Thunderbirds 4 – Silvertips 3
Last night I went to my first Seattle Thunderbirds game at the Key Arena. It was not quite my first hockey game ever — I went to a Carleton College women’s hockey game many years ago — but it was definitely the most intense and fun sporting event I have been to in a while.
After the opening faceoff, the first thing I noticed was how fast everyone was going. The players are really incredible on their skates. Where I normally would have thought about how cool that would be, this time I mostly thought about how much it would hurt for me to try that right now. Kinda lame, I know.
Anyway, the game started out poorly — The Everett Silvertips scored two goals, both on power plays, the the Thunderbirds seemed to have trouble controlling the puck for long periods of time. The second period went much better, with the Thunderbirds battling back to score a shorthanded goal, then a powerplay goal, then a third goal. In the waning seconds of the second, however, Everett ended up scoring a third goal to tie the game at three going into the final period.
During the first intermission, I ended up buying a few huck-a-pucks. During the second intermission, a car with a sunroof came out and thousands of $1.33 pucks flew at the car. Getting the puck into the car meant entering a drawing for $10,000. My first puck careened off the back left of the car; my second puck was short, and the third one maintained good aim but sailed too far. Oh well!
The third period saw the Thunderbirds lock down the game. They scored one more and held the Silvertips to a shutout, taking the game 4-3. The last 90 seconds of the third saw the Silvertips pull their goalie to get an additional offensive presence. Although all the action took place on Seattle’s side, the defense held fast for just long enough, and the Thunderbirds secured the victory.
The occasion for all of this was Scott’s 23rd birthday; afterwards we made our way to the Old Spaghetti Factory and enjoyed some food and conversation. A good time was had by all.