For last night’s Penguins @ Capitals game, I was lucky enough to get a luxury suite ticket from my friend Jess.  We also scored passes to the Coach’s Club, which is a magical land at ice level with a ‘make your own nachos’ bar, free drinks and a dessert table.  Sounds good, right? It’s also situated between the locker room and the press elevator. So if you happen to be a player on LTIR acting in a coaching capacity, you might need to go upstairs. You might need to go right by the nacho bar. Which means you go right by me.

Me and Dupuis

Me and Pascal Dupuis – that really happened, you guys.  Kudos to Jess, who was having none of my typical reaction (RUN AWAY!). Also bless the glacially slow press elevator, in which we and Duper were all waiting to ride. There was no way not to talk to him, being one of few people sporting Pens jerseys in the VIP area. Some folks gave me looks like I shouldn’t be eating all their nachos… well, I had to win something last night.

Duper was exactly as you imagine – lovely, friendly and still older than I am. That one never fails. He was taller than I expected and made me wish I paid more attention to White Collar and had learned how to lift someone’s phone, so I could call Sid and tell him what I thought of the first period.

Before that, warm-ups looked like this:

Borts asked to send this pic to Alison.

I finally remembered to stand on the Crosby side.

The game looked like this from our great seats, only the count on the scoreboard kept getting worse.

Too bad I could see the scoreboard.

In the end, it was an excellent game at which to enjoy free food and Duper’s brief company.  We rode in the elevator again later and shared a grimace over the way the night was going.  Everything else was horrible, especially Steve Downie, and except Mike Green’s goal to make it 4-0. The Penguins were practically on their bus already, so let Mike have one.  I’ll take the punishment.

Real friends stop making fun beyond 2-goal deficits.