Hello from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!!
It was has definitely been a weekend to remember, for me at
least. Four flights, two hockey
games, a basketball game and a 26.2-mile run (not that I did any running of
course!) - all in the space of four days!
Friday morning saw an earlier start as I travelled down from
Hereford to London in time for my 13:15 flight to New York City. A good friend of mine ran the NYC
Marathon yesterday, smashing her personal best. She is currently raising money for Cancer research, namely
Breast Cancer – which I’m sure most Devils’ fans will understand at the moment
– and is running twelve marathons in twelve months; Sunday marked the
completion of number ten!
(If anyone would like to know more about Bexx and her
inspiring quest, all information can be found here: www.teamrun12.co.uk)
Saturday, a day off for our Cardiff Devils, saw yet another
early start as I boarded a plane to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Off to the land of Steel to watch my
beloved Pittsburgh Penguins face off against the Buffalo Sabres, it is
impossible to describe how excited I was.
While I don’t mind the Rangers and would have been perfectly happy
watching them at Madison Square Garden, it was definitely a treat to see my favourite
team live, especially in a brilliant 5-0 victory.
The 18000+ fans in the Consol Energy were treated to goals
from Chris Kunitz (2), Patrick Hornqvist, Blake Comeau and Evgeni Malkin and
cheered (albeit surprisingly quietly considering the amount of people in the
building) Marc-Andre Fleury to his third shutout of the week (Yes, I mean
week!!!) and 31st shutout of his career.
From the opening puck drop it was clear that the Penguins
were leagues above the Sabres, and I’m not just being biased. To watch Sidney Crosby on the ice is
incredible; the way he reads the ice and can instantly decide which is the best
play is breath taking. He may get
a lot of stick from a lot of people, but he is definitely, in my eyes anyway,
the greatest player in the world.
Kunitz opened the scoring for the home side at just over
four minutes into the first period, tallying his sixth goal of the season. Despite relentless attempts on goal
(and some more measly shots by the New York State side), the score remained the
same through to the second period, when Comeau and Hornqvist added two more,
both within five minutes of each other.
Pittsburgh’s number 17 doubled the Pennsylvania side’s lead
at 31:54, with the help of Geno and Pascal Dupuis – the assist helping Geno increase his points steak to 10
games! All I can say is that I’m
glad he’s not doing a Crosby and growing a caterpillar on his lip to
commemorate the occasion – that was a scary time for everyone!
Patrick Hornqvist got his name on the score sheet for the
second time, after assisting on Kunitz’ goal from the first period, at 36:09,
adding the first of the Penguins’ three power play goals of the night – a
result of a silly Bench minor for the Buffalo Sabres after they were caught
with too many men on the ice at 34:50.
Now considering that the majority of the 18000+ people in
the building were Pens’ fans and that the Pens were up 3-0 going into the third
period, you would think that the CEC would have been rocking. Don’t get me wrong; there was some
noise. But I can come away from
the BBT with ringing in my ears and a headache (in a good way) that can last
for days… with six times as many people I should not have been able to hear for
at least a week! It pains me to
say I was slightly disappointed that this was not the case.
I guess you can’t beat the atmosphere in the Tent even if
you’re watching the best hockey league in the world! Although, we don’t have human bowling in our period
intermissions (cough cough)…
To add to the excitement of the game, Chris Kunitz added his
second goal of the game just two minutes into third period, after Mike Weber
was sent to the box for roughing.
Geno rounded off the scoring at 53:11 with another power play goal,
after Tyler Ennis was sent to the box for interference at 52:22.
The most surprising, and shocking, part of my time in the
Consol Energy Centre was that, with less than five minutes to go, half the
crowd left! Sure I’ve seen ‘fans’
(and I use the term loosely) leave a game if their team in losing and there is
no possible way they could turn it around. To me, there is no valid reason to leave a game early
(unless you have a medical emergency of some sort of course!) and I shake my
head at those who don’t support their team through thick and thin, but this
really takes the cake. I have to
wonder how these amazing hockey players feel, looking into the stands on a
break in play to see, despite the incredible performance they have given, that
half their fans are leaving before the score is even finalised! I would happily take their place
watching the greatest show on earth (after the Cardiff Devils obviously!) every
week if they don’t want to stay for the whole game!
But on the whole, I had a good time in Pittsburgh and even
got to try a Pittsburgh-style salad – which is a salad with French fries!! Definitely wouldn’t mind if these made
it across the pond!
Sunday saw not only yet another flight, back to NYC, but
also the Nottingham Panthers travelling to the BBT. With daylight savings ending at two AM on Sunday morning,
faceoff for the game was at 13:00 EST (6pm for everyone at home), right in the
middle of the NY marathon! While I
had planned to find a quiet corner in the hotel and watch the webcast, I found
myself following the game on Twitter from the roadside on the streets of
Brooklyn and Manhattan, in between subway journeys to the different mile
points!
The only Devil missing from the line-up was Carl Hudson
(hand) but the Panthers made the trip with a severely depleted bench; among the
missing Panthers were Max Parent, Charles Landry and Craig Kowalski, with
Mattias Modig filling in for the injured goaltender.
The game started with a bang, as normal, after Andrew Lord
created a Panther-shaped hole in the boards, drawing a retaliation penalty from
Greg Jacina in the process.
With Jacina in the box, that left a gap for Jake Morrisette
to open the scoring at just thirty seconds into the game! With the Devils playing their
aggressive game, things can only go up, right?
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Just before the ten-minute mark, the Panthers drew equal –
the goal coming from left wing Robert Farmer. To add insult to injury, Robert Lachowicz added a second
just two minutes later, with Steve Lee in the box for kneeing, after picking up
a failed clearing pass right in front of Bowns.
Safe to say that Lord is beating himself up for that one….
Luckily, Joey Haddad managed to pull one back… that is,
until Darnell got involved! About
halfway through the second period, Devils’ fans and players alike were
celebrating the second goal for the home side when Darnell called no goal.
After video replay, which clearly shows the net moving as if
the puck had struck the back, but the call on the play stands and the scored
remained at 2-1 Panthers.
If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, the ‘non’ goal
can be found here: http://vimeo.com/110731310
But still the Devils continued to push and push, throwing 29
shots at Modig. Nothing seemed to
do the trick and so the game finished with a disappointing 2-1 loss for our
Cardiff Devils.
Despite the loss, there was a silver lining in Cardiff on
Sunday, with the ‘Pink out the Rink’ campaign raising £2500
for Breast Cancer Research.
My pink Devils’ breast cancer t-shirt is waiting for me at home!!
After thoroughly catching up on the going-ons in the Welsh
capital, it was off to Madison Square Garden for me. First Knicks home game of the season apparently and we were
right up in the rafters!
Now I know next to nothing about the NBA and basketball in
general, so Sunday night was definitely an experience! The place was full to the brim and we
had some funny diehard fans sat behind us – reminded me an awful lot like
Blocks 2 and 3!!
I could go into details, but honestly don’t know them! There were lots of dancers and shooting
of t-shirts out of canons, a tremendous amount of time-outs and a star-studded
crowd (most of which I had never heard off!). All in all, it was a good night and the Knicks won to top it
all off!
While we suffered a disappointing loss on Sunday, we now
look ahead to a home and away series against the Belfast Giants this coming
weekend. Be there or be square!!
Now, I’m off to get some sleep! See you all soon, Devils’ fans!
