About that time, eh chap?

Wow I have been a super slacker as far as my little blog goes. Many apologizes to my (one) faithful reader(s).. I have been busy-- going to hockey games!

Okay well not that busy I guess. I have only been to 3 games since my last post and it's been something like 3 weeks so that's really no excuse. I'm just lame. I will try to be better, and I'm sure the advent of the playoffs and hockeyeverynight!, I will be posting more. :)

So let me tell you where I've been. I went to the Sabres/Caps game on the 3rd and it was strugglin. Not the worst game I've seen but certainly not the best. The company was good so I guess that was something, and I did get to see that slammin hit that Kaleta had on Ovie as it happened.. but yeah, rough night for the boys in Blue.

The Sabres seem to have many nights like that lately. Ah well, it happens. We should still at least make the playoffs and that is a VERY GOOD thing. I just hope they keep it together enough to make a decent run into the playoffs instead of limping in. But there is still some hockey to be played before we can discuss that in earnest so I'll leave it there for now.

Moving on, time to tell you about my hockey pilgrimage to "The Rawk", as my friends the The Ookies often refer to the Prudential Center in NJ. I left last Friday from Buffalo on the train. (love me some Amtrak, no security lines, no getting there a thousand hours early, NO MOTIONSICKNESS! soooo much better than flying, imho) and hit Newark at about 5:30. I met up with my sis, who had flown in from Louisiana and we walked from our hotel to the Arena. It's a REALLY nice place. All Devils, all the time. The Stanley Cup banners-

are awesome, of course, and there is lots of Devils-themed artwork and stuff all around the place. The score- (3-1) Devils over the Penguins- was the best part!


The game was great fun. If you ever go to NJ, get your tickets up in section 208/209, the ppl there are GREAT! They were loud and rowdy, I felt like I was at some crazy minor-league game. They were chanting all night (and even let me start some Let's Go Devils!-- I was a little scared to do it since I wasn't a regular, but they seemed to think it was cool. yay me!)

Proof of attendance- like my Devil horns? They light up! :)



And then on Saturday, we ventured onto Long Island for a Devils/Isles game. We figured since we were that close.. we'd probably never get a better chance to go there.. and who knows how much longer the Islanders will be around (sadly).. and they were playing the Devils so it was all good.

Their arena is SMALL! I felt like it was a minor league rink. And the parking (right next to the place) was only $7!!! What a deal. :) We sat up in the 300 level but it felt so close, compared to any other rink I've been to. Wild. There were lots of Devils fans and we got some serious cheering going on, but it wasn't working for the boys, since they lost. The defence wasn't so great, and Marty was sitting this one out. The Islanders were just the better team, but we had a great time. The guy sitting next to me was exactly the kind of person I was expecting to see at an Islanders game. He was a lot of fun to talk to. :)



-Center Ice before the game-- it feels so close, even though we're like 6 rows from the top..



-Proof of attendance. Note the Devil horns again- I actually bought them with intent to wear them on Saturday- hehehe.. got lots of comments, most of them good, even from NYI fans. :) Also note the Stanley Cup banners off to the right. As bad as the Isles are at the moment, they have some decent history.

The full album can be seen on Facebook-- if you're so inclined.. **or will be eventually if I can ever get them to upload!**(I think you have to be my friend to see them, but please, if we aren't yet friends on facebook, feel free to change that!!) :)

And now my grand total of cities visited for hockey is...
ECHL:
Dayton, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Toledo, OH
Wheeling, WV
Lexington, KY
Peoria, IL
Baton Rouge, LA
Salt Lake City, UT
Las Vegas, NV

AHL
Cleveland, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Syracuse, NY
Rochester, NY
Hamilton, ONT
San Antonio, TX

NHL
Detroit, MI
Columbus, OH
Buffalo, NY
Ottawa, ONT
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Newark, NJ
Long Island, NY

only 22 more NHL cities to go! ;)