Sure, kayakers and canoeists have floated in the bay outside San Francisco’s Candlestick Park to chase down home runs in Major League Baseball.
But kayakers set another major league sports first on Saturday by paddling around the shore of California’s Lake Tahoe to watch (and hear) NHL hockey.
Under clear blue skies, the Edgewood Tahoe Resort hosted a series of games for the NHL, with the Colorado Avalanche taking on the Las Vegas Golden Knights, both teams in retro uniforms. A few hundred feet away, a gaggle of intrepid kayakers in a variety of craft floated around catching the action between draw strokes, perhaps hoping for an errant puck.
Unfortunately for the paddling onlookers, warm temperatures messed up the ice and caused the 1 pm game to be delayed after the Avs were up 1-0 after the first period.
The game resumed seven hours later at a colder 10 pm, minus the kayakers, but with much better ice. Spoiler: the Avalanche went onto win 3-2.