Had to start the post with that first sentence because that's exactly what yesterday was - great! Let me explain; my day started at 7:30 that morning. I woke up and got myself ready for a 10am start to my soccer game in a town in BC called Aldergrove. I'm starting with this because my team is 10-0 to start the season and you could say we're drinking our own bath water in a way. Yesterday was different. With 10 minutes left, we had one player on the bench with a sprained ankle and another with a broken collar bone and an ambulance on the way; oh we were also down 4-3. But when a corner developed, I was able to score my first goal of the season (and a pretty nice one if I do say so myself) to tie the game up at 4 a piece! Being a center-back (defender) it's great to chip in on the offence once and awhile especially when it involves a little drama. Although the team (including myself) was ecstatic it was still a bittersweet game since the game ended in a tie and two of my team mates are out for 2 and 6 weeks respectively. Now we are 10-0-1 (still unbeaten), but nonetheless the day starts out on a mixed note. That was sure one exciting goal, and one that I will cherish for the rest of my soccer career.
Now onto some hockey (I know you guys don't read to learn about soccer).
I got home and had a couple hours to nurse my own bumps and bruises and get ready for the real game. My Canucks versus Russia the Washington Capitals! I went to the game with two of my team mates and all three of our dad's. We went to a fairly nice Italian restaurant called Q4 downtown. After we walked down to what I like to think as my home away from home - Rogers Arena. I walk in with this ticket in my hand:
Okay so it's not actually the ticket we walked in with, but it's the one I ended up with in the end. Being three groups of two people we decided to swap seats after every period and we ended up with the best seats in the 3rd. Right on the glass baby!
When we walked in we got our complimentary copy of the nights program booklet.
I have a tin full of tickets and programs etc. that I want to share with you guys one day and this is the basic free program you get when you go to a Canucks game.
Now the day was getting a bit better.
Walking to our seats I see a small line of people, I peek around and low and behold it's...Gary Valk! Not sure if many of you remember Valk but he was part of the 94' cup run. He has a gig doing Canucks analysis after games featured on Rogers Sportsnet. Of course I jumped in the line and met Gary. He was fairly nice but not overly welcoming which I found odd. He wasn't like Dave Babych who I also met signing at a Canucks game. But nonetheless it was a neat experience, here's my souvenir.
Not quite a great day (yet) but it certainly got better.
Now for the actual game. The meat and potatoes of this post. Here are some pics from our regular seats (period number 1).
These pictures are zoomed in from my iPhone so they aren't the greatest quality. They also make it look like we were really far away, but, these were actually taken in our original seats which are 15 rows away from the action. The first two periods were swapped with 4 goals going each way and non stop excitement. What really made the game fun was the people around us. There was a kid with his father straight off the boat from Russia, don't speak a lick of English that would just scream out random Russian words every time Ovie touched the puck. Me along with guys around us had some great conversations with them (or at least tried to).
There was also a goaltending change after the first by the Caps and a penalty shot that just squeaked by Luongo that added to the intensity!
The third period was the best. Take a gander at some of the pics!
OOOOOOOO-VVVVVVIEEEEEE! That was what was chanted throughout the 18,000+ people in attendance last night when Alex Ovechkin was sent to the box. That was what woke up the Canucks. Three consecutive and unanswered goals from the Vancouver Canucks! Let's just say the goal horn was ringing through my head all night long!
Now a 7-4 win over the Capitals is what made that day a GREAT day!
Edler and Lappy both has 2 goals and both were dancing on the edge of hat tricks.
But that wasn't my first encounter with Ovechkin at Rogers Arena. Back in 2009 the Canucks beat the Caps 3-2 with the help of a beautiful penalty shot save by Roberto Luongo against Alexander Semin in the third period.
But the cream of the crop and probably the best out of the three games (even though last night's was an extremely close second) was the shoot out victory in 2006 when it was Ovie's first trip to Vancity. 3-2 was the final score.
Have you ever had one of those days where a hockey game makes it that much more spectacular? Tell me about it and post a comment.
As always...
GO NUCKS GO!
