the people that do go to hockey games are really into it. I decided to leave about a third of the way through, but it was a good game. From a little research I just did, I learned the MSU Hellcats hockey team is a Division II team. They are a registered club at the university, but don't get any funding from it; it's completely student run. You can check out their webpage here.

All in all it was an interesting night. The fairgrounds is a happening place; I'm looking forward to seeing Chali 2na, Gift of Gab, Lyrics Born, and Mr. Lif in concert there next Saturday...stay tuned.