ShoWare Shootout

I treated my brother Eamonn and his friend Earl to a hockey game tonight. The Seattle Thunderbirds new home in Kent just opened last week. This was the Tri-City Americans first visit and the first game I've attended as well. Eamonn showed up sporting my old school Americans jersey with both he and Earl still supporting our hometown team. I told them I'm wavering because the T-Birds are now within walking distance of my condo and I've now spent more of my life in the Seattle area than I have in the Tri-Cities. So I was a neutral fan tonight.

The game was good even though the Americans have a much better record. It ended up going into overtime and was eventually won by the visitors 4-3 in a sudden death shootout. Apparently the rules have changed some since I last followed it. There are no more ties, which I think is cool... a shootout is a great way to decide a close game. We also saw a penalty shot (that didn't score) which is rare enough I don't recall ever seeing one at any of the other games I've attended over the years.

The ShoWare Center is nice. Never having to worry about where to park (or having to pay for it) is totally awesome. At $22, I think the seats are reasonably priced but the arena was only a little over half full (today's Boeing layoff announcement probably didn't help). Food and beer was consistent with Safeco and Qwest... overpriced. They had a contest in the 2nd intermission called "Chuck-a-Puck" where you pay $5 for three orange foam pucks and try to throw them into the sunroof of a car at center ice for a chance at a money prize. Neither Eamonn, Earl, nor I came close.