My First Live Hockey Playoffs Game

Another city Dale took me to during our trip the past couple of weeks was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I visited Pittsburgh for the first time last August with my family but it was just a day trip (you can read my post on it here). This time, Dale & I stayed in Pittsburgh for five nights so I got to know the city a lot more :) 

AND I am in love with Pittsburgh as a city!
Dale loves this city too so it works out :)  

It's a great city for sports, shopping, dining, the building architecture downtown is beautiful, the waterfront is gorgeous, and the hillsides and bridges just add to the aesthetics. Plus, the people we met in Pittsburgh were very friendly. 

Dale & I were joking about moving out there. It would be lovely to have a Spring/Autumn house in Pittsburgh since their Spring weather is warmer than Toronto and in the Autumn the leaves changing colour along the hillside would just be gorgeous

Sooo, one of the very memorable things during our trip was Dale taking me to see my first live NHL Hockey Playoffs Game! Yay!!! 

Dale bought us fantastic seats last minute through Stubhub 

(Stubhub is a great site for concert/sporting event tickets by the way....unlike Ticketmaster - I might be writing an upcoming post about dealing unpleasantly with Ticketmaster). 

Dale wanted to make it special for my 1st hockey playoffs game so he got us centre ice tickets second row :)  I honestly feel so lucky to have Dale in my life. 

It was the Saturday April 23rd game with Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning 

This game would have been interesting if the home team Pittsburgh Penguins won - because they were up 3 games in the series, meaning they would win the series over Tampa Bay if they won this game. 

But the Penguins are not the same without their two best players on the team - Sidney Crosby (our golden child from Canada!!) and Evgeni Malkin. Both Crosby and Malkin were not playing due to injuries. 

And to be honest, after seeing both teams play during the first period I wondered to myself how the Penguins had even won 3 games already. Honestly, they're not a good team without Crosby and Malkin. And Tampa has a lot of talent. So I'm really not surprised Tampa not only won this game we saw but also ended up winning the series. 

So if I haven't lost you yet in my hockey ramble, here are some pictures from game day:

That's me in front of the Consol Energy Center where the hockey arena is in Pittsburgh.

It's a very nice arena and our seats got us into the club lounge area which is very nice.

I decided to try to wear the team colours - black, white and a bit of yellow-ish

Top: Sirens

Belt: Urban Behaviour

Skirt: H & M

Heels: Bebe ("Naina Peep Toe Pump")

Head band: Saks 5th

We were just a couple of seats away from the penalty box. It was a neat experience :)

Omigosh, look at how awful the score was at the start of third period. Although the huge stadium was packed, it was quiet. It started to look bad after 3-0...then 5-0 was pretty darn bad...but 7-0???! For a team that was up three games in the series?! And a home game at that?! Eek.

Okay, so that was the final score for this game: 8-2. 

I have a soft spot for the Pittsburgh Penguins now since I'm in love with their city....but, Tampa deserved to win the series. Unlike so many other teams (ah hem the Canadian Men's Junior Hockey Team) that would slack off after being ahead so many goals, the Tampa Bay Lightning team did not slack off at all. They played hard the whole game even though they were up seven points at one point. That is what I call a strong team because too many teams get too cocky and slack. 

So Tampa's got talent and it'll be interesting to see how they make it through the rest of the playoffs. Hey, they already won the series against the Washington Capitals

I hate to say it because I want a Canadian Team to take the Stanley Cup home, but this year it'll be an American team taking it home. If it was between Montreal and Vancouver to represent Canada in the playoffs I would rather it have been Montreal because I feel they have much better control of the puck than the Vancouver Canucks. Sorry Van fans - if you can get past Nashville Predators (not a winning team) I don't think you'll get past the next series. 

Any NHL Playoff predictions on your part?

What's your favourite sport to watch?