Anna here, recapping the game from Friday night that caused Columbus Nationwide Arena to reverberate with boos heard 'round Ohio. By now, you have probably heard about the controversial call made during the 3rd period to give the visiting New Jersey Devils the go ahead lead in an otherwise rather uneventful game. By now, you may have heard about the debut of Jason Williams in the powerplay (
meh~ But it was his first game and otherwise he looked great!).
What I am here to talk about is what you might not have heard about. Folks, the Arena was jumping and completely packed to the rafters!! It was rockin'...and to change the phrase..."come on in!!" The theme was
White Out night. T-shirts were handed out at the door. We were present at this same promotion last year. Not only was the attendance lower but the participation was, in a word, pitiful! This year they had the right idea. Not only did they embarrass non-participants on the jumbo-tron, but midway into the first period there was an announcement that the section with the most people in the t-shirts would get free beverages! Woot! I never saw so many people do the "omg, I must put this t-shirt over whatever I am wearing for carbonated syrup" dance before!!
Watching Mase doing his job...well, a-maseing as always!! A ref went down and out with an arm
injury early in the first leaving one less ref on the ice (an 8 year old girl behind us stated that "he got checked!!"). But otherwise it was a rather slow start in the first period. So when the Jackets came out and Manny Malhotra scored in the second period, the place went nuts!! And anyone NOT wearing their shirt either donned it out of love or started waving it joyously!
I will touch briefly on the "call" and that is only to say that after Toronto had reviewed it, and when it was announced that the goal would stand, that the
entire Arena erupted in a loud roar of protest boos the likes of which I have never heard. These boos continued long into the next minutes whenever a Devil touched the puck, and as Hitch continued to, um,
talk about the incident. As the final minutes ticked away, and the Jackets battled for some kind of control, and some kind of scoring opportunity (our seats were at a perfect angle to the right of the Devil net), the entire crowd was on their
feet, screaming, yelling chanting, shouting, jumping up and down and trying to lift practically their team to victory. . . .
Unfortunately, as you also know by know, this was not to be. But I dare anyone to say the team didn't try. I dare anyone to say that the fans were not into the game. And I dare anyone to say it was not a rockin' way to spend a Friday night.
Oh, and Future Jackets? Toooooo cute for words and one reason to stay in your seat during intermission!
On to Canada boyz!!!
Carry the Flag!!
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