Jerseys and Hockey Love

And with that, after six weeks, I have left Detroit. You know, they say that the best thing to come out of Detroit is I-75 South, and the last time I was there, I would have been hard pressed to disagree. Detroit was a $#!+-hole of epic proportions a few short years ago, but the downtown area has cleaned itself up quite well. I could even walk around at night. If you have never been to Detroit, it was - and to a large part still is - as bad as everyone says. But it’s getting better.

It’s nice to be away from some of the Red Wings fans I encountered, as well. The broad generalization about any rival fan is that they are dumb, loud-mouthed, angry tools that don’t actually care about the sport they say they love. And I ran into a few of those during my stay. For the most part, though, I kept my love of the Avalanche under wraps, and retired my jerseys, hats, and new pullover fleece for a little while. I was like an enemy spy, undercover. And really, I didn’t want to rub my fandom in the noses of those around me. I love the sport of hockey, and I love my team, and while I don’t want to take that same love away from anyone else, I also don’t really care what the average Red Wings fan thinks of the team I support. I just love my hockey, and I will keep that to myself.

I did get to see some great hockey in Michigan, but it wasn’t at the Joe. Yes, I went to see a Wings game, because it was there, and on a night off, and the building I was living in was attached to the arena. So I took what NHL action I could, even if it was colored red and white. But the game I was most enamored with was the Plymouth Whalers game. From only a few rows back, and with two tickets costing a whopping thirty dollars (CHEAP!!!), I got to see a fast, fun, passionate hockey game, full of spills, thrills, and teddy bears. If you ever can go to a teddy bear toss game (where teddy bears are tossed onto the ice for charity), get thee to the rink. You won’t soon forget it.

But now I am in Pittsburgh, for about six weeks. Next week, I am going to the Monday Penguins game, and in another few weeks, will see the Crosby show take on the Ovechkin regulars. And even though it’s the second most crap arena in the league (sorry, Joe Louis, but atmosphere only counts for so much), I can’t wait to go. Last time I was here, we flew into town from Memphis, dropped our bags at the apartment, and busted ass to Mellon, in time to see two periods of the Leafs versus the Pens. And let me tell you, it was awesome. Later in the run, I got to see the Avs play, which was a nice treat, and too rare with the current (and moderately fixed) schedule.

I didn’t get to see any bloggers from Detroit while I was there, but hopefully will change that while here in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are done, there is no NBA, and the city is Pens crazy. I think I’m going to like it here.

Technorati Tags: Hockey, NHL

Hockey season is starting tomorrow, and this is the first time in a while I will be in Denver for the opener. Last year, I was in Iowa City, and shortly after saw the opening night of the Iowa Stars (AHL for Dallas). During much of the lockout, I was in Boston, MA, which, even without the Bruins, is a great place to spend the NHL lockout. From the Beanpot, to college, to AHL everywhere, to the Dennis Leary Celebrity Hat Trick game, hockey was not lacking for me. The previous year, I was in St. Louis, and got to see some of training camp. I put pictures of that time up here.

To me, when I think about hockey, I think of Glens Falls, NY, my favorite place to see a game. I think about Lake Placid, NY, and getting to skate in the Herb Brooks Arena (where the Miracle on Ice happened, of course). I think about the AHL All Star game I got to see in Manchester, NH. Or the trip I took to see a game in every UHL city.

I love the experience of going to a game in a different place. It makes the game better. The Pepsi Center is nice and all, but it’s not Wings Stadium, where the Kalamazoo Wings play. See, the ‘glass’ is on the outside edge of the boards there, leaving about 3-4 inches of board as a shelf. If you hard around the puck from outside the blue line, and the puck gets on that board, it may just come right back out of the zone on the other side. The K-Wings know this, so they watch that shelf closely. It adds a little quirk to the game. I found out when I skated on the ice after the game. The crowd is thick, so you aren’t doing any hard skating, but the team usually skates with you, so why embarass yourself? I have to go back, just to try the sports bar under the seats. The UHL, where the K-Wings play, doesn’t play in what you would call standardized buildings. Can you imagine the NHL playing on anything but regulation ice (200′ X 85′)? But the Quad City Mallards (of Moline, IL) and the Port Huron Flags (of Port Huron, MI) do. The UHL guidebook lists both rinks at 185′ X 85′. If that’s the case, that’s 1,275 square feet less of ice surface. You know how crowded hockey can get. What zones do you take that ice away from? Rockford, IL, home of the Rockford IceHogs is the same way.

Speaking of Rockford, I can’t wait to go back. I never would have said that if I were passing through on business, but for hockey, it’s true. I’m sitting in the same section I did last time, where the size of your cowbell matter more than the size of you hockey knowledge. The people sitting next to me had little stuffed otters hanging on a noose, tied to hockey sticks. If you didn’t guess, I sat in the roudy section. When they found out I was from out of town, they took me in. Great group of fans. Afterwords, I can hang out at the hockey bar, where the players go after the game. You heard it here first, Rockford, IL has a hockey bar.

You should have seen the punchup in Wichita, KS, when the Oklahoma City Blazers came to town. The first minute of the third period took longer than a regular period played. If you doubt, here is the gamesheet. 98 minutes in penalties handed out in the first minute of the 3rd. The Wichita Thunder would have gotten more power play, but as the Blazer who ran the goalie from behind was being ejected, the goalie squirted him in the face with his waterbottle. What made the game better was that I was going to see these two teams square off again two nights later in OKC. I had never seen anything like it.

When you go to places like Port Huron, MI, or Muskegon, MI, or even Norfolk, VA, you start to understand how people can lament the loss of the old rinks. So many buildings these days are just that, buildings. They do the job, hold the event. But they don’t care like a rink does. An old rink, with wood seats, or even benches, where you can see a little bit of the old insulation, where the cracks in the walls are. You see the dust on the banners in the rafters. You have little merch shops that have needed to outgrow the tiny box they are squeezing in this years pucks and shirts, or last years and the year before. You can see the history of the place, and the team, everywhere you look. A team gives it’s rink an identity, and the rink gives it right back.

My point. Hockey to me means seeing a game outside of the home rink. The rink itself is a part of the experience of going to the game. It can enhance the game, and make it so much more. When you sit in the same seat for 42 games a year, and are still just another blank face to the people at the rink, you just get to see a game. When you go somewhere else, you get something more back. I can’t wait for hockey season, and I can’t wait for the minor hockey season even more. I’m itching to get in the car and drive, and take in a good game, in a strange place.

Technorati : IceHogs, blazers, chl, hockey, rink, thunder, travel, uhl, wings