So It Begins

The Sharks tour has started.

I decided a few weeks ago that I'd like to see my beloved Sharks play at every arena in the NHL. A lot of people do baseball tours, but I think hockey tours are less common. Plus, you get to see a lot more of Canada this way.

Although I've already been to a few games this season, 12/12/06 was the first official stop. Since I live in Los Angeles, the tour started here at the Staples Center. Special guest for the game was Victoria Engelmayer.

The Sharks dominated the game, cruising to a 3-1 win. The Sharks looked a bit tired, having played last night, but they pulled off a victory nonetheless. Frankly, the L.A. Kings are a pretty poor team right now. Even shorthanded, the Sharks were never out of control.

Rookie sensation Joe Pavelski scored twice- a beautiful breakaway goal, and sweet wrister during a 5 on 3. Steve Bernier scored the other goal for the Sharks. Evgeni Nabokov was one goal shy of his 4th shutout of the season- stopping 36 of 37 shots. He made some remarkable saves.

The Staples Center is a pretty good place to see a game. Opened in 1999, it has comfortable seats (cup holders!), and a great lighting system. The arena holds 18,118 for hockey games. It's also home to the Lakers, Sparks (WNBA), and a ton of concerts and special events.

The crowd, announced at 15,000 (but probably around 12,000) was below-average in their enthusiasm. To be fair, I've been to Kings games before, and there has been more involvement. Fact is, they're a pretty bad team this year. When they finally managed a goal, the place got pretty loud. For a minute.

As for food and drink, the options were quite limited. That is indeed a McDonald's picture above. Normally, I wouldn't eat fast food at an arena, but, aside from a hot dog booth, that was all there was. Choices are a slightly more varied on the lower concourse- mostly still fast food. As one ascends to the upper level, you can glance into the stadium club. The food looked very good there.

It was a bit of a mess ordering. We ordered two chicken strip combos. When they rang it up the price seemed very high, even for sports food. After a long attempt at conversation with the non-English speaking cashier (at one point I said "so that's a lie, then!") it came to light that beverages were perhaps not included in the combo. How strange. I've never ordered a combo meal before and not had a beverage included. Later, again due to lack of options, we returned to McD's for ice cream. Again, the price seemed rather high. It seems that Victoria's "I'd like lots of extra chocolate. Please, please lots of extra chocolate" translated to "I want a sundae and a McFlurry." Now I'm not an "English only" type person, but one would think that getting combo meals with beverages and ordering two sundaes (even one with extra chocolate) would be easier.

That being said, the chicken strips were better than any I've had at any sporting even except the fancy seats at Angel's Stadium, and McD's fries are always tasty.

Here's the shot (and star) of the game.

The Sharks finished the game with a record of 23-9. Their 46 points gives them 2nd most in the West, but because of division leaders, 4th overall.