It shows that Perez believes it is a very important moment. Toward the end, he (assumed) uses the words "for our beloved Coyotes." Given that, one could say that Perez is a big fan of the Coyotes. He knows about baseball down to the smallest of details, and this moment was a "frozen in time" moment of importance because of the anticipation.
C.....................................
The correct transition word to link the two sentences would be conversely.
