My Preds Memories

I don't know if I can put this into any order. My Preds memories are usually quite frustrating, but I have seen my share of highlights.

*-I remember watching that first game on TV, October 10, 1998, a loss to the Florida Panthers, 1-0. I was working at Williamson Square 8 at the time and I had sort of made an office upstairs where I could set up a portable television and watch while I did my easy projection schedule. I remember the fans just roaring throughout the whole thing, and when they lost they still cheered like madmen.

*-I also remember watching a game in the same building, same office, somewhere later in the season in 1998. As we all know, the accompanying music for a penalty and "fang fingers" is the theme from Psycho. At that point in 1998, the remake of Psycho was set to release on December 4. I just happened to have the monitor volume up on auditorium #5, which was near the office. At the precise moment an opposing team's penalty registered at the then Nashville Arena, the trailer for Psycho was playing, and the music from the trailer and the music from the game were in exact sync with each other. The odds, must be mindboggling. I'll never forget that.

*-February 13, 1999. My first game, with Mike and Travis in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

*-January 1, 2000. My brother got primo seats from his company in a game against the San Jose Sharks. 16 seconds after faceoff, Sergei Krivokrasov scored a goal in an eventual 3-2 win.

*-January 1, 2001. I went with KW and friends to see the Preds play Colorado and Patrick Roy. The Preds scored four freaking goals on the best goalie in history, but gave up 4 as well in a 4-4 tie.

*-October 6, 2001. My first Opening Night on Broadway, a game I just went to on a whim by myself to watch a 2-2 tie with the Blues.

*-October 12, 2002. Another opening night, I believe I went to this one with KW as well. If you recall, this was a season in which the Preds hung around 8th place for awhile before tanking. It could not have been foreseen, but the 3-2 loss to eventual 8th place Edmonton was big. Saw the next home game with Edmonton, also with KW, on March 17, 2003 where if the Preds had won, would have been like 3 points behind or something. They lost that game 5-3.

*-Petr Tenkrat scoring the hat trick on December 15, 2001, in a 5-2 win over Chicago and sealing the deal for free tacos. I also remember I went with KW's friend Kevin, and we were sitting three or four rows behind the benches. We randomly picked a seat, leaving one lone seat at the end of our row next to Kevin. And in this seat, a beautiful girl sits. She's rich, young, retired, and loves hockey. I felt like such a fool for sitting in the seat that I sat in...but the Tenkrat thing was nice...

*-KW mentioned the Vancouver game. I remember Bertuzzi in the penalty box while the Preds were embarking on a fruitless power play. Everyone's favorite defenseman, Andy Delmore, does nothing as the puck gets shot past him and a free Bertuzzi comes zooming out of the box to score on a complete mismatch.

*-The only time I ever saw Wayne Gretzky was in a luxury box, January 21, 2002, while the Preds and Phoenix Coyotes played in an impossibly boring 1-0 Coyotes win. He was on the scoreboard and the caption read, "Great One Cam," since they have the "Kiss Cam" and so forth.

I've seen lots and lots of losses and shutouts, but they've always been pleasant diversions. And once again, it would have been nice to see Nashville's team grow. We can only hope, Obi-Wan.