"Be Conservative....and DON'T GO OVER!!!!!!

Last night was our last regular season Sharks game.  The last two games that we have gone to have been great because Matt was able to see his favorite player, Sidney Crosby, and last night's game Ryan was able to see his favorite player, Alexander Ovechkin.  And, right when we got there, we ran into friends!  Here are the boys with Ryan Streyle, who was there with his dad Todd (who I used to work with at Lakewood Drugs) and Ryan is currently in my class.  Small world.

After we took some pictures of the boys, we headed up and sat in our seats waiting for the game to start.  And then this happened!!!!!

Yep....that is Rich on the big screen (on the right), playing a game to try and win us seats down behind the players bench. 

The Sharks lady had come up to us and asked us if we liked our seats, I said yes, and she asked if we would like a chance to win closer seats. Duh!  We, of course,  jumped at the chance.  She said Rich would be competing against another family, playing a game to guess how many miles apart two random cities were.  Whoever the closest was, without going over, won the seats.  As soon as she walked away, Rich got out his phone and started putting in random cities to get an idea for distances.  After the national anthem, he was to go down and wait for a stoppage in play, and then he would be up.  She had said that we all could go down and wait with him, but I told him he was on his own.  I did not want to jinx him and be too confident with all of us going down, so we waited up top.  I also wanted to be able to video him on the screen.  As he was walking away, I turned and grabbed his arm and said, "Be conservative....and DON'T GO OVER!!!!"

He didn't go over.  :)

Totally unreal.  Not sure if you can hear me at the end screaming, and then saying...Let's Go!!!

Four tickets, two rows behind visitor bench.  To give you a little perspective, our seats are two rows from the top of the building.  This was a bit of an upgrade. 

Our view! 

And there is Ovechkin!

And to our right, the Sharks bench.  The security guard right to the left was the NICEST man.  He was so great with the boys and helped them out so that they could get contact with the players. 

I would like to say that Rich and I handled ourselves like adults, but we really were just as excited as the boys were. 

First goal of the game!!!!!

Right before the start of the 2nd period, here are the boys high-fiving the players. 

Puck drop at start of 2nd.

And he caught a t-shirt!!

 

And, we really can't say enough about the people that were sitting around us.  They were so great and excited for the kids.  The couple behind us sat and talked with us throughout the game and then bought the boys a dessert.   

Hello Brent.  :)

And the kicker to end the night!  The head coach of the Capitals, Adam Oates, turned and tossed a puck that just flew out of bounds to Matt.  The boys went nuts!  He was so cool and we were very grateful!!!

What a night.  To be completely honest, being that close was amazing, but I feel like we missed so much of the actual game because it was constant chaos down at that level.  There was constant movement with line changes and the speed of everything was much faster than it appears on TV.  Half the game we watched what was going on up on the big screen because we couldn't see through everyone.  I AM NOT COMPLAINING AT ALL...but those seats we have, two rows from the top, aren't bad either.  This was a total treat for our entire family.  I am so happy for Rich, because he really did have a lot of pressure riding on how well he did.  I told him on the way home, "I am really glad you won, because I really didn't want to hate you for losing us those seats."  My heart was pounding the entire time he was gone and he later told me his palms were sweaty and he was just as nervous.  We are very grateful to him for the big win!  What a night!  Just wished they had won.