Dec. 30, 2017 - Fort Lauderdale

 Saturday, Dec. 30

A fairly quiet day today. We slept in to catch up on some sleep. Finally got up to go down for breakfast which closed at 10:00. Dawn didn’t make it, but I did. Scrambled eggs, waffles, sausages, fruit salad, juice, and coffee pretty much did it. There was far more to select from, but I couldn’t see taking so much that I couldn’t walk.

After we got ready, we went for a walk to see the area around the hotel. We weren’t sure what we were going to see, so didn’t know what direction to go. However, we found some stores and souvenir shops and looked through some of them. Bought a few postcards so Dawn could send a note off to her friends.

Then, back to the hotel to read and write, and generally rest up. We had to be down in the lobby at 5:00 to pick up our tickets to the hockey game, and get boarded on the bus, so we were a bit early. Lots of folks there already.

View From our Seats

Then it was off to the BB&T Arena to watch Montreal play Florida. It is quite a place. Our group was booked into an area called Lord Stanley’s Loft which was located on the 300 level. It took a while to find how to get there because it wasn’t on the regular 300 level, but just above it. Entrance there allowed one to get buffet food and water or pop. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast so were quite hungry.

When Dawn saw how steep the steps were, there was a bit of panic, but we finally found our seats, got out our shoe horn, and squeezed into these narrow, confining seats. There wasn't a lot of leg room and the seats were quite low, so my knee quickly got sore

 We did have a pretty good view of the ice, though. We were sitting higher than the top of the clock and it was like watching the game on TV, but it was easy to follow the play. The game started out well with Florida scoring first. The first period ended 1-0, and the shots were even (13-13).

Famous Names in the Rafters

Florida started playing harder in the second period and really outshot the Canadiens. They pretty much stifled Montreal, not letting them get too many opportunities. They have a good defense, preventing Montreal getting in close to Reimer. They seemed to be able to get in on Price for some good shots, but he pretty much held them off.

Front of the BB&T Arena

Finally, the Panthers scored another goal and then Montreal started to press as we got close to the end of the game. This allowed a number of odd-man rushes, but Price wasn’t letting anything in. He was pulled with about 2 minutes remaining and Montreal put on lots of pressure but nothing. They did stop Florida from scoring a couple times, but that was only going to help if Montreal scored. They didn’t.

Then, back to the bus and off to Ft. Lauderdale and our hotel. We went to our room and got ready for bed. I was able to get the Blazers game in Everett on my iPad, so we listened to the second period. It was 1-0 Everett when we started, and we shut it off at 5-0. Sounds like we weren’t very good luck for any of the teams we were hoping for.

Oh well, we are off to the ship tomorrow and the beginning of our cruise.

Oldest Building in Miami