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| SF Bulls Logo done by Facebook Fansite SF Bulls |
It was a great night. The “Palace” was packed. It was a Sold Out crowd
to see the New Team in Town, the San Francisco Bulls take on the
Bakersfield Condors in this, the first hockey game of the season. I had
been looking forward to this since last summer! Yes, well over a year I
had wanted the return of hockey to San Francisco! And here it was, a
reality!
I could not be happier that 8,277 people showed up to watch the Bulls. Most were true hockey fans. Some who were not will hopefully be future hockey lovers.
The best part of the first game of the season besides the game, of course, are the opening ceremonies. As each Bulls player entered, giant flames shot up out of the ice on each side. We could feel the heat from our seats!
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| Chris Frank #22 skates onto ice Courtesy of the SF Bulls |
It was a great night. The “Palace” was packed. It was a Sold Out crowd
to see the New Team in Town, the San Francisco Bulls take on the
Bakersfield Condors in this, the first hockey game of the season. I had
been looking forward to this since last summer! Yes, well over a year I
had wanted the return of hockey to San Francisco! And here it was, a
reality!
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| Fireworks! |
The best part of the first game of the season besides the game, of course, are the opening ceremonies. As each Bulls player entered, giant flames shot up out of the ice on each side. We could feel the heat from our seats!
Then, after each player was announced, fireworks fell from the scoreboard, which was really cool. Bob Weir and someone else from the Dead band Further were supposed to sing the National Anthem, but for some reason they didn’t show up. Being a big fan, my friend David was disappointed. But me, not caring at all for their music, was just happy to see the game get started.
The game started at a fast pace. Both teams battled hard to try to get a score. The Condors were the first to do it a little more than halfway through the 1st Period. The defense was strong and the Bulls had a hard time breaking through. Then, with about four minutes left, #45 Dean Ouellet scored and we were tied 1-1. Bakersfield answered shortly after making it 2-1 Condors.
The 2nd Period was a tough one, but the Bulls didn’t give up. They never do, I’ve found. Bakersfield put two more goals up and was also given a penalty shot. For what, I don’t know because the announcer never told the crowd. The in-game announcer is one of the HUGE shortcomings of the games at the Cow Palace. He doesn’t tell the crowd a lot of what we need to know. Please, let us know WHY things happen. So the score at this time in the game was 4-1 Bakersfield. The Bulls’ greatest enemy during this 2nd Period were penalties. Have to watch some of those, because sooner or later the other team is going to score if the Bulls aren’t careful, like they did here.
3rd Period started and the Bulls got going. It was a much better session for them. #10 Kevin Baker scored and right after that, it seemed, so did #44 Sacha Giumond. But then, time ran out and the Bulls were never able to catch up to Bakersfield. It wasn’t for lack of trying. The Condors defense was tough; the goalie did a terrific job of manning the net.
It will take time for San Francisco to pull everything together. They’re doing great and I expect to see wins really soon if they continue playing and improving and working together.
Now a few notes about the crowd and various observations. As I said earlier, the crowd was mostly hockey fans. There were a few who probably have never been to a hockey game and I love seeing future fans enjoying the game. Lots of kids wearing cute Bulls caps. I love that! And there was no shortage of costumed fans. There was a group dressed as bull runners from Pamplona! And, just as the camera showed them on the big screen, I told David, it’s a legit hockey team now, we have body painters!
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| Superfans Valerie & Leanne |
However, some of these seem to think a hockey game is the same as a fraternity party. It is NOT! Just because there’s a lot happening on the ice and the crowd is into it doesn’t give you the excuse to act like jackasses. No, you CANNOT stand the whole time during the game! It’s not really MY job to keep telling people to “Sit down!” The ushers don’t seem to be able to handle doing this. Sure, everyone stands up at a big play, but you do not stay standing up. The ushers MUST also do a better job of stopping people from moving into empty seats once they leave the game or if ticket holders don’t show up. It’s always these people who are the biggest trouble makers.
Another word about the ushers; they need to watch the kids climbing over everything more. There are two kids in our area I told the usher about who were hanging onto a ledge who not only could have fallen off, but they were blocking our view for a lot of the night. The usher said he would do something, and he did nothing. This needs to improve.
Then there were some guys who thought that by wearing their Chicago Bulls gear that would be the same as San Francisco Bulls gear. Well, it is NOT! Do NOT do this!!!! It labels you as an IDIOT. I understand that it is the beginning of the season and maybe you can’t afford to purchase something right now. But wearing a Chicago Bulls shirt or hat to a San Francisco HOCKEY GAME just makes you look DUMB. I cannot stress this enough. Wear San Francisco Giants or Niners gear, at least you’ll look local, for goodness sakes.
The last bit of advice I give you is if you take the MUNI 8BX bus form Downtown San Francisco to the Cow Palace, which is a great way to get there, sit in the front part of the bus. It makes life much easier.
So have fun, pick up a program while you’re at the game and as always GO BULLS!!!!!!!!
Martha Hughes
PS: Due to problems with Facebook beyond my control, I had to transfer my blog to another address. You can view all earlier blog entries at: http://sfbullsfan.blog.com From now moving forward, this will be THE BULLS SHEET new home unless things change. I will let you know if they do.
