So, we went to our first hockey game of the season last night. The Coyotes played the New Jersey Devils at Glendale Arena. (I hate, hate, hate calling it Jobing.com Arena. Absolutely ridiculous.) We are going to see the 'Yotes play Calgary on December 16, but I was trying to find another game to go to before we get too close to Gracie's due date. On the Coyotes radio broadcasts there were ads for stubhub.com, where you can allegedly get tickets from season ticket holders who can't make it to a game. So I went to the site early last week to see what kind of prices there were. I found lower level tickets (section 102, row X) for only $40 per! Seriously, that's "Prices slashed, everything must go!" type of price. On ticketmaster, $40 tix are upper level. I quickly called Mama and got the go-ahead to order 2 tickets.
The area around Glendale Arena is being developed as the Westgate Center (or something like that) and is allegedly going to be quite a development project. They are putting up a couple hotels right now, as well as a theatre and a shopping center. The fountain above is right by the arena. The streams of water kind of moved in time to different songs, so that was cool. Hannah got a big kick out of it.
The Devils' goalie, Martin Brodeur, has the most wins of any goalie in the NHL right now and is generally one of the best in the league. So, being the faithful fan that I am, I was sure the 'Yotes were doomed. Fortunately, I had forgotten that when Hannah is at a game, the Coyotes win. Seriously, she is 3 for 3 now. A 1.00 win percentage. It was great. The Coyotes had goals from Derek Morris (on a sweet pass from Jeremy Roenick), Dave Scatchard (a redirect on a shot by Ed Jovanovski I believe), and Owen Nolan (slid right under Brodeur's shoulder as he went down to stack the pads). Cujo let in only 1 goal, scored by John Madden.
The Devils played like the Coyotes have been most of the season. They couldn't keep the puck out of their zone and did not put much pressure on the offensive zone. The Coyotes however, only allowed 15 shots all game and for the most part kept NJ out of their end. They put good pressure on Brodeur, with the 3 goals coming in 27 shots (two were top corner, glove side). They played 3 solid periods and looked good throughout the game. It was also Shane Doan's first game back from a back injury, and it was Mike Ricci's first game all season. He had a neck surgery in the off-season and played two games in the minors over the weekend to get back into the swing of things. It was his first time in the minors in his entire 14-year career.
We, as usual, had a lot of fun. Can't wait to go again next month!