There are things that don’t happen at the Pepsi Center. There are things that die off into the thin air we have up here that you expect in other places. The chants flashed on the scoreboard are picked up for a moment, the music is left to play without any reaction. Goals by opponents are met with silence, instead of emotion. Fans of the away team are left to their own devices.
Tonight was completely different.
Of all the games I have been to at the Pepsi Center, this was the best. The Avs worked their asses off through 2 periods, fell apart in the third (but still tried) and took it to the shootout. The SO goal by Sakic was such an emotional high for the crowd, the loss was only a sting. Peter Budaj came out and made a case for taking over the starting position, making some seriously flashy saves at the right time. The chants of “Let’s Go, Red Wings” were met with even louder “Red Wings Suck!” I know I will be soothing this throaht all day. I had the people in front of me cracking up with outbursts like “Check Chelios, he’s too old to skate,” and “Don’t forget your walker, Chelios!” Not too inventive, but fun. In fact, now that I think about it, Chelios is the one who drew most of my ire tonight. Him and Datsyuk. Why Datsyuk? Beats me. Chelios springs from the World Cup of Hockey 2004, where he was always three feet from doing any work. (Sidenote: A guy sitting two seats over recognized me from the WCH2004. Small hockey world, eh?)
The only way I would have been happier with the game is if the Avs had come out with the two points, or if the Avs hadn’t fallen apart at the end so bad. We need the points more than the Wings do, and the third period was all Avs putting themselves in jeopardy, not the Wings doing anything special. Tonight was a night where I felt like going to the Can was the only reasonable thing to do, one of the few when I would have felt like I missed out on something great. The presentation, the lack of replays, the things the Avs screw up when they have a home game, none of that made any difference. It was just the Avs versus the Evil Empire. And I was glad to be there.
That is how a rivalry should feel.
P.S. 2nd best, you ask? I think the next game against the Wings here (Jan 20th) is going to be even better. Want to guess where I’m going to be?