The week of the Coors Light Stadium Series has come and gone and I was fortunate enough to have an inside perspective of the event.
I work for the San Jose Sharks on the media relations game night staff team, so when the NHL gave us the go-ahead to work the day before and day of the event, we were all thrilled.
Friday afternoon was the first time the Sharks had a chance to see the ice since coming home from a two-game road trip. It seemed like prior to putting on their gear, each player made the walk out from their newly-decorated locker room to see the spectacle of a covered ice surface in the middle of a 70,000 seat football stadium in near 70-degree weather.
A few hours later, they returned to an uncovered ice surface, dressed, and assembled for a team photo in their newly-specialized game sweaters. That was followed by a light-hearted practice, then capped off with a family and friends skate.
“The whole experience, the whole production that the NHL and Sharks put on here at Levi’s Stadium – I’m at a loss for words for it,” Sharks forward Tommy Wingels said.
Alas it was easy to forget, even for a just a moment, that the Sharks will be meeting their biggest rivals in arguably the biggest game of the season the next day.
“I think you try to enjoy it with your friends and family and the whole experience on days like today and maybe warm-ups tomorrow. Once the puck drops, you switch to more of a businesslike mentality,” Wingels said.
Though with the game looming the next day, the importance of the showdown wasn’t lost on everyone.“You’re going to need high energy, so if this can give us a little boost, that’s a good thing,” Joe Pavelski said.
Fast forward a few hours to Saturday- the biggest game of the season, and it had nothing to do with 70,205 fans that piled into the stands at Levi’s Stadium.
I had the opportunity to watch the game from the top of the stadium in the press box, and being up there to watch almost 70,000 people do the San Jose “chomp” for the power play was pretty amazing to see.
And you hear the roar of the crowd all the way up at the top inside the press box.
The Sharks organization took a moment pre-game to remember our former players and called them out one by one. And the crowed welcomed them with open arms.
I had friends from both ends of the spectrum there, both L.A. Kings fans, and Sharks fans. Both sides said there seemed to be no bad blood between them, despite the loss. “I think we were just all happy to be there and just watch some hockey. It’s a once in a life time event,” a Sharks fan told me at the post-game tailgating.
During post-game interviews in the interview room, San Jose’s head coach Todd McLellan had this to say:
“Highlight of my weekend? Probably the family participation. We try to allow our players bring their families to the rink and expose them to it. And of course tonight walking out. We talk about moments that where your hair stands up on your neck- tonight was one of those moments.”
Safe to say that from the team’s front office to all the fans that sat in the last rows at the very top of Levi’s Stadium there wasn’t a person that didn’t enjoy themselves. Shark fans, King fans, and just plain hockey fans came out to enjoy this spectacle.
It’s once in a life time event that was just an all-around incredible feeling to be a part of.
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