A Night to Remember
Last night was an f'n AMAZING night! I went to my first NHL game to see my favorite team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. I had been waiting for last night since I bough the tickets back in November.
Mike and I left Orlando around 3pm and for the most part it was a very pleasant drive except for a 5-10 minute period of torrential downpour and another 5-10 minute period of bumper to bumper traffic around the downtown Tampa area. We arrived at the St. Pete Times Forum around 5pm and decided to grab some dinner since the game didn't start until 7:30pm. We walked around and found an area that had a movie theater and a bunch of restaurants. We were initially gonna go to Hooters but Mike mentioned his girlfriend and her roommates meeting us for dinner so I picked Bennigans instead. They girls finally got there around 5:45 and we were seated around 6:00 or so. I had a very delicious Guinness burger while jamming to some great 80s tunes I selected from the jukebox. After dinner, Mike's g/f and her roommates went home (USF) and we made our way into the St. Pete Times Forum.
Everything from that point on was phenomenal. Our seats were in the second row right at the blue line. Even better, We were on the side of the Lightning defensive zone, so, being a Penguins fan, it worked out great because I got to see the Penguins on offense for 2 of 3 periods. One thing I was disappointed in, however, was the fact that they were only selling Lightning merchandise in the building...bummer. That's ok though, I had my Penguins hat. It was also great because there were a considerably large amount of Pittsburgh fans in attendance so I wasn't alone. Oh, and probably the greatest thing of the night, Sidney Crosby came back after 2 months of being on the IR due to a high ankle sprain. He didn't score any goals, but he did have an assist. The Penguins ended up winning the game 2-0 after the game winning goal was scored by Maxim Talbot with 2:45 left in the game. The Penguins later scored the second goal on an empty net with 7 seconds left in the game after the Lighting pulled their goalie.
The drive home was very nice and went by quickly. Well, nice except for the point 5 minutes from my house where there was a ramp closure so I had to take a "detour" that was not marked at all. I ended up having to go about 10 minutes out of my way just to get home but oh well.
I called work today to find out what time I come in today (last week they changed the time w/o calling me and I was almost an hour late) and I come to find that they didn't put me on today. Fine with me, more time to do hw. Just don't come calling me tonight when you have that huge corporate party and you have no clue how to ring it up.
I'm hungry so lunch is sounding pretty dang good right now. I think I'll grill up the remaining Italian style chicken breasts I bought from the store. Mmmmmm.
May The Force Be With You
-l4t3r
Mike and I left Orlando around 3pm and for the most part it was a very pleasant drive except for a 5-10 minute period of torrential downpour and another 5-10 minute period of bumper to bumper traffic around the downtown Tampa area. We arrived at the St. Pete Times Forum around 5pm and decided to grab some dinner since the game didn't start until 7:30pm. We walked around and found an area that had a movie theater and a bunch of restaurants. We were initially gonna go to Hooters but Mike mentioned his girlfriend and her roommates meeting us for dinner so I picked Bennigans instead. They girls finally got there around 5:45 and we were seated around 6:00 or so. I had a very delicious Guinness burger while jamming to some great 80s tunes I selected from the jukebox. After dinner, Mike's g/f and her roommates went home (USF) and we made our way into the St. Pete Times Forum.
Everything from that point on was phenomenal. Our seats were in the second row right at the blue line. Even better, We were on the side of the Lightning defensive zone, so, being a Penguins fan, it worked out great because I got to see the Penguins on offense for 2 of 3 periods. One thing I was disappointed in, however, was the fact that they were only selling Lightning merchandise in the building...bummer. That's ok though, I had my Penguins hat. It was also great because there were a considerably large amount of Pittsburgh fans in attendance so I wasn't alone. Oh, and probably the greatest thing of the night, Sidney Crosby came back after 2 months of being on the IR due to a high ankle sprain. He didn't score any goals, but he did have an assist. The Penguins ended up winning the game 2-0 after the game winning goal was scored by Maxim Talbot with 2:45 left in the game. The Penguins later scored the second goal on an empty net with 7 seconds left in the game after the Lighting pulled their goalie.
The drive home was very nice and went by quickly. Well, nice except for the point 5 minutes from my house where there was a ramp closure so I had to take a "detour" that was not marked at all. I ended up having to go about 10 minutes out of my way just to get home but oh well.
I called work today to find out what time I come in today (last week they changed the time w/o calling me and I was almost an hour late) and I come to find that they didn't put me on today. Fine with me, more time to do hw. Just don't come calling me tonight when you have that huge corporate party and you have no clue how to ring it up.
I'm hungry so lunch is sounding pretty dang good right now. I think I'll grill up the remaining Italian style chicken breasts I bought from the store. Mmmmmm.
May The Force Be With You
-l4t3r