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NHL Winter Classic, Penguins @ Sabres, New Years Day
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26-12-2007 2:24am#1I'd be fooling myself if I said I'd looked forward to a sporting event more than this in my life. Flying out on Sunday morning to NYC, then getting the train to Buffalo on New Years Eve (hopefully!) and taking my seats on New Years Day at around mid-day local time.
NHL.com is already well into the swing of things, with the game taking the number one spot on the headlines over the last couple of days. The rink is in the process of being constructed, in the midst of some heavy wind and snow falls, which have hampered the progress slightly. Nothing to worry about yet though. There are some good time-lapse images on the NHL site if anyone wants to track the progress to date.
Should the weather take a turn and cause the game to be postponed, January 2nd would be the potential rescheduling date. No major big deal if that were to happen, though it would play with my nerves a little.
In terms of form, there isn't too much to call, and I don't think it should be looked into too much with the game being such a once-off and different scenario. It could come down to which side gets the wind for two periods, or something bizarre and unusual as that. I don't really mind if the Penguins lose once the game is exciting and action packed. 5 or 6 goals would help. And a Crosby hat-trick of course. And maybe a fight or two.
In short, I can't wait. Will anyone else be watching?0
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yea i love the Jersey have a sharks one and a Ireland one too then a load of Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys including a personalised aut :-)
Couldn't see any of the game today it was being streamed on the internet but i think technology failed us
What i have read it was a good game!0 -
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What a trip!
Myself and my mate arrived in New York on the 30th, went straight to the Garden to try and blag some last minute tickets to the Canadiens and Rangers. After about an hour we got two tickets for the 400's, pretty pricey but worth every cent. View was so much better than I expected.
Game was a cracker, Rangers took the lead midway through the first, Canadiens levelled, Rangers took the lead in the second, Canadiens levelled, Canadiens went in front, Rangers levelled late on in the third and won it in OT.
Great to see Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, two legends of the game, in the flesh. And they both scored too.
So the next day it was time to catch the train to Buffalo. 8 hour journey with a 3 hour delay, so we arrived in Tonawanda on New Years Eve a few hours before midnight. Hit the hay at 11.
The morning of the game we were up at 6.30, and got a limousine to the stadium for 8am. Why not, eh? The atmosphere at that hour was still brilliant, plenty of tailgating, lots of people having fun and completely ignoring the fact there was about 4 inches of snow and it was freezing. I didn't even notice it myself to be honest! Felt ten times colder arriving in Dublin yesterday morning.
We were in the food and beverage tent for about three hours before the game having some brews, and we met with a couple of locals who thought we were legends for making the trip and insisted we had beers on them. They moved on and low and behold the next visitors to our table were Brooks Orpiks parents. We chatted to them for at least an hour and a half, they were so nice to us. We exchanged details and they made sure we were warm for the game with a couple of feet warmers they had (for themselves I assume).
They told us tonnes of hockey stories and I really can't think of a better way to have spent the morning than listening to people who live and breath the game. Turns out Brooks is named after the coach of the legendary US Olympic hockey team of 1980, Herb Brooks. Guess he was just meant to be a hockey player. His brother Andrew has been drafted by the Sabres and will be a household name within a couple of years I'm sure. Brooks was the only hometown player in the Winter Classic, so there was quite a bit of press about him leading up to the game. Strangely enough though, he'd never been to the stadium or never really skated outdoors as a kid.
We said our goodbyes, and entered the stadium about five minutes late (beer does that to you). Luckily enough the game was even later in starting I guess.
All I can really say is the game was awesome. The view wasn't amazing, but was far better than I expected. And there were several big screens around the ice to view the finer details. The snow added to the effect so well. By the time you-know-who scored the winner in the shootout I was well on my way, and having great craic with all the local folk and Pittsburgh faithful. The Penguins won but it wasn't so much about the result as it was the atmosphere.
I have vague recollections of hitting a bar that night. Woke up the next morning and went straight to the jeans to make sure I still had the passport... and imagine my surprise to find two Scientology cards in my pockets! Passport was there too though. As Borat would say, great success!
The rest of the trip went fine, and now I'm home and back to work. Sigh.0 -
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