Round 1 Game 1: Pens v Sens (W 4-0) Oh. MY. GOD!!! (pt. 2)

What a game! It had to have been the best game I've ever been to at the Mellon Arena. Overall, it comes in second only to the Winter Classic as the best hockey game I've ever been lucky enough to be in the audience. I'll tell you a few things about the game, and then we'll get to the pictures.

We sat behind the goal that the Senators shot at twice. While the seats were better than I had hoped and I am super psyched that I was there, I'm super bummed that all the action (all 4 goals & Sid's fight) happened at the other end of the ice. Oh, and Sid hit the boards at that end, too. When that happened, I lost about 10 years off my life. I jumped and held my breath as my husband grabbed my hand and said, "He's alright, he's alright!" (People around us must have thought I was an idiot!)

The big thing that happened at our end was Anton Volchenkov's injury. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I was at the home opener of last year's playoffs (game 3) when Colby Armstrong drilled Patrick Eaves. (← That was the first game I'd ever been to where a player left the ice on a stretcher.) Even though Volchenkov will return this Friday, this was just as scary because it looked so bad from our angle (see pictures below). I'm really glad to hear he will be okay.

Last year, a small but very audible percentage of Pens "fans" booed the Canadian National Anthem before the game. (I guess those idiots forgot that almost half the team is Canadian, not to mention Le Magnifique himself!) I'm proud to say that I did not hear any booing this year.

I tried to get another text message out to you all on the scoreboard again, but to no avail. HOWEVER, I want Anthony to know this: YOU ROCK, TOO, MY FRIEND!!! You see, Anthony sent in a message that read, "The Sidney Crosby Show Rocks! - Anthony" I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I was! I got so excited that when I went to take a picture of the message, I accidentally hit the power button instead of the shutter button (which is doubly stupid of me because those buttons aren't exactly right next to each other). And since the messages only appear for a few seconds, it had changed by the time I got my camera powered up again. :( If anyone happened to get that on film, PLEASE send it to me!!! Anthony, you made my whole MONTH!!! :)

I don't have too many good pictures of Sid's fight. I was too busy going CRAZY!!! That was awesome. From our view, it only got better when Sid went to the box. We could see Sidney leaning out of the box barking at (I think) Dany Heatley very clearly. It was awesome!

Here's a little disclaimer about the following video of the opening montage projected on the ice: You may want to take a Dramamine when you see the Pens hit the ice. I jumped and started waving my towel, and as a result, the camera work is a little shaky at the end. But the entire opening sequence looks pretty good, and hopefully you can get past the sound of me saying gems like, "Oh my God!!!" and "Unreal!" I hope you enjoy:



By the way, all the photos and the videos in today's post were taken by me with my new Samsung S1050 camera. (I only wish I'd had it at the Winter Classic!)

This is a 12'x16' TV they had outside Gate 3 for fans that didn't get a ticket:







Mr. Roberts in the midst of finishing a check:











A shot of Cryin' Bryan for your dartboard (ha ha!):





The melee that ensued after Sid's fight with Wade Redden:



Look closely to see Sid in the box:











And finally, here are the night's three stars:



The Pens face the Sens again tomorrow for Game 2 at the Mellon Arena at 7:00pm. And just in case you're still as jacked as I am about that stupid Don Brennan article from the other day, you need to check out this next story on Empty Netters. Let's just say that Big Georges Laraque had a little conversation with Brennan... (BGL is SO AWESOME!!! If only I could have been a fly on the locker room wall to see Brennan's face!) Thanks go to Allison Y. for sending in the link. :)

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!