Long Overdue: Winter Classic

I've taken what feels like a million trips in the last couple months, but I don't think I've blogged about any of them. Mostly because I'm lazy. But Winter Classic was too awesome so I'm making myself do it. After a very hazy and misty drive we arrived at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Jen and Brittany came and picked us up and whisked us away to Phipps Conservatory for their winter flower show.

Then we went to South Side for dinner at Carson City Saloon. There were fries on my salad. That's right. ON. my salad. Amazing.
Then we walked down to Archie's to meet up with Jen's friends. Saw Aaron and Mihlf, drank CRAZY cheap alcohol, and whipped my hurr. Good night.
The next morning I used the subway system, which wiki is telling me is called PAT, to get to Heinz Field. I discovered that it's not the most expansive system and the closest I could get was about a mile away. I also discovered that if you stay downtown, the ride is free! I crossed one of the many bridges, can't remember which one and walked down some kind of heritage trail on the river to pass PNC and then Heinz. The alumni game was going on so there were some vendors and commotion.

You can see from the melting ice sculptures that it was very VERY unseasonably warm... Later that day we went to PPG Place to get Primanti Bros and go ice skating, ran into Michal Neuvirth, nbd. Then drove up Mt. Washington to check out the view.
Then we found out that the game had been delayed until 8pm the next day so it was time to party. But not before a little drive through sexy time action (IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST) at Wendy's ie NYE dinner. Set to the sweet scenes of HBO 24/7's Road to the Winter Classic Episode 3. Went to Hofbrauhaus for a Caps gathering organized by a couple of Caps bloggers, namely JP. Typical NYE issues, finding a cab was a nightmare, but we made it. I wore a tshirt so that was perfect. Drank way way way too much beer out of 36oz stein glasses. Live music. Pittsburgh fans boo. Very fun. Very wasted. Lots of vomit. First drunk tweet "Happiest new year. My life feels good and I'm happy. Beer non complete factor".

Slept until about 3pm the next day, only to be interrupted by violent episodes of throwing up nothing. Then, second best highlight, went to Eggs 'R' Us. Always go here. Promise me you'll go here? Then got ready for the big game. This is me ready.

Tricksied our way into getting a ride with the Ramada shuttle to Rivers Casino which was then an easy walk down to the stadium. Was too hungover to find Pen friend tailgaters so hung out in stadium for a bit. Then went to seats.

The woman sitting next to me had been a Caps season ticket holder for 23 years. Can you imagine? The Pens fans around us were mostly really nice, we were really low in the stadium, and the crowd always tends to be less rowdy. It was kind of hard to see though...It started raining which made it cold. It also "snowed":


Caps won real hard and it felt REALLY GOOD. Erskine going down and getting RIGHT the F back up, Knoobs greasy goal, Fehrsie's one, two (WHAT A BEAUT) goals, it was just so good. Favorite sign that I saw was "Mostly Sidney with a chance of Fleury" (see I can be unbiased). Hearing the audio on the ice on HBO later, added bonus. "Shut up Cookie!" I do still just have one question though. What the heck was the deal with Bylsma's jaunty hat?
Mike Knuble after he scores his goal is my favorite picture I've seen from the game, it reminds me of the cover of Sports Illustrated with the 1980 US Olympic team when they beat USSR. And seeing the red and blue fireworks at Heinz after we won while getting a stick salute from the team was probably one of my favorite hockey spectator moments so far.
For more pics check out RMNB's collection. And while I'm plugging RMNB, check out their recap and Alan May mic'd up for the alumni game, it is GOLD, I promise. Also, as suspected, the Ovechtrick commercial premiered on NBC during the game. I obviously didn't get to see it right then. More of the insider scoop in my next post.
After the game, we encountered a lot more angry fans on our way back to the casino. The rhetoric was mainly the same, no cups. We'll see friends. We'll see. There were also still a lot of nice people. Lost five bucks on the penny slots at first but then won it all back plus $0.50. Two thirds of a load of laundry, on Rivers. Thank you Pittsburgh.
Finally cracked open that Winter Classic wine back at the hotel. It was, indeed, beautiful. Thank you Calvert Woodley. Due to sleeping until 3pm, didn't fall asleep until around 5am. But really took that time to reflect on some of life's deeper questions, worth it.

Made time for Eggs 'R' Us, obvi (Katie, I can't find a pdf of the menu to get that egg pooping pic?!). Drove home along a sometimes beautifully cacophonous highway full of caps fans. Felt like i was on some kind of lovely caps road to happiness. HONK HONK HONK.

Thank you Pittsburgh, Thank you Heinz Field, Thank you Caps. Amazing weekend :)