Gone To A Professional Ice Hockey Game

February 19, 2011 Filed in: Sports
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Happy Day 50!!!

Ice hockey is the least popular of America’s four major professional sports, despite being wildly popular in Canada.  So even though the San Jose Sharks have been around for twenty years now, I had never gone to a hockey game.

I have wanted to see a game for awhile, and I never took the opportunity even when I lived in San Jose.  Roger, Peter, and Frankie have been playing hockey on the side and wanted to go see the Sharks play the Colorado Avalanche.
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Peter picked us up on the way down the peninsula and we got food at La Victoria’s.  Then we went to the Shark Tank at HP Pavilion.
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Before the game started, we got to see the players skating and practicing around the ice.
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After the practice, the zambonis resurfaced the ice.
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This was followed by “The Star Spangled Banner”.
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The Sharks were announced and came out of this epic shark’s head to the tune of Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”.
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The game started quickly after.  One of the things I enjoyed about hockey is that it’s very face paced and things happen very quickly.
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The first period was very exciting.  The Sharks scored three goals (two by Setoguchi, one by Pavelski), and there was a fight.  Hockey fights are awesome.  The refs just let them go at it for a little while.  Then they each got five for fighting.
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I got a quick picture of the Shark’s star player Patrick Marleau skating around.
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Here’s another classic face off.
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“So, what do you want to do about dinner?”
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I love how the players on the bench are all leaning over ready to jump in at any moment.
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I caught Antti Niemi practicing his shot blocking moves.  It must’ve been working because he made 25 saves and shutout the Avalanche.
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This was already an amazing hockey game, especially since it was the first time I’d ever watched one live, but the icing on the cake came in the third period when Devin Setoguchi recorded his first career hat trick (his 246th game).



I don’t know a lot about hockey, but I think this left me with an overall greater appreciation for the sport.  I would be more inclined to watch a few Sharks games on TV, and now I’m kind of itching to pick up an NHL game for XBox.  Here’s an article in the San Jose Mercury News.

Cool stuff:
NHL 11 for XBox 360
San Jose Sharks T-Shirt
San Jose Sharks Jersey
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