The Citizens Business Bank Arena is nice. That’s really all I can say about it. There isn’t any character, there isn’t anything really special about it. The seats are fine, the site lines are fine (except for where my first seat was), the food is OK, and the beer is your normal selection (but they did have Stella, so that was nice). If this all seems a little saccharine, it’s mostly because I am used to barns with something identifying about them. The green ceiling (grid) in Corpus Christi, the old time feel in Kalamazoo, MI, or the wood seats above the rink in Port Huron, MI. One of my favorites is in Glens Falls, NY, and even Elmira has some character to it. The thing with this arena is that it’s nice enough. I have nothing bad to say about it, but I don’t have anything interesting to say about it.
Warmups:
Folks, I’m here to tell you. The national anthem is not your American Idol moment. If you add more than one extra syllable in a line of the song, much less a word, go home. We don’t need you to do this. Don’t stick your arm out like a country star putting their all into it. Just sing the song. Yes, I’m talking to you.
Fight night!
Three fights with not much action in between. In fact,the first fight was two seconds into the game.
Think this guy is a fan or a mascot?
Actually, they gave away bobbleheads of this guy. They should have given us bobbleheads of this guy.
I mean the guy in the middle, not the guy on the left.
Over all, the game was a little bit dull. The Las Vegas penalty kill was really good, aggressive and coordinated, which you don’t find in the low minors that often. Number 21 for the Wranglers was a hitting machine. He would float to the middle of the zone, read a play, make a hit, float back to the middle, and do it all over again. All he did was hit.
The Reign won the game 2-1 in overtime. At first, I had questioned how wise it was to move a team here. But when you think about it, being a Kings affiliate, they have a solid built in audience, and one that isn’t going to pay through the nose for a game at the Staples Center. Like I have for another game on Monday.
5 responses to “Reign vs Wranglers: Yeah, OK”
I’m loving this and living vicariously from my recuperation bed. This is great and I’m eagerly awaiting every update both here and on the micro.
Remember if you can grab me a Seattle T-birds t-shirt (XL) I’ll make it worth your while. (I’m not sure how yet, but I will.) If it doesn’t work out, that’s cool.
Avs over Red Wings tonight. It may be a lost season but that’s still always good to see. Also good to see: the Red Wings’ best option in net is Ty Conklin. (please don’t remind me of this note when we see Ty the Guy lifting the Cup over his head.)
I stumbled across this blog though the battle of california site. As a season ticketholder for the Ontario Reign (too cheap for kings tickets and I don’t much like that drive during the week). The reason for the fight two seconds into the game is a carry over from these same two teams playing in Ontario on Wednesday night. As for #21 on Vegas, that guy was ridiculous. He was missing his hits and generally being a waste of space. Another carry over from Wednesday night was the “SPEN-CER” heckling of this guy. It started out in my section, and by last night spread to the other half of the arena. Good times.
side note, American Idol anthem or not, at least she knew the words. We’ve been victim of a few terrible anthem singers.
Greg – You will have your shirt. Blue? Black? I’m going to two games of theirs, so I can send you pictures, and you can decide when you want.
Brad – I figured there was some history to that fight. As for #21, I don’t know what he was doing in front of your section, but in front of mine, he was connecting. This certainly wasn’t the worst anthem singer I have ever heard, but she is a fine example of a bad example. Can’ they just sing the damn song? I wish I could hear her do “Oh, Canada.” I bet it’s straight forward.
Blue or green would be great. Thanks!