preds.

The Nashville Predators were offering free General Admission tickets to people who "liked" them on Facebook. Easy enough. I jumped on the bandwagon and jumped off with a pair of tickets to the Oct. 1 final pre-season game vs. the Carolina Hurricanes. Nate and I had never been to a Preds game, and I had never been to a hockey game period, so we were looking forward to it.

There were a dozen other things happening downtown last night so Broadway was hopping. We walked from LW to Bridgestone arena.

The arena was pretty impressive. Nate said he had been there before for a Passion conference. We went up, up, up to the third level where we could find seats.

Nate coached me before we left the house on proper hockey game apparel. He knows I'm miserable when I'm really cold, so I wore three layers and knee-high socks. I was sufficiently cozy.

I think I was probably a little too excited to see a Zamboni. Mostly I was just proud of myself for knowing its name. They announced that for a $100 donation, you can ride the Zamboni. Tempting.

We were pretty far from the ice so I was having a little trouble seeing. I forgot my glasses but I could still make out the people. Since Nate and I got in for free, we splurged and he got loaded BBQ nachos and I got Dippin' Dots ... which were good but not worth the price. But a hockey game for $4.50 is a good deal.

I surprisingly lasted all three periods. It was after 9 p.m. and I am usually pretty worthless by then, but I was into the game and it was tied when we left with about a minute left in overtime. Before we exited the arena, we heard everyone going crazy and saw that the Preds had scored with just a few seconds left. We won!

So the first hockey game was a success. It was really fun.