My Favorite Team vs. My Hometown Team

I have been watching hockey with my Dad for as long as I can remember and we always try to go to at least one Colorado Avalanche game in Denver in the fall and one in the spring.  For our annual fall trip we decided to see the Avalanche play the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Even though both of us are from Ontario, we never cheer for the Leafs (we even cheered for the Avalanche against the Leafs when we were in Toronto a few years ago).  We got up really early yesterday morning and drove to Denver in time to relax before the game.  I always like to get to the Pepsi Center early so I can watch the practice skate, see the starting lineup, and hear the national anthem.  Because the Avs played a Canadian team, we got to hear "O Canada" and both my Dad and I sang really loud!  The Avalanche started really well with a goal from Nathan MacKinnon in the first 31 seconds of the game!  They kept on the attack for the first five minutes of the game and the Leafs couldn't do anything.  Then all of a sudden Toronto scored four goals during the rest of the first period (including one by former Avalanche player Tyson Barrie).  It kind of deflated the crowd a little bit.  During the second period the Avalanche changed goalies from Grubauer to Francouz and he was able to stop the offense.  The Avalanche got a goal by Andre Burakovsky in the second period and another one by Valeri Nichushkin in the third period to get within one.  The Avalanche pulled their goalie during the last few minutes and they really tried to put the puck in the net (it was very exciting) but the Leafs ended up getting an empty net goal to win the game 5-3.  So in the battle between my favorite team and my hometown team, my hometown team won!  Even though the Avalanche lost this game it was still so much fun!  I love everything about hockey, especially watching games with my Dad!

Note:  My favorite player, Mikko Rantanen, didn't play tonight because he is still recovering from an injury (he is close to returning because he has been attending practice skates) but I finally got to see the young phenom, Cale Makar, play in person and he is amazing (he scored in his first game in the NHL which happened to be during the Stanley Cup playoffs).