playoffs!
I finally went to my first Sharks playoff game, Sunday vs. Edmonton (game 1). Oded had told me that the playoffs are fun, and I'd always wanted to go, but was either out of town or lacking money for tickets. This time, I lucked out ,getting a seat above the goal line for $60, and thorughly enjoyed the mayhem. Before warmups started, there was some buzzing around the Shark Tank from excited fans, and this continued until after both teams were done stretching. However, after Edmonton's starting lineup had been anounced in the arena, we were told (reminded, I suppose),that the game was being televised in the US and Canada, and were asked to "show who the best fans in the league are" (shameless ploy for noise). But man, was that ploy effective. We had a countdown of 8 seconds until the television feeds would kick in, and immediately, 17,496 fans started waving their rally towels and screaming at the top of their lungs. It was the first time I've gotten goose bumps from a crowd, the response was just that amazing. Truthfully, my ears were ringing after it for a few minutes. In addition to this, the sharks put player photos and video highlights on the ice, and did their usual trick of putting blue lights on the ice to make it look like water (which makes for a cool added effect when the players skate through the Shark head). In addition to the lights, they put out some remote control fins "in the water", and showed the Oilers logo. They then had the fins circle around the logo (very clever).
Edmonton got on the board first, with a power play goal from defenseman Jaroslav Spacek 2 1/2 minutes into the game, sending the Oilers fans (who were fun to talk trash with) into happy chaos, and the rest of us into stunned/pissed off silence. I was amused with Chris Pronger getting booed every time he touched the puck (or was near it), and had fun heckling "Dwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyne" (Dwayne Roloson; Edmonton's goaltender). As silent as the building was after Spacek's goal, we erupted in noise after Patrick Marleau tied the game 5 minutes later (roughly 7 1/2 minutes into the first period). The crowd went nuts, I continued heckling Roloson (the Sharks dumped the puck in, shooting it high and wide of the goal. Roloson gloved, it, prompting me to sarcastically yell "hey, Roloson actually stopped a puck!Way to go, Dwaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyne" (what can I say, Dwayne is a rather heckle-able name). Christian Erhoff got the last goal of the game early in the 2nd period (obviously, this wasn't known till the end of the game), making the crowd re-erupt in noise ,and leading to a fun, tightly contested hockey game.
The only downside to the game came after the final whistle. I went downstairs to take a shot of the scoreboard for the final score. My stuff (2 programs (1 for Al), puck, souvenir towel, and prescription sunglasses) were in a plastic bag 1-2 rows away from me. After I snapped the photo, the bag was gone, and I haven't seen it since. I'm hoping to get everything back, but if I can't, I'm really hoping/needing to get the sunglasses.
On an unrelated note, I've been waitlisted from Santa Clara and McGeorge. I'm still looking for work (hopefully something that pays $30,000+ per year, so that I can avoid some debt later on). And I've started tutoring a new student for $40/hr, yay.
Edmonton got on the board first, with a power play goal from defenseman Jaroslav Spacek 2 1/2 minutes into the game, sending the Oilers fans (who were fun to talk trash with) into happy chaos, and the rest of us into stunned/pissed off silence. I was amused with Chris Pronger getting booed every time he touched the puck (or was near it), and had fun heckling "Dwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyne" (Dwayne Roloson; Edmonton's goaltender). As silent as the building was after Spacek's goal, we erupted in noise after Patrick Marleau tied the game 5 minutes later (roughly 7 1/2 minutes into the first period). The crowd went nuts, I continued heckling Roloson (the Sharks dumped the puck in, shooting it high and wide of the goal. Roloson gloved, it, prompting me to sarcastically yell "hey, Roloson actually stopped a puck!Way to go, Dwaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyne" (what can I say, Dwayne is a rather heckle-able name). Christian Erhoff got the last goal of the game early in the 2nd period (obviously, this wasn't known till the end of the game), making the crowd re-erupt in noise ,and leading to a fun, tightly contested hockey game.
The only downside to the game came after the final whistle. I went downstairs to take a shot of the scoreboard for the final score. My stuff (2 programs (1 for Al), puck, souvenir towel, and prescription sunglasses) were in a plastic bag 1-2 rows away from me. After I snapped the photo, the bag was gone, and I haven't seen it since. I'm hoping to get everything back, but if I can't, I'm really hoping/needing to get the sunglasses.
On an unrelated note, I've been waitlisted from Santa Clara and McGeorge. I'm still looking for work (hopefully something that pays $30,000+ per year, so that I can avoid some debt later on). And I've started tutoring a new student for $40/hr, yay.