Friday, December 04, 2009
What a Game...
Last night Laura and I attended our first professional hockey game, and it was a doozy! Yesterday I mentioned there was a game tonight, imagining we'd be watching it at home. Then Laura said "Should we go?" I checked Stubhub and found two tickets in section 110, row D for $50 each. I checked other seats available, and another pair five rows back were going for $85 each. Score!
Four rows from the ice
(We got our seats 30 minutes early and had a nearly empty arena to photograph)
One of the Washington Capitals stars is two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin. In the previous game he was checking a guy and they ended up hitting knee to knee at high speed, sending both guys sprawling. When it was over, neither was seriously hurt, but Ovechkin got a two-game suspension for "kneeing." We are still learning the rules of hockey, so it's a subtle distinction between kneeing, boarding (pushing someone into the wall), and a simple legal check (slamming someone against the wall with all your speed and weight). Interesting what gets a penalty call.
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They print lineup lists specific for each game and insert them in the programs, for which they only charge $2, which I thought was amazingly fair. You know at a Redskins game a program would be $15, but that's why the Redskins (despite their awful record) are the second highest money-making team in all of the NFL. It's also why everyone despises Redskins owner Dan Snyder. The loss of Ovechkin was tempered by the return from the injured list of Alexander Semin, another Caps powerhouse. He had a fantastic night, with two goals and two assists.
The game had everything, even the obligatory brawl. In the third period, Florida player Mike Duco flat-out attacked Caps player Alexandre Giroux (yep, the team has THREE Alexes!). When it was all over and the players were pulled apart, Duco racked up TWENTY-SEVEN minutes of penalties: 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting, 10 more for misconduct, and 10 after that as an aggressor. Holy crap! He was ejected and Florida had to play seven minutes a man down with someone in the penalty box. The Panthers were already down 4-0 at that point, and it killed their chances of coming back. By the way, the Panthers are the same team who just a few days earlier had a player get mad and try to break his stick against the goal, only to smack his own goalie in the face, sending him down and requiring a stretcher.
Final score: 6-2
We definitely had a heck of a first game! We'll return again sometime. I'm hoarse this morning from cheering!
By the way, I am not a "sports guy." I watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, hate basketball, college football, pro football, and baseball (except to see live at the pro level now and then). But something about rooting for a home team, a home team that is good, is fun. And amazingly, my wife and I have an equal level of interest in it.
Four rows from the ice(We got our seats 30 minutes early and had a nearly empty arena to photograph)
One of the Washington Capitals stars is two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin. In the previous game he was checking a guy and they ended up hitting knee to knee at high speed, sending both guys sprawling. When it was over, neither was seriously hurt, but Ovechkin got a two-game suspension for "kneeing." We are still learning the rules of hockey, so it's a subtle distinction between kneeing, boarding (pushing someone into the wall), and a simple legal check (slamming someone against the wall with all your speed and weight). Interesting what gets a penalty call.
.jpg)
They print lineup lists specific for each game and insert them in the programs, for which they only charge $2, which I thought was amazingly fair. You know at a Redskins game a program would be $15, but that's why the Redskins (despite their awful record) are the second highest money-making team in all of the NFL. It's also why everyone despises Redskins owner Dan Snyder. The loss of Ovechkin was tempered by the return from the injured list of Alexander Semin, another Caps powerhouse. He had a fantastic night, with two goals and two assists.The game had everything, even the obligatory brawl. In the third period, Florida player Mike Duco flat-out attacked Caps player Alexandre Giroux (yep, the team has THREE Alexes!). When it was all over and the players were pulled apart, Duco racked up TWENTY-SEVEN minutes of penalties: 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting, 10 more for misconduct, and 10 after that as an aggressor. Holy crap! He was ejected and Florida had to play seven minutes a man down with someone in the penalty box. The Panthers were already down 4-0 at that point, and it killed their chances of coming back. By the way, the Panthers are the same team who just a few days earlier had a player get mad and try to break his stick against the goal, only to smack his own goalie in the face, sending him down and requiring a stretcher.
Final score: 6-2We definitely had a heck of a first game! We'll return again sometime. I'm hoarse this morning from cheering!
By the way, I am not a "sports guy." I watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, hate basketball, college football, pro football, and baseball (except to see live at the pro level now and then). But something about rooting for a home team, a home team that is good, is fun. And amazingly, my wife and I have an equal level of interest in it.
# posted by smacky @ 7:36 AM 
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Re: And amazingly, my wife and I have an equal level of interest in it.
I know you're not a basketball fan, but that "equal level of interest" is what I like about my Memphis Tigers basketball team. It's something our whole family loves. The year before Paul and I moved, we had season tickets for us, my parents and Paul's dad and his friend. Now that we've moved, our families have kept their season tickets. I'm a third-gen Memphis alum and Paul's a second-gen alum, and we definitely love backing our home team.
On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of the Memphis Grizzlies (NBA), Redbirds (AAA baseball), and RiverKings (minor league hockey), as well as the Tennessee Titans (NFL). I'm happy just having my one team to back. :)
Glad you guys enjoyed the game. Think you'll ever buy into season tickets?
I know you're not a basketball fan, but that "equal level of interest" is what I like about my Memphis Tigers basketball team. It's something our whole family loves. The year before Paul and I moved, we had season tickets for us, my parents and Paul's dad and his friend. Now that we've moved, our families have kept their season tickets. I'm a third-gen Memphis alum and Paul's a second-gen alum, and we definitely love backing our home team.
On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of the Memphis Grizzlies (NBA), Redbirds (AAA baseball), and RiverKings (minor league hockey), as well as the Tennessee Titans (NFL). I'm happy just having my one team to back. :)
Glad you guys enjoyed the game. Think you'll ever buy into season tickets?
Re: And amazingly, my wife and I have an equal level of interest in it.
Had she been to a professional game before?
When we were dating, I took my wife to her first baseball game (Montreal Expos) and while she enjoyed it, she admitted that at first she had expected to hear the running commentary "like on tv".
I think that was when I knew she was the girl for me.
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Had she been to a professional game before?
When we were dating, I took my wife to her first baseball game (Montreal Expos) and while she enjoyed it, she admitted that at first she had expected to hear the running commentary "like on tv".
I think that was when I knew she was the girl for me.
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