Somehow, in all my years of being a Kings fan, I’d never made a journey to San Jose to watch a hockey game until this last weekend. Despite countless trips to the Bay Area, and attending numerous basketball, baseball and football games around the bay, I have never attended a game at SAP Center. For this reason, I wasn’t sure what to expect from fans when I drove up from Southern California to attend the Stadium Series game between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.
Not only was this my first game in Sharks territory, but this was my first outdoor game experience. Not being able to attend the Kings game at Dodger Stadium last season was one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had as a Kings fan, so it meant a lot to be able to attend the game on Saturday. My excitement level was higher than it’s ever been for a regular season game.
Saturday I arrived at the game three hours prior to puck drop to take in the Spectator Plaza and check out the newly built Levi’s Stadium. It seemed the most popular activity in the Plaza was taking a picture with the Sharks Head that’s normally dropped to the ice at the SAP Center. Perhaps that was because the lines for everything else were long and the activities weren’t engaging enough to merit the time spent waiting. While there were many activities, most seemed to be geared toward kids and not really something for hardcore adult fans. The most entertaining thing in the plaza were the stilt walkers in Sharks and Kings jerseys pretending to stickhandle through the crowd with an imaginary puck.
After exploring the plaza I made my way into the stadium, stopping to grab a drink and a program. I’m guessing Sharks fans weren’t too thrilled seeing the price of beer, considering SAP Center has the 8th cheapest beer in the NHL, while Levi Stadium’s home team, the San Francisco 49er’s, have the second highest priced beer in the NFL.
Having bought a ticket last minute, I wasn’t picky about my seat location and purchased one near some friends at the top of the stadium. My fears of not being to see any of the action from there were quickly forgotten as the teams came out to warm up. The jerseys for the game may have been the worst in league history, but the gigantic numbers on them made it easy to tell who was who even from the nosebleeds. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more big numbers on jerseys for these outdoor games in the future.
As the stadium filled up it became evident that the Kings fans weren’t just the minority but were vastly outnumbered. Los Angeles sports fans have never been known to travel well, and this was no exception. San Jose fans probably outnumbered the Kings fans six to one. I was the only Kings fan in my row and one of only two between the row in front and back of me. Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t given any grief up to this point, nor would I be heckled during the entire game. As a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball fan, I had been to San Francisco Giants games in the past where I was not treated well, having insults and peanuts lobbed at me. I had expected a similar reaction from the Sharks fans, but was pleasantly surprised with how nicely they seemed to treat everyone. The only real trash talk I heard came from Kings fans, reminding Sharks fans about last season’s postseason series between the two teams.
As the game drew near, the PA announcer reminded the fans that Levi’s Stadium has their very own app and if we downloaded it we could be a part of the show. The problem with this plan was that even if you could connect to the stadium’s Wi-Fi to download the app, it kept crashing for the majority of us. If you were watching on TV you probably noticed that maybe only a quarter of the stadium was actually holding up phones during the anthem or intermission acts.
Speaking of the anthem; I felt bad for the fans in the lower section of the stadium near the stage who got covered with a giant flag right before the singer went on.
The biggest difference in attending an outdoor game versus a normal game is the lack of sound. Everything seems very quiet outside. There might be more people in the stands, but hockey fans are used to hearing the skates cutting through the ice and feeling the boards rattle with each check. When you’re outside, and fifty yards away from the action, you get none of that. The league set up microphones and speakers around the rink to try and give you a little bit of that experience, but it didn’t do much from where I was sitting.
The coolest experience of the game came late in the first period when the Kings were leading 1-0 and Brent Burns scored for the Sharks to even things up. Seeing 60,000 people cheering for a hockey game is one of those things that sends a shiver down your spine, even if it’s not your team they’re cheering for. I may never get to attend a hockey game with that many people again and it was a moment I won’t forget.
That late first period goal seemed to give the Sharks players a bit of life in the second period as they controlled play, but weren’t able to score a go ahead goal. The longer they went without scoring the more frustrated the fans got.
The reason live sports is better than televised sports is not only because you feel the action of the game more, but because you feed off the fans you’re there with. You sense every emotion and enjoy living in that moment. The bigger the stage, the more emotionally charged it gets. Sometimes though, we sense others emotions more than our own. While I sat at the game, rooting on the Kings, I was much more cognizant of the Sharks fans around me. Perhaps because I was alone in a sea of teal, but I felt for them as their team sent pucks flying wide of the goal, passes didn’t find their targets, and open looks were whiffed at.
As the second period drew to a close, with the game still tied, you sensed that the crowd knew the team blew a chance. The Sharks had outplayed the Kings that period but had nothing to show for it.
The third period was a welcome relief to the ears after Melissa Etheridge tried in vain to pump the crowd up with her music. I’ve been told that the TV audience only had to endure one of her songs before being relieved by a commercial break. For as awesome as John Fogerty had been in the first intermission, Etheridge was the exact opposite. Not only did she get booed by the crowd, but people who cheered at the end of her set were mostly just glad she was done. I don’t know why the NHL has such a hard time finding good musical acts for their marquee events.
A lot of the Sharks fans were understandably unhappy when Marian Gaborik scored in the third period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. The goal was a soft one. However, in defense of Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi, he did stop a breakaway by Dwight King and a two on one shot by Jeff Carter earlier. It wasn’t like the Sharks had been playing great defense in the third period.
The game ended after a flurry of chances for the Sharks in the final couple of minutes. Perhaps most surprisingly was the fact that the teams didn’t shake hands after the game. Something that seems to have become a tradition in the NHL’s outdoor games. Is there really that much bad blood between these two teams? Because it didn’t feel like there was that much animosity from the fans while I was there.
All in all, the game was fantastic. Obviously my team won the game, but I think anyone in attendance would say it was a great time. While there were some not so great things about the experience ($50 Parking), I would do it again in a heartbeat. Thank you to the Sharks for putting on a great event and for making me hate your team and fans a little less than the Ducks now.
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