Seeing a Stanley Cup playoff game in person has been on my bucket list for what seems like forever (even before bucket lists were a thing). I have seen NBA and NFL playoff games but never an NHL one even though hockey is my favorite sport (it was always impractical to travel to Denver to see the Avalanche because the postseason conflicted with the last two months of the school year and that was not a great time to be away). I finally got to cross this item off the list last night by seeing the Utah Mammoth and the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 1 Game 4 and I am so glad that I decided to splurge on a ticket because feeling the energy in the Delta Center was definitely an experience that I will never forget! It was an incredible game and I felt every emotion imaginable! I was beyond excited when the game started and so were all of the people around me. They waved their rally towels and cheered so loudly I couldn't even hear the music in the arena! All of that energy from the crowd slowly dissipated during the first period after a goal from Pavel Dorofeyev in the first minute and a short-handed goal from Brett Howden in the final two minutes gave Vegas the 2-0 lead. I was really frustrated with all of the costly turnovers and, in my opinion, this was the Mammoth's worst period of hockey in the playoffs thus far. I hoped that they would come out strong in the second and create more scoring chances to slow a highly motivated Vegas team down. I almost gave up on the Mammoth early on after Cole Smith tipped in a shot to go up 3-0 but then Nick Schmaltz and Ian Cole scored goals for Utah within 29 seconds of each other. The crowd went nuts! Michael Carcone tied the game with a pretty one-timer at 1:45 in the third period and I was thrilled to see Dylan Guenther get the assist (everyone around me high-fived me because I was wearing his jersey). The Mammoth got the 4-3 lead with a deflected shot credited to Clayton Keller and I couldn't believe that they might actually win the game after being down 0-3! Then Howden evened it up for Vegas at 10:25 and this eventually sent the game to overtime. I was so nervous but I was on my feet with the rest of the crowd for practically the whole time! It looked like Vegas had won with a goal from Dorofeyev at the 10:22 mark but it was recalled after the play was ruled to be offside. That gave the crowd a bit of hope once again and the energy was absolutely electric! However, in the last minute of overtime, Karel Vejmelka (who had some great saves) stopped Jack Eichel's shot but his stick was knocked away in the melee and he couldn't make it back to the net before Shea Theodore hit a one-timer to win the game 5-4. It was definitely a heartbreaking loss after how hard the Mammoth fought but I am so glad that I got to experience a playoff game! The series is now tied 2-2 so I still have hope that Utah will advance.
Note: This experience was also bittersweet because I really missed my dad. I have so many memories of cheering for the Oilers and then the Avalanche in the playoffs with him and I know he would have loved this game (even with a loss).
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