Hockey Night in St. Paul! Sharks @ Wild

Josh Harding, stud.

There is nothing like a hockey game to get me blogging!  This time it was the Sharks @ Wild.  My sister and I headed up to St. Paul to see the game with a friend.  We had gone to the science museum earlier and in a kinda ironic (but not intentional) moment we saw Sharks on the Omniteater.  Adorable.  The other Sharks, not so adorable.  But hey, that is what makes for a good game.  And it was quite the feisty one. The Wild led most of the game, but seemingly fell apart with 10 minutes left.  The sharks pushed it into overtime and then the shootout.

In Color... ...Hockey Night

Rick Nash and some guy not named Rick Nash

You had to know it would happen after I discovered that I really like pictures in both black and white and color, that eventually, I'd be wasting my time going through my hockey pictures and giving them the Pleasentville effect.  I started with that Kipper picture and slowly figured out how to make it look better.  Some have just the player in color, others have the lines from the ice, or the crease for the goalies in color as well.

Hockey & Puppy Sitting

OK, so I spent the better part of a week in St. Paul dog sitting the most amazing Gunther ever!  He is an amazing dog and we adore each other so.  We puzzled, we lounged, we cooked, we lounged, we watched hockey among other things.  We lounged.  Seriously this was pretty much the week.  Oh and we took bunches of short walks.  Anyways fun was had by all (and by that I mean me and G).




So while up there I went to 2 wild hockey games.  I didn't get a lot of pictures but that is OK.  So the 2 games where on the 29th and 31st.  And let me tell you they were like polar opposites.  It was bad.  On the 29th they played a pretty talented (and gigantic) Sharks team, and played a pretty solid game and they scored a lot.  Then on New Years Eve they played the Predators, a solid team but not a super fab one, but hey do have a wicked defense.  And it was the lamest game in the history of lame games.  What was sad was that the Preds scored twice into an empty net.

But there were some pluses.  After all I got to see some good hockey in one game.  And I seriously think that the Sharks are a good 3 times the size of the Wild.  Especally Joe Thornton, that must be the reason they call him Jumbo... At least I hope so.  I didn't get to see Joe Pavelski as he is injured and I do adore him.  So that was sad.  But I got to see Antero Niittymaki (my 3rd/4th favorite Finnish goalie depending on the day) but he got lit up (sad face).  But in the Preds game I got to see Shane O'Brien, Pekka Rinne, Anders Lindback was on the bench... so it was worth it.

I adore Shane from his Vancouver days.  He was a decent D-man then, but a bit of a wild child.  Nashville has been good for him I think, and he has turned into a more solid, mature d-man!  I was impressed, even if I missed the play and goal he assisted on.  Pekka Rinne was pretty solid in the net for the preds, he is my second favorite Finnish goaltender (my first plays for a team that shall not be named as I should not like him as I do).  And Anders Lindback is my goalie crush of the season (it was supposed to be Khudobin, but the wild went a different route) so it was great to see him, even if he didn't play.


  And I rung in the new year watching a lame hockey game (so glad I am not emotionally invested in the wild).  Going back to my brothers, watching an awesome Canucks game.  And having the best date ever.  Even if he wanted to sleep at midnight.  Gunther was the best!  So I will leave you with one more candid shot of the darling.