Do You Bleed Blue?

Anybody out there know where that came from? It was the catch phrase in St. Louis for the Blues NHL hockey team. Since we've been gone from the area for almost three years, they very well may have changed it by now. But there were billboards everywhere around the city with that phrase.

So now guess what Hubby and I did on Groundhog Day? Yes, I'm a little late in posting about it, but you know the cliche. And no, we did not go to St. Louis. We saw the Blues play here in Detroit against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings.

At first I felt like I was back in the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis watching the Cardinals play. It was a sea of red seats.

I love hockey. It's the best spectator sport. It's also the one I understand the least. Well, out of the major sports like football, baseball, and basketball. I'm not just a math geek, I'm a sports chick. What are the odds?

I hadn't been to a game since I saw the Blues play at The Arena in St. Louis in the early 90's before they tore The Arena down and before kids. Hubby found special pricing for two tickets, two hotdogs, and two small sodas, and we had a date. Aren't all you girls jealous?

Although we'd only seen a handful of games live, this was a night of firsts for us. It was the first time we had seen an overtime game, which they called the 4th period on the scoreboard. It was only five minutes long, as opposed to the previous 20 minute periods, and it was sudden death.

You'll see that at the end of the overtime period neither team had scored, so it was another first for us — a shootout! At the end of the shootout (each team got three tries), which they called the 5th period, the Red Wings had scored one more goal than the Blues (2-1), so they added that one goal to the previous three, and the Red Wings won.

If they had still been tied, they would have gone one-on-one in a sudden death shootout situation. Have you enjoyed your hockey lesson?

So the guy sitting next to me asked in the middle of the game when we were going to become Red Wings fans. I told him I wasn't sure, because their red color was like Soviet Union red. I mean, I did grow up when the Cold War was still going on and the Russian judges at the Olympics gave our Olympians lower scores. Plus I look better in a deeper red color. But I only told him about the Soviet part, not what colors I looked good in. He agreed and suggested that I wear their black jersey. I just smiled and chose not to tell him one of the reasons I don't really care for the NFL's Raiders or Steelers.

On the other hand, Hubby really likes their logo. It reminds him of the Army's transportation wheel he wore all those years. So this team could easily be our second favorite hockey team. We've never had one; just a favorite. And you can't ask for much more from your second favorite team than that they are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Unless, of course, they are second behind your favorite team.