Face painting was only one of the ways fans showed their support. There were people wearing white bathrobes and white towels over their heads. Kids ran around the crowd with white pom-poms erupting from the sleeves of their shirts or under baseball caps. Official signed Steelheads jerseys were everywhere. Fans gripped plastic fish to whip out on the ice the second the Steelies scored their first goal.
Hockey is life.
The helmet was just sitting and collecting dust, so for the playoffs I decided to get it out and go crazy. Steelhead fan Karen Wisdom, who followed the team to San Diego for the first two games, said she was glad to be back home at the B of A Centre with a friendly crowd. The curious thing about all this love is the Steelheads have played better on the road in the Taylor Cup series than at home. The Gulls won Friday night's game 4-3. The Steelies will get one more chance to deliver a home win to their fans tonight and then hope their road magic continues when the series goes back to San Diego on Wednesday.