Wings 2, Canucks 1

Tonight was honestly the best night of my young 19 year old life. I attended the Wings vs. Canucks game at the Joe where I sat in the first row *right* next to where the zambonis come out (but on the opposite side of the goal judge). People literally came up to us to tell us that we had the best seats in the house. They were amazing. To see my "idols" within 2 inches of me was unbelievable. I don't remember the period, but Steve Yzerman was nailed literally right in front of me- just crazy. My Dad and I took hundreds of pictures (seriously, like over 500) so we'll be going through them tomorrow and I'll post them whenever we transfer them from his camera to my laptop. It was soo worth the nearly $500 it cost my dad and I to get the best seats at the Joe. My dad's birthday is at the end of March so we're going to try to get those same seats again...it was so surreal. The Wings won in an excellent hockey game. And while there wasn't a full blown hockey fight, there certainly were numerous scrums where the entire crowd at the Joe jumped up to their feet. The Joe was pretty loud tonight and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There were two little kids behind me and Al Sobotka, the infamous zamboni driver, sat right next to them and gave them some pucks in the third period. Brendan Shanahan scored the game winning goal, his 100th in his career, while on the power play with seven minutes left in the game. The goal was a beauty right in front of my face (Yzerman did a nice job screening Auld). Carter scored the only goal for the Canucks with 7:50 left in the first period. Nicklas Lidstrom scored the Wings first goal of the game during a 5-on-3 power play, Robert Lang and Mathieu Schneider with the assist (lengthening his point streak to 5 games). The Wings outshot the Canucks 35-15 in a strong defensive effort. "We're playing real strong in our own end," Lidstrom said. "We're not giving up a lot of shots and Manny only has to make one save and we're clearing the rebound." For those of you who watched the game on TV, you should've seen me on the Vancouver broadcast right after the Wings scored their first goal. I was banging on the glass like crazy. And then the Detroit broadcast, I believe I was shown when our section held up "Hi Jiri" signs, but since I was in the front I'm not sure if that scanned down that far. And my dad was prominently seen during the Karen Newman performance, which we were less than 10 feet from in his bright red sweatshirt. Interesting Notes: Every single time Todd Bertuzzi touched the puck, the Joe was filled with boos. In between the 1st and 2nd period, they brought out a Toyota truck and the entire time it was on the ice, the crowd booed their heads off. But when a Jeep was brought out in the next intermission, no problems at all. Quite entertaining. Well, I'm exhausted after a long but exciting birthday and I'm still experiencing sensory overload from today's game. But I will try to post those pictures ASAP. Good night everybody! Lines* Datsyuk-Shanahan-Zetterberg Holmstrom-Yzerman-Cleary Franzen-Draper-Maltby Samuelsson-Williams-Lang Franzen-Draper-Williams Zetterberg-Williams-Lang Holmstrom-Cleary-Draper Zetterberg-Samuelsson-Datsyuk Yzerman-Lang-Holmstrom Samuelsson-Williams-Cleary Holmstrom-Franzen-Draper Zetterberg-Draper-Maltby Maltby-Draper Franzen-Cleary D-pairings Lilja-Lidstrom Lebda-Chelios Lebda-Schneider Lebda-Lilja Chelios-Schneider Schneider-Woolley Woolley-Chelios Schneider-Lilja Lidstrom-Chelios Lidstrom-Schneider Chelios-Lilja PP Zetterberg-Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Schneider-Lidstrom Samuelsson-Lang-Shanahan-Woolley-Schneider Zetterberg-Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Woolley-Lidstrom *compiled by Brian