We left right at rush hour on Thursday night. Once we got out of Virginia, it was smooth sailing... set the cruise on 70mph and got there without incident around 11:30pm -- in about 6.5 hours. J-Mav slept for five of those; Keeper Boy, none. It started snowing when we were about five miles from the hotel. And boy was it COLD when we got out of the car!!
Unfortunately, the kids were up by 7am on Friday morning. We lounged about and waited for Hubby's mom (GmaG), our sister-in-law (Jenrie), and our nephew (Spidey)to arrive from the other side of the state. They arrived around lunchtime, so we decided to head over toward the rink where the afternoon's game would be and find a Subway. It was an adventure, but we did find both the rink and a Subway.
We met the rest of the team at the rink and waited for the first game to start. My college roommate and her two kids (who live in a Cleveland suburb) came, too! Keeper Boy was in net for Game 1, and the team won 7-4 against the team they would ultimately meet in the championship game.
After the game, everyone headed back to the hotel. We took the kids to the indoor pool at the hotel, and then headed to Outback for some dinner. Yum!
Game 2 was Saturday morning with Keeper Boy on door patrol. The team played well and won that game, too. I don't remember the exact score. After the game, the entire team went to The Winking Lizard Tavern for lunch. Great food and great service. Good time! We got to see some of the Army-Navy football game while we were there. Unfortunately, Army didn't look so good, but they sure do have cool uniforms!!
After lunch and a little "hang-out" time, it was back to the rink for a late afternoon game. Keeper Boy was back in net. After a first period in which he faced no shots, it picked up a little bit. The good guys won again, and we went into the championship game as the number one seed and the only undefeated team. We had quite a fan club for this game. In addition to GmaG, Jenrie, and Spidey, my college roommate and her kids came back, Hubby's college roommate and his wife and daughter (who also live in a suburb of Cleveland) came, and a co-worker of Hubby's (who transferred to Cleveland last year) and her husband came, too! It was so awesome to see everyone!!
Most of those who came to watch Justin came to Red Robin with us after the game for dinner. Hubby and I introduced everyone to "crack in a cup" (see previous post) and everyone agreed that Red Robin's gingerbread milkshakes are incredible.
The championship game this morning was at 9am. Keeper Boy was on door patrol. His goaltending partner had a good game, and after being down 2-0 in the first period, our guys got mad and clawed back. It was an exciting game that was tied 3-3 with a minute left in the game. We scored to go up 4-3. Then we scored an empty netter to go up 5-3. The other team scored with less than a second left for a final score of 5-4. Gloves and sticks went flying. To say the kids were excited would be an understatement. It was fun to watch. :-)
We headed back to the hotel so Keeper Boy could take a quick shower and we could finish packing up and check out. We headed back to the Winking Lizard for a quick lunch (it was really good... we had to go back!) and then headed home. We made even better time coming home, getting here in just 5.5 hours!
Great weekend! Not only was the hockey great, but we saw so many friends and family that we just don't get to see enough. Just another good thing hockey has worked in our lives. So for this weekend I say, Cleveland Rocks!
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