Antoine and Nikki got a hold of me back in August asking if I was interested in the Penguins game scheduled for leap day the next year and I told them of course. They were able to get me two tickets, one for me and one for Mom since we are the Penguin fans. He kept me in the loop until it was time to transfer money/tickets.
As it got closer to the game, Antoine got a hold of me and sent me the tickets. I got money from Mom and Venmo'd Nikki the money for both tickets. I asked my boss if I could take a half a day so we could get up to Seattle at a decent time and she said that would be fine. Mom also took part of the day off so we could get up there early.
Both, the Kraken and the Penguins, were coming off of huge wins earlier that week. The Kraken with a shut-out win against the Bruins, which was a big deal, and the Penguins with a huge OT win over the Canucks, who were leading the western conference. I was hoping they would bring that excitement and competitiveness into the game we were going to.
That day, I worked until 11:30, I went over to Rhonda's house to let Murphy out, it was kinda raining so I wore my rain jacket, let him do his thing and then went home to eat lunch while I waited for Mom to get to the house. She finally rolled in, and we left in the Escape around 1ish. We hopped onto I-5 north and was glad to see hardly any traffic and no stopping! Yay!
We saw the Seattle skyline as we rounded the last long corner on I-5. I was hoping traffic through the convention center area was chill. Thank goodness it was. We got off at the Seattle Center exit and followed it to the parking lot right outside of MoPop and the entrance near the Armory. I got out and paid for the rest of the day which was pretty cheap during the weekdays. I got my receipt and placed it on the dashboard. I asked Mom where she wanted to go first since we arrived earlier than I thought we would. We got into town around 2:15 which was pretty good.
I saw there was a new virtual cache, International Fountain (GC9P6WK), at the fountain near Climate Pledge Arena, so we walked there first. I read what I had to do and got the answer and then the subsequent photos we needed to prove we were there. It was a chilly day, but I am glad it wasn't raining.
Mom had talked me into getting onto the Monorail to head to Pike's Place Market and the Waterfront. We purchased our roundtrip tickets and found a seat. It took us less than five minutes to get to Westlake Center. We got off and wandered around the shops inside. Last time I was inside of Westlake Center everything was closed.
We made our way down to the market and spent some time inside. It's always fun to see the seafood, flowers, art and other wares people were selling. We walked down to the gum wall and down Post Alley to the stairway that took you to the Waterfront. The breeze was even cooler. We went into a few shops, I bought some stickers from a souvenir store, Mom took some pictures, and we decided to eat at the Ivar's Fish Bar for a late lunch/early dinner. The seagulls were intense!
We finished up our food, went into a couple more places and then walked back up Post Alley and back to the market. We started making our way back to Westlake Center so we could get back on the Monorail to the Seattle Center. We wanted to get to Climate Pledge a little earlier, so we didn't have to rush with the crowd or have to stand in lines. We didn't have to wait long to get back onto the Monorail and within a few minutes we were back at the Armory. We made the short walk over to Climate Pledge and found an entry to go through. I scanned our tickets on my phone, we quickly went through security and into Climate Pledge. I still can't believe how nice of an arena this was.
We walked to our seats and the game was going to start in about 45 minutes. It was fun watching both teams warm up...the pucks hitting off the walls and the posts echoed throughout the rink. Hockey is just so much more epic in real life than on the television. They finished up warm ups as the seats filled up with fans. There were a lot of Penguin fans in Seattle. No matter who ends up winning, both Mom and I win because we were rooting for both teams.
We watched the hype up video, the starting line ups and was excited to see the face off at center ice to begin the game. Sidney Crosby was usually Pittsburgh's face off man, and he generally wins a little bit more than half of his face offs when he attempts them.
As the game got going, you could tell both teams just got off of a big win. The defense was pretty tight. There was a lot of back and forth with some great plays that didn't end up in the goal for either team. The Kraken ended up on a power play and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a wonky goal past the Penguin's goalie Tristan Jarry with about 10 minutes left in the first period.
The foghorn blared and the Seattle fans erupted!
The rest of the first period was more back and forth until the clock hit zeros. We were up 1-0 and Mom and I stayed in our seats during first intermission. We watched the entertainment they had on the ice until the players came back on and did a quick warm up.
The second period was scoreless but there were some exciting moments and some almost great goals. Both defenses were on that night which made for an offensively boring period. I wanted more goals and action, but I know every game is different. I do enjoy body checking up against the boards, especially if it leads to a fight. Sadly, no fights this time around.
Both Mom and I sat at our seats during second intermission. We were both a part of the giant flag that moved its way around the bottom level of the arena. It was fun to be a part of that. I was hoping for a bunch of scoring in the third period.
We didn't get a lot of scoring, but Alex Wennberg scored a powerplay goal 8 minutes into the third period. The Penguins started playing with a little more authority to make up that 2-0 deficit. I was really hoping the Penguins would score at least one goal, but time ran out and Grubauer picked up his first shutout in almost two years. The Kraken grabbed the points to stay relevant in the playoff race.
The Penguins had 33 shots on goal, 16 hits and 8 penalty minutes while the Kraken had 28 shots on goals, 11 hits and 6 penalty minutes. Pittsburg had 3 powerplay opportunities while Seattle had 4 and they took advantage of theirs. Faceoff wins for both teams were about even. The shutout ended the Penguin's 3-game winning streak.
We walked around the arena and then back out to the Escape, which was nice we didn't have to walk that far but getting to I-5 south took a bit. Once we got onto the freeway, it was pretty much smooth sailing home.
It was a great day to be a hockey fan! I was excited to watch both my teams play, especially Crosby!
Next Adventure: Crab Feed and Grandma Karen's Birthday Party
No comments:
Post a Comment