Pregame fuel. Nothing says "We like watching full grown men stomp on each other with razor sharp skates" like some grilled cheese sandwiches!
Lauren and I in our new Capitals gear, about ready to hit the road. In case you were wondering, yes, that is an Alexander Ovechkin jersey (aka, "The Great Eight"--he is kind of a big deal, I like to call him the "Michael Jordan of hockey").
As this was our first hockey game, we wanted to make sure we were not late. Not a problem there. We jumped on the metro and headed to Chinatown (where the Verizon Center is) and got to the arena about an hour-and-a-half early. We were pretty much the only ones in our seats when we got there, but we didn't miss a minute of warmups!
Yep, pretty much no one here . . .
I'm a bit lonely . . .
Crickets . . .
Of course, we had to get a picture to commemorate the occasion, but, as you can see, there is no one around to take it. So, enter the failed attempt at a long arm shot . . .
Wow, that is a big eye! Let's try that without the camera fully zoomed in. . .
That's better!
We saw all of the warmups. For all of you gamers out there, hockey warmups in real life are exactly as depicted on one of the greatest Nintendo games of all time, Blades of Steel.
"Blades of Steel" for Nintendo. Notice the players circling in the warmups, and . . .
On a side note, I say "one" of the greatest Nintendo games, because of course the greatest game of all time is a tie between Super Mario Brothers 3 and Contra. Contra was a favorite in the Dawson household. All Contra fans know the thirty-lives code by heart (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A), but growing up, my brother, Ryan, could beat the game without the code. So when we played multiplayer, he didn't enter the code, and thus we each had only five lives. I would blow through my five lives in the first level, and then "borrow" (steal) lives from Ryan so I could keep playing (Select + B). This would cause a huge argument that usually progressed something like this:
Ryan: Chris, I told you, stop stealing my lives. If you want to keep playing don't die so easily.
Chris: I would stay alive but you take all the good guns. Every time there is a "Spread Gun" you take it and only leave the "Fire" for me! [everyone knows the fire is no good].
Ryan: Chris, I would let you have the Spread, but you will just die and then neither one of us will have it for Jo-Jo the Dancing Bear. [this is the nickname we game to the boss at the end of sixth level]
Chris: I'm telling Mom.
Ryan: [scared mom will make us turn it off] Fine. You can have the next Spread.
You get the picture. In case you have no idea what I am talking about, this should provide some context:
The Contra Packaging
The Spread Gun. Easily the best gun in the game.
Let me introduce you to Jo-Jo the Dancing Bear.
Anyway, back to the game. Hockey Games = Fun. Ottawa went up 1-0 early, but the Caps came back to score three goals in the third period to win 3-1. We saw a few fights (sort of) and a few broken sticks. We even met "Captain Capital," a slightly inappropriate, emotionally unstable, 35-year-old fan sitting behind us who wore a red cape (sorry, we never had a good chance to snag a picture). Overall, we had a great time!
A view of center ice.
Goal!!!!
Final Score! Caps Win!!
We are certified hockey fans now and can't wait to attend another! Go Caps! Rock the Red! We will keep you informed of how the Capitals do in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But, now that we are rooting for them (bad luck!), I would not expect too much!
The Chinatown metro stop, outside the arena where the Caps play. This is a neat area of D.C.
