Playoffs 09

Last Monday was pretty awesome. After enjoying a nice day off my brother in-law Matt and I left for Anaheim in the afternoon to see game six in the first round of the NHL playoffs. The eighth-seeded Ducks took down the No. 1 Sharks, owners of the best record in the NHL this regular season, in a best of seven series. Anaheim is one of only five teams to do that in more than 40 years.

Since the game was at 7:30, I was afraid we were going to get stuck in traffic heading through LA but, thanks to the recession, it wasn't a problem. They tickets we managed to get weren't in my dream spot but I wasn't about to fork over $380 to be on the bottom level. Once we got in our seats they turned out to be just fine. We could see the game and were close to the $11 per hot dog food bar. Living in Dublin, Ireland, Matt doesn't see much hockey. I did my best to explain technical rules, the rivalry between Anaheim and San Jose, and how awesome it was that the Ducks were embarrassing the best team in the NHL by leading the series 3-2.

Right off the first puck drop, the two players taking the circle dropped gloves and started wailing on each other. The tension between the two carried over from the last game. It was about this time that everyone around us started saying under their breath, "This is gonna be a good game."

It was. Even though the Sharks got the first goal, it was the last one they would score this season. The Ducks scored 4 times during the game to get the series winning game. One of the best things about the game was the lady sitting in front of Matt. Every time something positive happened for the Ducks she would turn around for a high-five. If you didn't see her holding her hand up for one, she would hit you on the leg until you did. I don't think Matt will want to give anyone a high five for as long as he lives.