I'm not a huge sports person - I go to maybe 2-3 games/events a year. It's the price of the ticket and physically getting there (specifically, fighting LA traffic from the west side to downtown or to Dodger stadium) that usually lessen the appeal. When I do go though, I usually end up having a fun time, which was definitely the case on Saturday night.
Boyfriend's team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, were in town on Saturday to play the Los Angeles Kings. (The sport in question is hockey for those of you not familiar.) Because these two teams don't play each other that often and the game was on a Saturday night, Boyfriend was super excited. We left the west side with almost 3 hours to spare so that we could find parking (we got a street spot!), eat dinner, and make our way to the Staples Center without feeling too stressed for time. This all worked out really well.
Boyfriend bought our tickets on StubHub - they were $65 plus fees, but he claimed they were "decent". In reality they were almost on the ceiling. I got altitude sickness climbing to get to them! Juuuust kidding, but they were 4 rows from the very top. At least we were surrounded by other Pens fans - very very spirited Pens fans, but Pens fans nonetheless.
Meanwhile, one of our coworkers who has season tickets was down in his seats with his wife, their son, and their son's friend. He texted Boyfriend to let him know that there were a couple open seats next to them that we might be able to come sit in, but to wait until the end of the period just in case. A couple minutes later the Penguins scored the first point of the game, at which point our coworker told us he "lost" his ticket stubs he was going to use to get us into his section. ;-)
When we did go join them we were pretty amazed by how great their seats were. Though there were definitely not as many Pens fans in their section. When the Kings tied it up in the second period the other season ticket holders gave us a bit of a hard time, but it was all in good fun. As a native of Cleveland you might be wondering how I could root for a team from Pittsburgh. The way I see it, Cleveland doesn't have an NHL team so I get a pass. Plus, penguins in general are really cute.
The third period turned into quite the nail-biter when the Kings scored for a second time, taking the lead. Having watched last year's HBO sports doc series "Road to the Winter Classic" which followed the Penguins, I was familiar with a small handful of the players and was excited to see my favorite, No. 9 Pascal Dupuis, on the ice quite a bit. With 2:57 left in the third (and final) period the Penguins scored once more, tying it back up. Despite much effort on both sides and a lot of really intense back-and-forth across the ice, neither team was able to score again in the remainder of the 3rd period nor in the 5 minute sudden death overtime and the game went into a SHOOTOUT!
I had said to Boyfriend earlier in the evening that I really hoped we'd see a shootout so I was super excited. The entire audience was on its feet and cheering. It took 4 rounds but the Penguins' Chris Kunitz finally scored the game-winning goal. Hooray! GO PENS!!
What a great game - I'm definitely glad we went. And a HUUUUGE Thank You to our coworker and to the people who sit next to him who didn't show. Sitting with him and his wife was really fun and waaay cooler than sitting in the nosebleeds. If only it always worked out this well - I would go to games a lot more often!
Boyfriend's team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, were in town on Saturday to play the Los Angeles Kings. (The sport in question is hockey for those of you not familiar.) Because these two teams don't play each other that often and the game was on a Saturday night, Boyfriend was super excited. We left the west side with almost 3 hours to spare so that we could find parking (we got a street spot!), eat dinner, and make our way to the Staples Center without feeling too stressed for time. This all worked out really well.
 |
| "Welcome to the MAIN EVENT!" |
Boyfriend bought our tickets on StubHub - they were $65 plus fees, but he claimed they were "decent". In reality they were almost on the ceiling. I got altitude sickness climbing to get to them! Juuuust kidding, but they were 4 rows from the very top. At least we were surrounded by other Pens fans - very very spirited Pens fans, but Pens fans nonetheless.
 |
| decked out in our Penguins fan gear |
Meanwhile, one of our coworkers who has season tickets was down in his seats with his wife, their son, and their son's friend. He texted Boyfriend to let him know that there were a couple open seats next to them that we might be able to come sit in, but to wait until the end of the period just in case. A couple minutes later the Penguins scored the first point of the game, at which point our coworker told us he "lost" his ticket stubs he was going to use to get us into his section. ;-)
When we did go join them we were pretty amazed by how great their seats were. Though there were definitely not as many Pens fans in their section. When the Kings tied it up in the second period the other season ticket holders gave us a bit of a hard time, but it was all in good fun. As a native of Cleveland you might be wondering how I could root for a team from Pittsburgh. The way I see it, Cleveland doesn't have an NHL team so I get a pass. Plus, penguins in general are really cute.
The third period turned into quite the nail-biter when the Kings scored for a second time, taking the lead. Having watched last year's HBO sports doc series "Road to the Winter Classic" which followed the Penguins, I was familiar with a small handful of the players and was excited to see my favorite, No. 9 Pascal Dupuis, on the ice quite a bit. With 2:57 left in the third (and final) period the Penguins scored once more, tying it back up. Despite much effort on both sides and a lot of really intense back-and-forth across the ice, neither team was able to score again in the remainder of the 3rd period nor in the 5 minute sudden death overtime and the game went into a SHOOTOUT!
 |
| Adding "ride a Zamboni" to the Bucket List |
What a great game - I'm definitely glad we went. And a HUUUUGE Thank You to our coworker and to the people who sit next to him who didn't show. Sitting with him and his wife was really fun and waaay cooler than sitting in the nosebleeds. If only it always worked out this well - I would go to games a lot more often!
No comments:
Post a Comment