hils | Hockey Road Trip

We had a slightly more relaxed start to the morning and then we headed to Yankee Candle Village so I could stock up on Mountain Lodge (if you missed the whole thing about why read this. The comments do not lie).

Yankee Candle Village is so big that it wasn't possible for me to take a picture to demonstrate how huge this place is. Even googling it just now the photos don't do it justice. Just imagine a mall, only it's all Yankee Candle. And it's not just candles. They had a section that sold fudge (we bought some and then ended up not eating it because we had too much food), an area where you could make your own candle, a Christmas village. All sorts.

It was very awesome and I found what I was looking for. Do you think it's big enough?

And, joy of joys, because it was January all the pumpkin candles were reduced to clear. They only had small ones left but they were only $1 each :D

After we had shopped we headed to Springfield MA for our next hockey game. It was an AHL game Springfield Thunderbirds vs Lehigh Valley Phantoms. We had awesome seats right near the glass and I was right next to the tunnel so I could see the players come out onto the ice

This is how close to the glass we were

Watch on YouTube

I thought we were supposed to be rooting for the Thunderbirds because they were the local team but I think

morganoconner and

makaze77 were rooting for the Phantoms because they are the Flyers farm team and somehow I ended up on a road trip with two Flyers fans...

Anyway, the Phantoms won so they were happy. I was pretty indifferent tbh but it was a fun game to watch.

Afterwards we headed home because the Pens were playing in the evening and we needed time to order pizza and organise ourselves before the game started. I decided to wear my new Kessel jersey in support.

Guess which half of the pizza is mine

The game was absolutely insane! The Pens were coming in off a losing streak (I forget how many in a row they'd lost but it was a few) and they were playing the Caps who are their divisional rivals

Not long into the 1st period the Pens were 3-0 down and things were not looking good. Then something happened, and I'm still not sure what. Something lit a fire under their asses and they fought back. It ended in an 8-7 win for the Pens. I think something like nine goals between the two teams were scored in the second period alone. I felt really sorry for M's family and neighbours because were screaming A LOT.

A summary of my emotional journey

It took us about an hour after the game to settle ourselves because we were so pumped, even though we knew we were setting off on our road trip the next morning. Good times.

And my Kessel jersey has been officially declared Lucky :D