#14

HSBC Arena - Buffalo Sabres

Convenience/Access – Central location and walkable from pretty much anywhere downtown. Getting a cab outside of the arena was not difficult.

Location/Scene – Its not exactly surrounded by things to do, but the walk to them isn’t long (or scenic).

Outside Appearance – A lot of the newer rinks look the same, and while HSBC may not be the most unique exterior around, it is still great looking. Big and imposing while not looking completely gargantuan or out of place.

Inner Aesthetics – This is a good time to divulge an important detail of our overall ratings. In general, the way the rink looks when you first walk into the seating bowl and take a glance around is the most important thing for us, combined of course with the look of it while you are sitting in your seat. It is why this rink (and others) is comparatively low despite being great in many other regards. HSBC in particular ranks very low on one of our lists (JP) specifically because of this (JP is the inner look czar). It’s unfortunate, and for some it may not be as important as, say, a gaping concourse with 20 microbrew bars. Anyway, the inner look of this rink is not great. The luxury boxes are pretty intrusive, it feels very open and cavernous inside, and the layout is boring and not especially appealing visually.

Concourse – Fantastic, massive, clean lobby upon entry. The concourse is one of the best, although also an example of a rink that makes their lower, primary concourse a thing of excellence and then skimps on the fans who use the one up top. The good one is slightly asymmetric and has plenty of room and stuff to see. The upper one has a bunch of carts selling Canadian beer and gets muddled with bathroom lines.

Sightlines – We have made visits to this rink and sat in good seats, which had great views. The views from the worst seats is not good, and not comfortable.

Bathrooms – Clean, but there were some long lines and a lot of loitering going on in there.

Concessions – Not as cheap as we’d have liked, but outstanding selection and JP still drools over the beef on weck consumed here. In general this is an underrated food city, and this rink does Buffalo proud.

Fans/Atmosphere – Sadly for a city and an area known for awesome people, there was a high jackoff quotient experienced on multiple trips here. A bunch of college kids sitting in cheap seats makes for a good atmosphere…sort of. It also can be really annoying when said college kids are non-hockey savvy d-bags. We have to be fair here. We know that Buffalo fans are legit and there's a good vibe in this rink. It just so happens that on our trips here, the overall experience wasn’t optimal. The inverse of this will show up later in other rinks.

History/Banners – Terrific French Connection banner. That’s pretty much it. Sporadic at best in the displays of tradition and history, and then of course there is the blatant ignoring of most fans’ wishes with respect to their logo and jersey.

Cool Stuff – The Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame greets you when you enter, and has a lot of interesting items to check out. Beyond that there isn’t that much to stand out in our memory.

Store – The best store in the league so far, without any close competition. Big, with everything you might want, and an absolutely awesome and unparalleled selection of ready-made jerseys of all styles. God damn shame about that new logo though.

Value – For a team that uses one of those stupid tiered-pricing structures based on date/opponent, forty bucks for horrible seats against Florida really cant be considered good value. Concessions/store/etc. were average, although for WNY some may consider them overpriced.

Overall – One of a small group of rinks where one of our ranks probably alters its consensus rating. It would be a spot or 3 higher under different circumstances. But this is a 3 man crew, and we’d all agree that while this is a very nice, attractive, and totally acceptable rink, it definitely doesn’t threaten the upper-crust of our hierarchy.

Random - Wonder what Olli Jokinen's agent/handler/hanger-on is up to these days.