THAT WAS AWESOME

Wow.

Going into the game, there were two things that I was hoping for.

1. A Win (obviously)
2. An Avs goal on our end

I got tickets on StubHub in January. The best value was seats behind a goal. I got two lower bowl seats, 16th row, for $15 each. There was $10 in fees (service and electronic delivery) but I had a $10 discount code. So final price for two awesome seats: $30. I went to the game with my friend AJ. I didn't charge him for the ticket--all he had to do was buy me a beer and we're even.

I got there early to watch warmups. He arrived one minute before they announced the starting lineup, holding two giant cups of Fat Tire (Colorado pride!).

I liked the seats. Yes it was hard to see the action on the far end, especially when there was a crowd in front of the goal. But when there was an offensive rush coming to our end, it was quite a rush. The puck movement on our end was awesome to follow, it felt like I was seeing everything from the goalie's perspective. From a sitting position, I could just see the near goal line over the boards and the crowd in front of me. So every time the Avs had a scoring chance I was leaping out of my chair. (Side note: Since I've gained a bit of weight since November, my Avs shirt was fairly tight and the people behind me were getting a great view of my lower back every time I jumped up.)

While at work yesterday, I was reading previews of the game and they said that the leading scores for both teams were game-time decisions: Anaheim's Corey Perry and Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog. Perry had suffered a hard hit in a recent game; Landeskog was battling flu symptoms. (One press tweet mentioned diarrhea, every one else just said the flu.)

I was already bummed that Duchene was injured, so I was really hoping to see Landeskog play. In warmups, I was scanning the ice looking for 10 in white and 92 in burgundy. And I was happy with what I saw. Perry out, Landeskog in. Landy is a rookie but our leading scorer and usually our hardest hitter as well.

Also, I made sure to get seats on the end where the Avs would be shooting twice--the 1st and 3rd period.

In the first it seemed like all the action was on our end. And about 10 minutes in, a puck bounced loose from a crowd on the boards and McGinn fired a shot that went top shelf from behind the faceoff dot on our left.

Toward the end of the first, Downie had two great scoring chances right in front of the net, but no goal.

In the second, Anaheim outplayed the Avs. The shot differential grew. Of course, since they switched sides, the action was still mostly on our near end. Landeskog, the one with flu symtoms, seemed like the only Colorado player who wanted to hit anyone. And with 1 second left in the period, the Ducks scored with a loose puck in front of the net.

In the third, the Avs started on a power play and a shot got past their goalie, but was flopping around the goal line and a Duck defenseman cleared it out. It was back and forth and I didn't have a good sense of who would score next. Around 8 minutes to go, I said "next goal wins."

With 6:47 to go in the game, a Colorado defenseman (Hejda) took a low slapshot from the point and Porter tipped it up and into the net, off the pipe. Bananas.

Now it was up to Colorado to hold on for 7 minutes. Then 6 minutes. Then 5 minutes. Then with 4 minutes to go, Colorado gets called for their first penalty of the game (each team only had one the entire game). And 16 seconds later, Teemu fucking Selanne scores on a rebound from the wing.

Tied up with just under 4 to play.

With 3 to go, our second leading scorer, Ryan O'Reilly got the only breakaway of the night. Just as he got the shot off, the trailing defender dove and slashed at his skates. O'Reilly got the shot off and ended up in the goalie's glove, who sort of fell and slid around the goal line. There was a review to see if the puck had crossed the line while in the goal. No goal.

So you know what that means. FREE HOCKEY.

The good part: The Avs were still shooting on the near side. Both teams had chances. And then this happened:



Right in front of us! Overtime winner! Two points in the standings. I didn't even realize it was Landeskog until a minute after he scored.

So I got the win. And not one, but three Avs goals right in front of me. In fact, 4 out of the 5 goals in the game were scored on our end.


And I didn't even mention the nachos! At the second intermission, I was on a mission in search of nachos. I feel like stadium food is always overpriced and usually not that good--but nachos are pretty reliable and a good value.

After passing up one concession which featured pizza and dogs but no nachos, I saw the concession stand title Jalepeno's Cafe. There for 7.50 they sold Monster Chicken Nachos. I'm in. AJ said he would buy them for me. He got a regular nachos (4.75) and a Colorado Native beer (7.50) for himself. The total? 12.25. The lady didn't charge us for the Monster Chicken Nachos. Free hockey and free nachos!

Oh and they were awesome. Sour cream, guacamole, salsa, beans, pulled chicken, jalapenos, covering a ton of chips. It probably took me 20-25 minutes to eat them all, and I can finish a burger in 2 minutes.