Dan's Olympic Adventure: Canada-Switzerland: The Best Sporting Event I Have Ever Been To

I went down around GM Place around 2:00 with the intention of finding a scalper's ticket for the Canada-Switzerland game. And I wasn't going to pay the $500 some people were asking. So I saw a few guys, asked what they were looking to sell them for. One guy had a set of 4 for $300 each. Sadly enough, that was reasonable. But he wouldn't sell me just one ticket, in case 4 people came along. So off I went, just walking around. I came back to a different corner about thirty minutes later and saw the same guy talking to a family of 3. They offered to buy the tickets and when I overheard them I said I'd buy the fourth plus throw in the ticket for the Norway-Switzerland game I had for Saturday. He agreed. So I ended up paying less and got rid of a ticket for a lesser game. Good deal in my books.

I immediately went to GM Place and went through security, which wasn't that bad. I waited around since they were clearing out the crowd from the USA-Norway game. I saw someone waving a huge Newfoundland flag. Turns out it was a guy named Tom Murphy and his grandson Sean, both originally from St. John's, now living out here. Tom is a St. Bon's boy too. Small world. I saw another Newfoundland flag inside the arena too.

I got inside and started taking pictures like there was no tomorrow. They can speak for themselves below. But once Canada came on the ice, the place was electric. I don't think I'll ever hear a stadium as loud as that. It was loud when Heatley scored the first goal, but when the Swiss tied it up in the second I could literally feel the air get sucked out of the arena. We've all heard the cliche "the tension was palpable", but this was one time it actually was. I was sitting on the edge of my seat for all of the third period and OT (except for the dozens of times I had to get up so that the two annoying girls next to me could get beer, food, or go to the bathroom...but they paid $500 each for their tickets, jokes on them). No one was sitting down for the shootout. Babs picked the three players I would have picked for the shootout. I thought for sure Getzlaf would score. But even though I am not a fan, I was glad to see Sid come through. There was a loud "Sid the Kid" chant when he had the puck. I never screamed so loud in my life when he scored and when Brodeur stopped the last shot. It was thrilling. Well, a lot more thrilling than I wanted it to be, but worth every single penny I paid for the ticket. That's all for now. Enjoy the photos below.