A Great Day for Hockey!

As I'm working on some more Christmas posts, Andrew and Lily's birthday posts, potty training and some other catch ups, I had a lot of randomness going on that I wanted to write about.

I'm super excited for the return on a bunch of tv shows. My teeny bopper self loves The Lying Game and Switched at Birth and they're both back!  Winter brings about shows like The Bachelor and American Idol that I tune into mostly. This year I'm definitely into The Bachelor. It helps to have a partner in crime to talk to about it...thanks, Amy!  But mostly, I'm excited that hockey is back!! The Steelers obviously aren't in the post season for the first time in forever, so it makes it all that much better that the Pens are back on!

Wednesday night, the Penguins had a scrimmage game that they wanted to be as authentic as possible to get the team ready for the regular season, so they were offering free parking and free admission to the public to come see full game with overtime and a shootout.  Tuesday night, we got the email with the info and decided we were in! Parking opened at 5pm and the gates were to open at 6pm.

I gave the, "We know it's going to be crazy crowded, so nobody gets to be crabby about traffic or waiting," pep talk before we headed out.  You know the one. And if you live in this city, you know exactly what I mean about traffic.

We left the house around 5:15pm to head to the Consol Energy Center which is about 10-15 minutes away in normal traffic.  It took us about 30 minutes or so which wasn't terrible at all!  The parking lot was busy of course, so I suggested we park in the garage and avoid that part of the traffic.  $7 for parking was fine by me and I typically refuse to pay for parking.  Turns out that was the best decision that made all the difference.  We pulled into the garage and found a spot straight ahead of us.  Close parking on the level we needed to be on for the gate.  Score!

Parking in the garage put us by the gate opposite the box office gate and when the doors opened, it was pleasant and orderly getting inside.  The box office gate, we found out later, was so packed that people had to be turned away because the arena filled up.

We made our way around towards a section behind the goalie where George wanted to sit.  He wanted to be up high enough to have an entire view of the ice.  We left our house at 5:15pm and were in our seats at 6:01pm.  Happy kids, happy husband!

Being the sentimental fool that I am, when the players hit the ice to warm up, my eyes filled with tears as the crowd stood and cheered! Man, I love hockey! And this town missed the Penguins during the lockout!  I teared up again during the National Anthem, which I tend to do as long as the singer can sing and then it was time for the game to begin.

The game started and within 20 seconds a goal was scored and people were on their feet again! In between plays and during intermissions, the kids danced and watched to see if they'd see themselves on the big screen. Lily and I were on before the game started. ;)

 

 

 

This was the best idea to have a public scrimmage... fans cheered every time a goal was scored in the building! There was no booing with the exception of a mention of the Flyers on the big screen, but even that was soldifying this city's love for our Pens!

Realistically, taking a family of 5 to a Penguins game isn't in our cards. It would be a ridiculous amount of money {that my bargain loving self refuses to spend} and this allowed us the opportunity to see a game of our favorite team all together!

Lily did really well considering it was hours past her bedtime. She was happy the whole time! Even when she got really tired, she just sat with her blankie, but still smiled right along.

We stayed for the duration, enjoying the overtime period and the shootout! It was a great day for hockey!

Thanks Pens for the opportunity for this hockey loving fam to get to a game as a whole family!♥