Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Quick Initial Thoughts about the Game Last Night

  • I will try to post up my photos later on today. They are not exactly perfect (the camera is a loaner so I wasn't entirely familiar with it, I was at a kinda bad angle for some of the action, and I after a while I wanted to focus on watching the action rather than trying to find photo opportunities). (I saw the request for Versteeg this morning; I may have one or two of him, since he seemed to be on the ice quite a bit).
  • For someone who never been to an NHL game before (been to the old IHL & the current USHL games), you get a new appreciation for the game that you don't get watching it on TV. Like, the ice looks bigger on TV; it's not. They check REALLY REALLY hard into the boards. And it was REALLY cold near the ice (and I was dressed warm too).
  • Over 18,000 for a preseason game. Impressive. It was nearly packed, especially in the 200 & 300 levels. There were more open spaces in the 100 levels but people moved down towards the 3rd period to fill those spots.
  • There was a guy sitting about 5-10 rows behind me wearing a CBJ jersey who looked very familiar. It took a few takes and then I realized where I saw him (considering I've never been to Columbus before). He was in the background of the Leclaire computer background download photo released by Blue Jackets. That was just weird. I think I saw maybe 2 others CBJ jerseys in the crowd (I went incognito for safety. If something were to happen to me no one would know until Thursday when I go back to work. We are talking about Chicago here...I had on a old Nordiques tee but mostly wearing my black Indiana Ice hoodie jacket inside)
  • It is really rough rooting for your team in enemy territory.
  • I focused entirely on paying attention to the Blue Jackets, so my comments will be about them. I cannot comment about the 'Hawks, except that Campbell was really quick out there.
  • Lots of fighting last night. There's bad blood between these two teams.
  • Players I was impressed with: Brassard, Voracek, Chimera & Novotny; Tollefsen & Backman; Sestito & Dorsett plowing the 'Hawks into the boards; Norrena coming back to finish strong in the 2nd after being plowed into the boards.
  • More later on in the day. I rolled into home at 2am on autopilot (I don't remember much of the last 15-20 minutes of the drive), and I am still exhausted.

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