Ok, so I shouldn’t be THAT excited, but after the Sabres loss to the ‘Canes any revenge is sweet. I will say the tribute to Glen Wesley was something else. Now, I’m not a huge fan of Glen’s. Don’t get me wrong, I understand what he has contributed to this organization, but I have no vested interest in the touchy feely aspect of retirement ceremonies.
Before I get into my thoughts of last nights game, I need to apologize. Apparently, my cellphone is not made to take pictures in the dark. I promise next time it will be my real camera.
So, here’s my thoughts on last nights game – in order of occurrence
Aw, how nice of them. I'm glad to be here!
I pulled into the RBC Center and could not believe my eyes! There.was.tailgating. I will fully admit, there was tailgating before the Winter Classic in Buffalo, but we were at a football stadium. I can not count the number of trucks there were with coolers and those little hibachi grills. I wonder if they know it’s not “normal” to tailgate for HOCKEY? I think it was my I heart Buffalo hockey shirt that kept me from getting a nice, roasted hot dog.
While I was waiting in line to enter the arena, I called Diebeige to discuss the tailgating. The call didn’t last long, because I had to put my cellphone and purse on a tab to be checked while I went through the metal detector. (Yes, you read that correctly.) I’m used to a lot of travel, so usually a metal detector is no big deal, but for hockey? They must be afraid someone is going to shoot Cam Ward or some other under performing member of the team.
That guy in white...yeah, he's wearing a Sabres jersey.
During the pre-game skate, Aaron Ward who obviously loves this state and city knew some of the people sitting in front of me. They tried really hard to get his attention, and when he finally saw them gave them a head nod and a smile. I thought it was nice, even if they were decked out in ‘Canes gear.
It was really cool to see Marc Savard pick up about 5-6 pucks and chuck them over the glass for little kids. Even if those kids were wearing ‘Canes jersey’s. He did this twice. It was cool and the kids were really excited.
You are SO hot, if only you'd turn around.
While waiting for the ceremony to begin, I decided to take in the data scrolling by on the jumbo-tron. To be honest with you, I didn’t get it at first.
Oh look, its an advertisement for “The Godfather”, but wait, that says “The Hogfather?” WHA?? Then I caught another that said “The Hog King” with a picture of Simba. Huh? The next thing I saw was this -
Meet Stormy - the hog.
The ‘Canes mascot is a pig. A pig, people. Because when I think of a hurricane, my first thought is a pig. I do get the state food around here is BBQ, but that just makes the pig mascot cruel. I mean, seriously, this is almost as bad as when my mom told my 4 year old nephew that Babe was about bacon.
In other, only in the south news, both Zamboni’s are outfitted as John Deere’s. No, really, this picture actually came out.
Told ya I was tellin' the truth.
Next, it was onto the retirement ceremony. It started out super cool with showing Glen getting dressed in his ‘Canes jersey again. Then he came down the tunnel, all by himself, for one last lap around the ice. Before taking his lap, he stopped by the Zamboni doors and grabbed his two sons, also dressing in miniature Glen gear, and the three of them circled the ice. It.was.awesome. You could tell as they would come up to some of the wires that he was telling his sons to be careful, there’s a wire.
Here the are taking the first pass around the rink.
When they got to the podium at center ice, the announced all of Glen’s special guests. There were two in particular from his days in Boston. Derek Sanderson and Ray Bourque. Unfortunately they announced that Ray had a family emergency and was unable to make it. During his speech, Glen thanked Ray and told him all of his thoughts and prayers were with him right now. I don’t know what has happened with/or to Ray, but my thoughts and prayers are with him now. He is a class act and an awesome player. It was also very difficult to watch Derek come out onto the ice. For someone that “flew” around the ice for years, it was very sad to see the state in which his body now stands. It was obviously painful for him to walk and just as painful for me to watch.
They unveiled the gifts to Glen. There was the normal replica of the banner being lifted to the rafters. There was a framed copy of the score card of his first and last games. Which is amazing they could find the first game. Then there was a painting of Glen’s life in hockey. To the left was him in a Bruins jersey, left and center was the Whalers jersey, and the entire right side was Glen in the ‘Canes jersey. Tucked behind the Whalers and Bruins jersey was Glen in a leafs jersey with only the top portion of the leaf in view. Just the way I thought it should be.
This is the real one, but he has a framed replica to take home.
I stood with baited breath as Glen walked up to make his speech. As I’ve said before, I’m a total sap. While I really couldn’t care they were retiring his number I knew if someone started to cry it would be all over for me. SO, the show Glen standing at the podium waiting to give his speech with a tear running down his left cheek. GREEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT, buh-bye Chaz. You could tell he was attempted to hold back tears by the hitch in his voice as mine freely flowed down my face. It was a very touching speech with some humorous parts. His comments about moving to Mayberry could not have been more true.
We were crying together.
Before Glen left the ice, he was prompted to take one last swing around the ice and he obliged, but not before stopping to shake the hands of every single ‘Canes player and Aaron Ward. Then he took one last trip around the ice and disappeared down the Zamboni tunnel.
Final lap around the arena.
It was then the final tribute to the Wesley family was made. See, it was announced the National anthem would be sung by Glen’s Daughter, youngest son and wife. While it was obvious his son was very nervous, I thought a tremendous job was done by all. The three part harmony at the end was a total thumbs up. During the whole thing, Glen was not to be seen as this was their time to shine for everything they did for him.
Daughter, Son, Wife
It was a class act all the way around and I’m glad to say I was there, even if I was wishing a Bruins victory.
Next, it was puck drop time!
Truthfully, there was nothing that made the actual game really special to me. The ‘Canes fans that sat around me were definitely homers in that their team never took any penalties and the Bruins were always guilty of something. Now, I can understand this mentality, I just don’t share it. I can watch a play and swear like a sailor when DRoy takes a diving penalty. Admit it, he dove. Anywho, this got old quick.
I was really shocked when the ‘Canes scored first. I thought to myself they just might be able to pull this off. I also caught a glimpse of a really neat feature the ‘Canes have on their scoreboard. When a goal is scored, the jumbo-tron is split screened and the left side contains a picture of the goal scorer, regardless, of which team they play. It also posts how many goals they have for the season and the number of assists for each person credited with an assist. It might be a small detail, but I thought it was super cool detail. From then on it was the Bruins show. It seemed like every 2 minutes in the third period the ‘Canes lost another player. I was glad to see a few made it back to the bench since There’s not much to say since the ‘Canes laid a stinking turd on a night they were trying to honor Glen Wesley. I don’t know about you but I usually don’t consider stinking turds to be complimentary.
In other news -
My blog is apparently famous for one bad post I did about Scott Parker, former Avalanche and currently out on parole out of a job since he refused to report to Lake Erie. 117 times, he has been searched. I doubt there are that many people that really care about Scott, so I think he must be googling himself. There’s nothing new on my site about you?!?!
How about them Sabres! I predict a 3-1 win and they have to prove they can score 4. I only wish I’d seen Drew score 2 goals. That would have been awesome.
