After taking a short nap, we get dressed in our Canes gear. We borrowed a Staal jersey from one of Kel's coworkers and picked up a Staal t-shirt for her before we left town. Knowing the reputation of Philly fans, we decided it would probably be best to keep them underwraps for as long as possible until we got to our seats and settled.
We hop on the Broad Street line right outside our hotel and take it all the way to the stadium. Its bitter cold, windy and its started to drizzle so the walk to the ticket office is brutal.
As we're walking up to the ticket office, I go to grab my ID and its not there. I have a major panic attack about the flight the next morning, but we both decide that since I've been keeping my ID and room key together and they're both missing - I probably just left them in the room. We check in to will-call and pick up our tickets and meet-n-greet passes. Section 114, Row 8, Seats 15 & 16.
We make our way around the concourse and the Wachovia Center really reminds me of the RBC the way everything is laid out. Get to Sec 114 and show our tickets to the nice ushers and make our way down to our seats - which were AWESOME. We were 8 rows up (duh) from the
glass, inside the blue line of the Canes attacking zone for 1st and third periods, OT and the shootout.Once we sit and get settled, I look around and I don't know the numbers on how many the building holds and all - but the place feels HUGE. There MIGHT be a dozen canes fans in the building, most of em have Brind'Amour jerseys on so I wonder if they're just Roddy fans from back in his Philly days who picked up a jersey for the novelty of it or if they're real fans of the team.
I take off my jacket and unveil the Staal jersey, getting some cross looks from the fans around us, but none of them say anything to us about it. A few minutes later, the lights go down, they announce our starting lineup. "[Player Position, Name]" by the annoucer, "SUCKS!" by the entire crowd, including young children. Puck hasn't even dropped yet and the building is already alive and loud. Each Flyer gets a huge ovation as they're called out over the P.A.
The puck drops and the boys skate up and down the ice a couple of times. It looks like we're defending well, but having trouble getting the puck back out of the zone on the attack. 1:30 or so in, we give up a quick, cheap goal. The place goes insane. Chatter starts up around us, but nothing mean. Just how they're 3-0-0 against us this year and how they own us. While this is going on, we spy two guys down on the glass in front of us. One wearing a Whalers jersey, another in a Canes.
These guys either a: didn't get the memo that we're in Flyers country and Philly fans are insane or b: wanted to die. After the Flyers goal they turned around and started giving all the fans around them the finger, cussing at them, etc. This proceeded to get worse and worse as the game went on. These two guys totally took the pressure off us. They had two whole sections of the arena saying vile things about their mothers, their domestic partnership status, their chances of making it to the train in one piece, one guy even gave him the Chris Benoit Roid Rage Throat Cutter sign. Kel and I decide its best to let everyone around us know that we don't know those guys and are not associated with them in any way, shape or form.
The game progresses and its a great one. The game goes back and forth all game. 10 goals total, one fight that was broken up way too quickly, a few cheap penalties on both teams, 2 goals that were reviewed and called goals. One thing about the Flyers fans - they know their hockey and they are intense. You'd have thought it was Game 7 of the finals by the volume and passion in there. We were lucky enough to be sitting around a couple of groups of cool guys who loved the Flyers, but were just as big fans of the game in general and appreciated the way the game was shaping as much as we did.
There were only two times where I ever felt like my life was in any danger during the game. When the Canes tied it up at 1-1, I forgot where I was and jumped out of my seat screaming with my arms over my head. Let me just tell you - it was a little awkward to be the only one standing in a stadium of 20,000 or so. I just kind of looked around, gave a little 'sorry' wave and took my seat. Some of the boys around us let me know that had this been a Penguins or
Devils game - it wouldn't have been pretty. The second time we were in danger was actually a lot of fun. In the 3rd period of the games, they do this boo/cheer thing on the jumbotron. They came down and put a camera on us and one of a kid in a Flyers jersey. We come up on the screen and the whole place boos, kid comes up and they go nuts. They did this back and forth a few times and it was fun, but I didn't really like the camera guy leaving. At least if we got attacked on camera, we'd have some evidence.The game is tied 5-5 at the end of regulation and we go into OT. The Flyers pick up a quick hooking penalty that just shouldn't have been called. I really didn't want us to win on a cheap power-play like that, but it didn't matter because the Flyers killed it well. Not long after we were back to 4v4 the Canes pick up a penalty of their own. I tell ya, 4 minutes of 4v3 sudden death hockey isn't good for the ole ticker. The Flyers were pounding it in there and I thought for sure they had it a few times. Graham came up huge a few times and we even got Brind'Amour out on a short handed chance one time. We kill the penalty and get a few shots off in the final seconds, now we're in penalty shots.
Briere is up first for the Flyers. He gets Graham to bite hard on the deke and shoots over the net from point blank range. I thought for sure he had it. Cullen's up first for the Canes. Skates in hard, 5 holes Biron. 1-0 canes. Flyers tie it up, Hamilton skates in hard and gets Biron glove side. 2-1 canes. Flyers tie it up 2-2. Roddy's up and the whole place is on edge. Their former love against them with it all hanging on this shot. He comes in hard, takes Biron glove side and the whole place goes nuts. Everyone, including Roddy, thinks its in the glove. Then all the sudden the lights go off and the puck is in the net! It deflected off the glove, straight up, off Biron's back and into the net. I couldn't believe it - what a way to end the game.
Fearing for our safety, we cover all the canes logos back up and head to section 104 for the meet-n-greet. We wait a few minutes, then they let us in and lead us through the press conference area. Not what you'd expect. It was a lot smaller than what it feels like on TV but pretty cool to see anyway. We're in the Lexus Lounge waiting on the players to come out and meet with their friends and family. Some of the guys come out, and honestly - I'm just not used
to seeing these guys without jerseys and helmets on. I wasn't sure if they were Canes players or Flyers so I sheepishly asked someone near us who they were. Went up and got Tim Gleason's autograph, but I felt bad interrupting him while he was spending time with his girl. Justin Williams came out too and we got his autograph and got to speak to him for a few minutes. Some other folks took a picture with him and Kel tried to get out of the photo so she bent over and backed up...right into a guy in a suit who we later found out was Cam Ward. She'll be serving her two minutes for goaltender interference at the next game - hopefully she didn't injure Cam's knees too bad.We didn't get Cam's autograph because we just didn't know who he was. He was standing there talking to three guys, one of em in a Flyers hat so we assumed he was a Flyer. We asked the guys afterwards who he was and couldn't believe it. These three guys were canadians who were on a whirlwind NHL trip to see 4 games in different arenas in 5 days. Two of them knew Cam when he was playing juniors. One of them worked as a replay technician for the Calgary Flames, one worked as the game night host for the Red Deer Rebels junior team, and the other one didn't talk so much. We hop back on the train with our new found friends from the great white north and discuss the finer points of whether it should be called a 'beanie' 'took' or the ridiculous 'toboggan'. The three canucks and I came to the agreement that both beanie and took are acceptable, but toboggan is just asinine. A toboggan is a sled people, seriously.
We hit a pub on the Benjamin Franklin Pkwy with the canucks and have a few beers and talk hockey, sports in general, canada, raleigh, philly, etc. I actually got the compliment to end all compliments when they all agreed that it was a breath of fresh air to hear an american, from raleigh no less, who actually understood the game of hockey and could break down the game. I don't care who you are, if a canadian gives you credit for knowing hockey - you're cool. Even cooler - Joe, the one who works for the Red Deer Rebels gave me his card and told me that he could help me get a Cam Ward junior team replica jersey which is just awesome and I'll be shooting him that email this evening.
We get back to the hotel around 1:00am, download the pictures off the camera and crash hard. We're exhausted, but man what a night. We couldn't believe the whole experience and how much we packed into one day.
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