Invading Enemy Territory

Last Wednesday, I did what many Sharks fans have done before me -- I invaded enemy territory. Yup, that's right. I watched the Sharks take on the Penguins IN PITTSBURGH. It was quite the experience.

Antti Niemi preparing to be awesome against the Pens.

It's actually an interesting story about how I wound up in Pittsburgh on the same day the Sharks would be playing the Pens.
The second I got my school schedule, I figured out when I would have my February break (damn straight, in California, we get "ski week"... as DGB Pronger would say, BOO YEAH!). Then I cross-referenced that with the Sharks schedule. Hey, look! During my break the Sharks are going to be in Pittsburgh! And I have to look at colleges over that break, and Carnegie Mellon is in Pittsburgh...
So that is, in a nutshell, how I wound up watching the Sharks in the Steel City. Actually, it kind of messed up our trip a bit, because we had to visit certain schools on certain days and being in Pittsburgh on Wednesday was not the most efficient way to traverse the country, but yes, my entire college tour was scheduled around being in Pittsburgh on the 23rd.

So I should probably talk about the game now, eh? It was a helluva game. Saw some pretty awesome stuff (Patty Marleau's OT GWG? Right in front of us), but it's odd -- when on the road, you hardly even notice when the Sharks score. This may have been for a couple reasons.

1. The goal light across the arena was blocked by not one but two separate stanchions. 
2. There is no goal horn (obviously).
3. There is hardly any celebration. (I could probably count all the Sharks fans in there on my fingers and toes; I guess not too many San Jose-ians live out in Pittsburgh).
4. The Penguins fans don't really make any noise either. No booing, no collective "awwww." Nothing. Just... silence.

But even with that slight dilemma, the game was quite exciting. Just a lot of good hockey to watch.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of that good hockey was overshadowed by "a difficulty with the house lights" before the second. Ah, pretty funny actually, once you get past the fact that the 2nd period was delayed 19 minutes. So the teams come back onto the ice, and everyone's getting ready, guys have skated a circle or two, goalies have scraped up the crease, guys are on the bench, ready, but the lights don't come up. It's still kind of dim, and those moving spotlight things (that's a highly technical term) are still swirling across the ice. They make an announcement, telling us they're having a hard time getting the lights to work, but that they're working on the problem. So, what do we do? We put on the DanceCam. We start out with some techno music, and some guy over in section 123ish is really movin'. Then they put on Cotton Eye Joe. Hilarity ensues. This one guy actually moves over to the aisle so he can dance more enthusiastically. He and the other guy then pretty much have a dance off. It was great. Occasionally they'd put the camera on someone else, but that wouldn't last for long -- soon they'd be back to either the cowboy or the helmet man.

Helmet guy!

Hmmm, after that lovely little interlude, we finally got back to real hockey. The Sharks tied it up, and things were looking good heading into the third. They did not dim the lights during this intermission, so we started the third period on time. The hockey was good, lots of chances on both sides, then, Patty Marleau came along and busted one home! It looked like we had two points in the bag, Pittsburgh pulled Fleury, Logan Couture grabbed the puck for the empty netter and... shot it wide. Then the Penguins came right back and tied it up! With 50 seconds to go. Gross. We had one point for sure, but we'd have to fight for the 2. Overtime continued with great hockey. At one point, Jumbo grabbed the puck and passed it up to Patty Marleau, but Marc-Andre Fleury absolutely stoned him. Brilliant save, really. Then, with 4 seconds remaining in the overtime period, I see the puck hit the netting, and Patty Marleau is celebrating the goal! Sharks Win!

Woooo! Sharks win!

Aw, how nice, they thanked me for attending this awesome game!