The San Jose Sharks
I saw my first live hockey game on Thursday.
Emily's Dad, Larry, happened to be in the San Francisco area for business. He was kind enough to make the trip out to Modesto to pick me up and take us to the Sharks game. San Jose vs Anahiem. We met two of his co-workers at the lounge in a Radison near the stadium, and met a client and the client's wife at the game. Larry's coworkers were hilarious, quoting Anchorman all night. The seats were solid too, right behind the net, 20 rows up.
I'm not a hockey fan. The extent of my hockey knowledge is derived from my days playing in the circle on Wendy Lane, but those are long since past. I understood all of the old rules, and understand all of the new rule changes. I think the league did a really good job keeping the game intact while making necessary changes, and I'll say this for hockey, it's much better live. You don't get a feel for how fast everything is on tv. It's the same for other sports, sure, but to see the players zip around the ice was very impressive. Sadly there were no fights. A little pushing and shoving, but nothing to write home about.
As far as understanding the flow of the game, hockey strategy is pretty similar to soccer. The spacing of the defenders, marking up a man, the passing, creating oportunties by putting the puck on net, it all transcends into soccer. Especially indoor soccer as well, and using the boards as a passing tool, it was cool to see. You all may forget, I used to wreck at soccer, but that's for another time.
All in all it was great. I really enjoyed the game. Joe Thornton didn't play particularly well, and the Sharks had trouble pulling the trigger, they were out shot 24 to 10 after two periods. They also didn't connect on any of their power plays, including a 5 on 3. That's a pretty solid formula to lose games anyway.
For the weekend, I'm heading down to Sequoia National Park. So that's where I'll be for the next few days if you need to come find me. We'll meet by the large trees.
Emily's Dad, Larry, happened to be in the San Francisco area for business. He was kind enough to make the trip out to Modesto to pick me up and take us to the Sharks game. San Jose vs Anahiem. We met two of his co-workers at the lounge in a Radison near the stadium, and met a client and the client's wife at the game. Larry's coworkers were hilarious, quoting Anchorman all night. The seats were solid too, right behind the net, 20 rows up.
I'm not a hockey fan. The extent of my hockey knowledge is derived from my days playing in the circle on Wendy Lane, but those are long since past. I understood all of the old rules, and understand all of the new rule changes. I think the league did a really good job keeping the game intact while making necessary changes, and I'll say this for hockey, it's much better live. You don't get a feel for how fast everything is on tv. It's the same for other sports, sure, but to see the players zip around the ice was very impressive. Sadly there were no fights. A little pushing and shoving, but nothing to write home about.
As far as understanding the flow of the game, hockey strategy is pretty similar to soccer. The spacing of the defenders, marking up a man, the passing, creating oportunties by putting the puck on net, it all transcends into soccer. Especially indoor soccer as well, and using the boards as a passing tool, it was cool to see. You all may forget, I used to wreck at soccer, but that's for another time.
All in all it was great. I really enjoyed the game. Joe Thornton didn't play particularly well, and the Sharks had trouble pulling the trigger, they were out shot 24 to 10 after two periods. They also didn't connect on any of their power plays, including a 5 on 3. That's a pretty solid formula to lose games anyway.
For the weekend, I'm heading down to Sequoia National Park. So that's where I'll be for the next few days if you need to come find me. We'll meet by the large trees.