grueling games, Twitter, Predators & Sharks

so the game I was all excited about going to tonight? well, I'll post any interesting photos later (Chicago Wolves looked great in their new green jerseys), but the laziest recap:

I got home to find out on Twitter, thanks to the knowledgeable and entertaining @HockeyJoeGM  (see, I'm doing a Twitter "Follow Friday," but on my blog instead. ha!) that a men's college hockey game was about to become the longest college hockey game in history. Quinnipiac was playing at Union (these are in Hamden, CT, & Schenectady, NY respectively--I had to look those up just now). there's the score at bottom (what's that cool building?):

and you could have watched it unfold here: 

so this game was starting around the time I left for the Wolves game, and still going on when I got back. and it's a CTA bus, CTA train, and Pace bus each way for me to get to Allstate Arena. a relatively brief 2.5 hours to see the home team lose doesn't seem so bad now.

speaking of other crushing defeats...how about the Predators at Sharks game Thursday night? I doubt many east coasters stayed up for that but it would have been worth it. I wanted Nashville to win, to keep some points away from San Jose. not just because I've recently become enamored, like so many others, of Preds' goalie Dan Ellis' Twitter account, @dellis39 (my favorite "verified" sports celebrity Twitterer, though I can't say I've sought out many yet. @OzzieGuillen is...well, did you SEE the feud, possibly one-sided, with Sean Penn? he's always, um, interesting.) linked in this tweet are photos each of us posted of the demolition of the Lafayette Building in downtown Detroit (he threw in a swipe at Detroit...and the Preds were beaten badly by the Red Wings that night)! 

anyway, it was a fine back-and-forth game, with the Predators leading for much of the first two periods. late in the second, in a few minutes of game time, the score went from 3-2 Preds to 4-2 to 3-2 back to 4-2. the Preds seemed to score a goal and the score went up but the goal was disallowed (the "distinct kicking motion" call). then right after, they scored a 4th goal for real. but I guess this messed with them a bit, because then in the third period...the Sharks starting scoring. 
 

A LOT. even a goal which was questionable, for..."distinct kicking motion." but was allowed. (I don't think I've seen TWO goals under review in any game I watched this season. interesting that both were decided in the home team's favor, though I haven't watched them enough to judge for myself.) after 4 fairly quick Sharks goals (another from Preds too), Dan Ellis was pulled. goalies often get pulled when that many goals happen quickly, but to put in the other goalie with only 5 minutes left in the game?!

then Marleau got his 40th goal of the season...then Jay Leach got an empty-netter, his first career NHL goal. and then I learned the Sharks set an interesting NHL record (this surprised me):

boy, I hope no one left that game early to beat traffic. I checked NHL.com after the game hoping for a spectacular headline, but I guess they were in bed for the night, nothing on the main page. in the morning, Joe Pavelski got this salute on the front page (and I agree with the Blackhawks fan who said he looks like he could be Kris Versteeg's brother):

I'll let Dan Ellis have the last word, which did appear before I went to bed: