So a funny thing happened on the way to the forum... Not really, but I'm having an Alzheimer-y moment of my own and can't remember exactly what happened a year ago. Sad...very, very sad.
Usually I rely on my photos to help along my memories when I blog belatedly. Today, that is adding to the confusion. Reason being that I only have hockey photos edited and saved for "day 3" of our vacay last year. But...but...but... We HAD to do more than that on day 3. I really thought we went to Disneyland all three days (having a 3-day pass and all). But surely, knowing myself, I would have had some photos...
...Oooohhhhhh. ::lightbulb:: I realize what happened. Some of the pictures that I credited as being on our first day at Disneyland were actually on the second day. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to go back and edit or if I want to just leave it as is...hmmmm....this kinda sucks. And because I'm sick and feeling fairly terrible, I'm having trouble filtering my thoughts which is why you get to hear my whole process. lol Sorry.
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Okay, decision made. I see what I did and I'm not going to undo it. lol Not really that important....the memories are still there; it doesn't really matter that I combined the first two days. Everything that I posted happened, just a bit out of sequence in a few spots.
We'll just devote this post to the hockey portion of the day.
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And on with the story: After spending the morning and early afternoon at Disneyland, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Sharks vs. L.A. Kings. We had bought tickets online as well as a parking pass. I've been to Staples before, but only for X-Games. And that hasn't been for a few years unfortunately. So of course that equaled to us getting lost trying to find the parking lot we were assigned.
It took us several turns around the building to find it and it was several blocks away which was not what we were hoping for with the intermittent showers. But find it we did and we hustled our asses through the busy streets to try to make it for warm-ups.
Saw a lot of Sharks fans - a welcome sight since you never know how you're going to be received in an away arena. We made it inside and found our seats.
We were in Section 106 about 3 rows from the back. Good seats on the side where the Sharks shoot twice. :-) Unfortunately, this also means that we're behind the net and to high up to see 1/2 the ice through the glass. Which is only relevant to my photos, but just thought I'd let you know.
Warm-Ups!
The picture below is a net-impeded, blurry shot of the little handshake/slap thingie that Demers and Clowe do to end every.single.warmup. Luv it!
This being La La Land, I expected a fancy pregame show and I was not disappointed! Lots of smoke, lazers and music to accompany the lineups. So Pretty!
And then it was time for the National Anthem.
Let the game begin! Jonathan Quick was in goal for the Kings.
Opening faceoff
BFFs
We had quite a few Sharks fans in our section and the surrounding ones as well. Most of them were cool as were the Kings fans around us. One Shark fan about 6 rows in front of us was a bit of a drunk ass but settled down after some ushers were called to talk to him.
Bailey made it a point to come around and heckle those Sharks fans who were in easy reach. Luckily it wasn't us. haha This guy took it well and they had a long, funny exchange. Too bad it's blurry.
In between periods we saw Luc Robitaille in our section! Exciting! And he's very handsome. Too bad he didn't have his handsome vampire-diaries-starring stepson with him. :-)
Did I mention that Niemi was in goal for the Sharks?
Scrum!
The Kings looked like the better team for most of the game. Except for a Pavelski PP goal in the second, didn't look like the Sharks were capable of scoring. The game looked done going into the last 4 minutes of the 3rd when Patrick Marleau to the rescue! Two quick goals in the final few minutes sent this game into OT, which the Sharks dominated, but didn't pot a goal to win. :-( We went to a shootout, where Dustin Brown (who had two goals earlier in the game) won it in round 5.
And Brownie got to talk to the talented and beautiful Heidi Androl. LOL at the Kings fans who tried to thrown their hats at the end of the shootout, btw. Ummm, that doesn't count as a hat trick!
We headed out with the crowd. Got accosted by some drunk Kings fans who got in our faces and started yelling "Go back to San Jose!!!" I really couldn't tell if they were entirely joking. They seemed halfway like they were joking (these were three big guys in the faces of two (one fairly petite) women. But we just kinda laughed it off and they backed away. I hope they were just joking. Otherwise it sucked. But it was a tiny bit scary.
We also had another close call walking back to the car. As we crossed the street a Kings fan was following a Sharks fan (both dudes) and once we all got across the street the Kings fan started pushing him. It looked to be developing into a full blown mugging until some other Kings fans stepped it. Needless to say, we walked a little faster.
All in all, an amazing game and fun time. Oh, and Patrick Marleau was the 2nd star and deservedly so. =D
Back to the hotel safely... One more day to go in our epic roadie! To Be Continued...
xoxo
