Hockey and my (would be) cheating wife...

So went to talk the boy to his first pro hockey game, saw the Nashville Preds beat the Philly Flyers (and their obnoxious, though obviously loyal fans) 4-3 in a shootout.

It was a great time.

The shootout is one of the greatest ideas anyone has ever come up with. Given how many games used to end in ties - which is like, well, you know - it's a fantastic improvement to the game.

If the game ends in a tie, one 5 minute overtime period is played. If no one scores in overtime. It's a shootout. Each team picks three players to go one-on-one versus the other teams' goalie. If it's still tied after the first round of the shootout, they move on to another round until someone wins (having to use a different set of players each time until they've used everyone on the bench).

Anyway, the Preds won the shootout 2-0.

One of the shootout goals was scored by Steve Sullivan - who my wife thinks is dreamy. When ole Stevie made the first goal of the shootout, I swear I could hear a major swoon coming from my wife's direction. Whatever. He's a stone cold stud though, that I can admit. And at 5'9', 155 (yes, ONE-FIFTY-FIVE) he's among the top playmakers in the league.

Anyway, thanks to the Nashville Predators for showing the family a great time... and thanks to the nice (quite buzzed, but nice) dude that gave my son the puck that he caught.