Blues and 'Hawks

As I've mentioned before, traveling for my job has enabled me to do a lot of cool things, including getting to go to sporting events.  Included in that was the chance to go to my first ever NBA game.  That meant that in my life I'd been to an MLB game (many, many of them, actually), an NFL game (a few), an MLS game (a couple), but never an NHL game.  I'd been to a few Kansas City Blades games back in the day, but they were essentially a minor league team.  But tonight I had the chance to complete the list of major sports by going to an NHL game.  The sales rep I work with a lot, Mike, and I are in St. Louis, and he was able to get us surprisingly affordable tickets to see not only an NHL game, but an NHL playoff game.  Tonight is the opening game of the first round series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues.

The crowd was electric, as the Blues fans were amped up for the first game of the playoffs, especially since it was against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Blackhawks.


We sat in the second row up from the glass, so we had great views.  It was way, way better than watching a hockey game on TV.  It's thunderous when a group of players all smash into the boards right in front of you, and that happened quite a bit for us.  We had a great view of the action.  This was our view, even without zooming in.

This one is zoomed in, but not that much because it's still just a cell phone camera.  It was so cool to be this close to the ice.

The Blues ended up winning 1-0 in sudden-death overtime, and the crowd loved it.  The place went nuts when the winning goal was scored.  I was rooting for the Blues, because when I don't have a strong rooting interest, I root for the local team.  It was a run night, and I'm glad I can now say I've been to an NHL game.