American Airlines Center Review

The three of us traveled to Dallas in February 2007 to see the Stars take on Anaheim and Colorado. We sat in uppers for the Ducks game and in club level seats for the Avs game.

Conveniance/Access - Not bad for how the city is laid out. It's right on a major highway. We got a cheap hotel on said highway, thinking it would be easy to walk to the AAC. Wrong. There aren't any walkways on that highway so we had to cab there.

Location/Scene - Dallas loses points here. Not much going on here. The area sort of resembles the Wachovia Center's situation. In the city limits but set aside from everything. There didn't seem to be any bars or restaurants (or anything for that matter) within walking distance.

Outside Appearance - The AAC looks fantastic. It is a square brick building. It seems significantly bigger than most other NHL/NBA arenas and is very imposing. Surely fitting for Texas. There is an attractive plaza/courtyard type area on one side of the building with fountains.

Inner Aesthetics - The outside of the AAC seems big and so does the inside. The ceiling is super high. Only HSBC Arena in Buffalo has a ceiling that can mess with the AAC. Despite it being a little too high in my opinion it does look very cool. The upper sections are quite high up and very far from the ice. The massive feel that they went for with this arena only works if the place is consistently full. It was for the first few years of the AAC's existence, when the Stars were a top five team every year, but hasn't been lately. I think a massive arena that is three quarters full can very easily seem too spacious and dead. The seats are a drab gray. Different, yes, but just kind of a downer when too many are empty.

Concourse - When we hit the doors of the AAC a fine gentleman kindly told us that we'd have to leave any firearms we might have had in the car. That's because all AAC patrons have to go through a metal detector. So, I ran back to the car to drop off my Glock. No, not really. Certainly a Texas experience the instant we hit the door though. Anyway, the concourse in Dallas is possibly the most unique that we've seen. Some parts of it look like a hotel, with wood molding. Absent were the standard concrete walls that every other building seems to line its halls with. There were American Airlines model planes hanging from the ceiling, which looked kind of cool even while being obnoxious. The club concourse had big windows with cool views. The AAC concourse also provided us with this gem. (That's Eric showing off his vert.)

Sight lines - They're adequate. As mentioned above, the seats go very high up. The upper level seats are quite a distance from the ice.

Bathrooms - I don't remember them being overcrowded or there being a lack of them. That's a plus.

Concessions - I remember getting a bad Buffalo chicken sandwich, but that should have been expected so far from Western New York. To my knowledge, the AAC is the only place that we've been to that sells Red Bull. The second game we went to we had club seats. There was a fine array of food choices on that level.

Fans/Atmosphere - The crowds at the games we attended probably only filled the AAC to about three quarters capacity but they were into the game. They weren't quiet nor were they going above and beyond. There were many, many jerseys from the Stars glory days. Lots of Hull, Belfour, Nieuwendyk, Verbeek, and Hatcher jerseys being rocked. Definitely solid for a part of the country that hockey is still pretty foreign to. Also, I have to mention that we had a very boisterous Jussi Jokinen fan a few rows behind during the first game.

History/Banners - The Stars banners are tastefully laid out on one of the walls just below the ceiling. There wasn't much else around though. I don't remember there being much of anything commemorating great Stars or Mavs moments in the halls, which is a shame as both franchises have a lot to be proud of.

Bars - I'm a little hazy on this detail. I think there were a few places to get hard liquor, as there should be.

Store - Sort of small, but they had all of the essentials, including a decent selection of player tee shirts. An item I remember was a Stu Barnes shirt that said, "I'm not booin', I'm Stuin'." I bought a 2007 All-Star Game rocks glass.

Value - I think we paid seventy-something bucks for our club tickets, which was a pretty good deal. They had some pretty good food there and a bunch of bars. Not any more expensive than the average NHL arena.

Overall - The biggest plus for the American Airlines Center is the gorgeous exterior. The building is certainly distinctive, from the appearance to the concourse to the ceiling up in the heavens. The biggest negative, and this is a common theme with us, is that there is nothing around the arena. It's just buried in a parking lot next to a highway. Getting dinner and/or drinks and then walking right to the game rules and you can't do that in Big D.

Preparing For More World Junior Anguish

So, I'm one of the few people in this country who give a crap about the World Junior Championship. I consider myself a USA Hockey fan as much as I do a Ranger fan. The bigwigs at USA Hockey disappoint me year after year with how they manage the WJC team. Since the WJC was first played in 1977, the Yanks have just five medals. Only one was gold. All while icing plenty of talent most years. Perhaps more infuriating than the disappointing finishes have been the talented players left on the sidelines because of petty politics. Bobby Ryan in 2005 and 2007 comes to mind. Many years, we're not even showing up with our best.

Before I pick who I'd like to make up the 2010 American entry, let me state that I have minimal knowledge of these players. I've seen none of them play live. That said, I have done some research and consider these semi-educated selections.

* member of 2009 team

forwards

*Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota, 19, 1st round VAN

*Mitch Wahl, Spokane, 19, 2nd round CAL

*Danny Kristo, North Dakota, 19, 2nd round MON

Kyle Palmieri, Notre Dame, 18, 1st round ANA

Chris Brown, Michigan, 18, 2nd round PHO

Jeremy Morin, Kitchener, 18, 2nd round ATL

Drew Shore, Denver, 18, 2nd round FLA

Philip McRae, London, 19, 2nd round STL

Derek Stepan, Wisconsin, 19, 2nd round NYR

Zach Budish, Minnesota, 18, 2nd round, NAS

David Wohlberg, Michigan, 19, 6th round NJ

Emerson Etem, Medicine Hat, 17, 2010 draft eligible

A.J. Jenks, Plymouth, 19, 4th round FLA

dmen

Cam Fowler, Windsor, 18, 2010 draft eligible

Nick Leddy, Minnesota, 18, 1st round MIN

John Moore, Kitchener, 19, 1st round CLB

William Wrenn, Denver, 18, 2nd round SJ

David Warsofsky, BU, 19, 4th round STL

Jake Gardiner, Wisconsin, 19, 1st round ANA

Philip Samuelsson, BC, 18, 2nd round PIT

goalies

Mike Lee, St. Cloud State, 19, 3rd round PHO

Jack Campbell, NTDP, 17, 2010 draft eligible

strong candidates

forwards

Chris Kreider, BC, 18, 1st round NYR

Ryan Bourque, Quebec, 18, 3rd round NYR

Jerry D'Amigo, RPI, 18, 6th round TOR

Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Bowling Green, 19, 7th round ATL

Kenny Ryan, Windsor, 18, 2nd round TOR

Jordan George, Bemidji State, 19, undrafted

Myles McCauley, Plymouth, 18, undrafted

* Tyler Johnson, Spokane, 19, undrafted

Andrew Yogan, Erie, 18, 2010 draft eligible

A.J. Treais, Michigan, 18, undrafted

Tyler Maxwell, Everett, 18, undrafted

dmen

Brian Dumoulin, BC, 18, 2nd round CAR

Chris Wideman, Miami, 19, 4th round OTT

Patrick Wey, BC, 18, 4th round WAS

Aaron Ness, Minnesota, 19, 2nd round NYI

Adam Comrie, Guelph, 19, 3rd round FLA

Matt Donovan, Denver, 19, 4th round NYI

Sean Lorenz, Notre Dame, 19, 4th round MIN

Beau Schmitz, Plymouth, 18, undrafted

Derek Forbort, NTDP, 17, 2010 draft eligible

goalies

Joe Howe, CC, 19, undrafted

Brandon Maxwell, Kitchener, 18, 6th round COL

Connor Knapp, Miami, 19, 6th round BUF

Joe Cannata, Merrimack, 19, 6th round VAN

Michael Houser, London, 17, 2010 draft eligible

The list of 29 camp invitees was released this morning. They'll be cut down to 22.

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-

hockey/id,17615/SchroederHeadsListofInviteestoUSWorldJuniorCamp.html

First order of business is reviewing this year's major snubs. Let's start with Emerson Etem (left). He's the 10th ranked player by Red Line Report for the 2010 draft. He's got 20 goals in 31 games in the WHL, good for fifth in the league. But the politicians at the NTDP probably weren't happy that he spurned the Under-18 team this season after playing for the Under-17 team last year. It's an absolute joke that he isn't invited, but this is just standard operating procedure for USA Hockey. They'd rather go with a college mucker who played two years for the NTDP.

Nick Leddy was also denied an invite. The defenseman was drafted 16th overall by Minnesota last summer and is Minnesota's reigning Mr. Hockey. He's getting his feet wet with the Golden Gophers in the WCHA this year, the conference most often named the strongest in the NCAA. He supposedly turned down the chance to play with the NTDP last season. That couldn't have factored in USA Hockey's decision making, could it?

Four of the forwards I picked weren't even invited to camp. Etem, Zach Budish, Drew Shore, and Mitch Wahl. Shore and Budish were second round picks last year. Wahl put up 4 points in 6 games in the 2009 WJC, is in his fourth WHL season, and played for a Memorial Cup winner in 2007-08. Quite an experienced player for a 19-year-old. Not even good enough for a camp invite though.

Invited are forwards Luke Walker, an undrafted 19-year-old who plays for Portland, Vinny Saponari, fourth rounder of the Thrashers who plays for BU and doesn't exactly shoot the lights out (guess who he played for before college), and Jason Zucker, a tiny NTDP forward going to Denver next year. If you want to tell me Zucker is another Schroeder, fine, but I've never heard of him. Otherwise, there are older, more experienced players to choose from. I'm not a fan of using 17-year-olds in the WJC unless they're pretty special.

Two defensemen I chose, William Wrenn and Philip Samuelsson, weren't invited to camp. Not a huge deal. Maybe they've had slow starts. Tough to tell if freshmen defensemen are playing well by looking at their stats. Invited were Jon Merrill and Justin Faulk, both of the NTDP. Nothing against them, but I'd prefer older, more experienced players. Strangely, NTDP defender Derek Forbort, a North Dakota recruit, and 9th ranked player for the 2010 draft by Red Line, wasn't invited. But, these things rarely make sense.

I'm not going to bother breaking down the goalies.

Anyway, USA Hockey seems to still be more concerned about pushing current and former development team players to success than with winning medals in international tournaments. I just hope one day that that is not the case. I hope snubbing Emerson Etem isn't this year's fatal mistake. Go USA. (Not sarcastically, really).

CC

United Center - Chicago Blackhawks

United Center – Chicago Blackhawks



Convenience/Access – Pretty good. Not NYC/DC good, but in the city, accessible easily by subway, and a quick cab ride from anywhere near downtown.

Location/Scene – You have to walk a decent distance to get to any bars/scene. Obviously its great that you can even walk to stuff, but for a big city arena, it could be surrounded by more stuff.

Outside Appearance – Completely badass, imposing, and unique. The UC eschewed the glass, steel, and redbrick look that most all newer rinks have gone for. It’s a great looking building, and on a cold gray Chicago winter day, perfectly fitting.

Inner Aesthetics – In general, bigger, multi-sport buildings tend to slip in this category. More seats and more space seems to necessarily imply that the look of the whole place will suffer. Chicago isn’t perfect in this regard, but its pretty decent. The seats are nice deep red, and the boxes aren’t that obtrusive. The massive steepness gives the place a very Montreal-esque feel, with the high press box and upper level seats. While they apparently exist, the out-of-town scoreboards are incredibly hard to find, and are miniscule. This is a major, major flaw in our book.

Concourse – An outstanding score here. Both upper and lower levels are wide, clean, and have more than enough stands, places to hover, tables, and tv screens. Doesn’t really get much better than this.

Sightlines – It’s a huge building, and steep, so the uppers are really, really far away. The sightlines are fine, as they should be in any modern arena. The top sections behind the nets suffer from the common issue of all fans leaning forward and obstructing any rows behind them- meaning everyone has to lean once the first few rows do.

Bathrooms – There are enough of them. The lines are short. They are clean. The game broadcast is piped in. A+.

Concessions – Fair enough prices, a lot of variety, local offerings. The negative would be that the food we sampled wasn’t very good.

Fans/Atmosphere – This category gets more and more fruitless as we go along, and the United Center is a perfect reason why. The overall atmosphere just depends too much on the given game or season or period in the team’s history you happen to hit. Way too subjective. Anyway, our initial and joint visit here was attended by maybe 6000 people. Just totally empty. And like Boston, we figured that with a packed house, and a good team, this place had all the ingredients to be rocking. Well, the second visit came on an opening Saturday night after a conference finals trip the year before, and the atmosphere was as blah as you can have in an arena populated by 20+k fans. The game presentation and feel is fantastic- no music, all organ, minimal nonsense. However to be completely fair and honest, this arena falls well below expectations in the overall atmosphere category.

History/Banners – A very impressive display of championship banners and retired numbers for both Chicago franchises. Lined up orderly in a square pattern on all 4 sides. Lots of small homages on the concourse and frequent scoreboard tidbits of past greats. Dominant use of red/black. Good stuff.

Bars – Quite a few of them, and with a nice setup where people aren’t lined up 4 deep. Friendly bartenders, good pours, and acceptable prices.

Store – To accompany the myriad stores and kiosks and Hawkquarters that dot downtown, the stores in the arena are very good All three of us own Hawk name/number shirts, acquired in three different ways.

Value – We paid 8 dollars for student tickets a few years ago. Those days are over. The value of tickets isn’t bad at all, while we’d say the value in the arena is good.

Overall – Making a second visit to a place really does give you some perspective. Without a second trip, this rink was probably pegged as a nice, clean, modern arena with some excellent traits and a few major drawbacks that could be easily overlooked. Not top-tier, but close to it. The second trip, for EP and JP, accentuated the really cool features (exterior, concourse, the feeling that you're in Chicago) but also didn’t do much to boost the bad- slightly sterile, a bland atmosphere, middle of the pack aesthetics/sightlines from your seat. A good rink, a good value, and a good city.

#12: Verizon Center (DC)

Welcome to the Verizon Center writeup. Strangely, this is one of the few arenas where the three of us haven't attended the same game together. Surely that will change soon. On with the analysis:

Fans/Atmosphere

Anyone who last visited the Verizon Center before spring 2008 doesn't know the Verizon Center. The first time I went back I didn't know the Verizon Center. This city, and the stadium along with it, has undergone a significant transformation. New fans are engaged and buying season tickets in droves. (Surely the perennial awfulness of the once-mighty Redskins has hurried the transformation.) Gone are the days when you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. No longer do playoff games fail to sell out, or do weeknight games draw fans in the four digits. I went to a weeknight preseason game this year that had more fans in attendance than the 2003 playoff games against division rival Tampa Bay.

The crowd is engaged for a full 60 minutes, rising and falling not just when two-time MVP Ovechkin touches the puck, but also when Backstrom, Semin, and Green get going. This is surely due in part to astute ownership of Ted Leonsis, who made the decision not only to let the team get bad so the team could get really good, but also to change the in-game presentation. An arena that once catered to children now caters more towards hockey fans. It's not perfect - the "hockey song," one of the worst things to happen to hockey since the glowing puck, still occasionally gets played. But there are fewer songs played in general and almost no manufactured claps and cheers. These days, the fans take care of that.

Perhaps most telling of all, the city has developed a highly educated fan base. Yes, this should have happened before Alex Ovechkin played in his third NHL season. But at least it happened. Fans no longer ask questions like "Where did we get that guy Robert Lang?" Nowadays, people know Mike Knuble's career stats even before he arrives in DC, and they know all about Brendan Morrison's wonky knees. More telling, the fans know about guys like Oscar Osala and Tyler Sloan and the backup goalies in Hershey. Like I said, things have changed.

Convenience/Access & Location/Scene

The Verizon Center is the cream of the crop when it comes to this category. This was the case even before Chinatown, the neighborhood where the stadium is located, sprouted into what is now snobbishly known as the "Penn Quarter." The area is serviced by its own metro stop, which is directly under the arena. And if you're the kind that likes to drive to a game - especially if you're one of the many recent converts living in the Virginia suburbs - this is the best stadium in the league in terms of traffic. It's easy to leave the stadium because there is no single entrance or exit. You walk about 5 minutes to wherever you found metered parking and take your choice of half a dozen routes home. It couldn't be easier.

There are no fewer than 75 restaurants and bars within a 3-block radius of the stadium, and these run the gamut from fast food to local establishments to extremely upscale restaurants with name chefs. Want to see a movie after the game? Go to the theater connected to the stadium. Feel like bowling? Check out alley in the building attached. And if you bring your girlfriend, she can get spa treatment inside the stadium. You can send erudite non-hockey fans across the street to the newly renovated Shakespeare Theater. Former owner Abe Polin was prescient when he moved the stadium from the Maryland suburbs to downtown DC. All he did was change the landscape and social fabric of the city.

Outside Appearance

There's nothing superb here and the arena probably loses points in this department. The VC isn't tacky or difficult to look at but rather looks like a giant office building. In that way, it fits in the neighborhood. But the builders could have made things more interesting.

Sightlines/Seating Bowl

It's easy to criticize the view from the seating bowl if you've only seen a game from the top row of the upper deck directly behind the goals. This is an area called the "Eagle's Nest," and it formerly featured $5 tickets back in Ovechkin's first and second year. (Incidentally, Eagle's Nest tickets are probably the single best deal in the NHL since the lockout. See the game's greatest goal scorer in his rookie season for $5? Yes please.) But the problem with the Eagle's Nest is that you need better than eagle-vision to see from those seats. They are far from the ice.

Pretty much any other seat in the upper deck is a good one, and the corners in particular are superb for upper level seats. The arena is well-lit, unlike those in Tampa and St. Louis, which make you feel like you're entering a haunted house. The light gray-blue seats aren't as interesting as Pittsburgh's multi-hued seats, but they do provide a blank canvas that's easy on the eyes - especially when everyone sitting in those seats is covered in red. (Before the recent transformation, the blue colored seats readily revealed the team's poor attendance.) The press box resides in the upper corner where the opposing team shoots twice, and there have been few complaints from the press about a nosebleed vantage point, as there are in many other new stadiums.

The Verizon Center seating bowl fails in two ways. First, the ring of club-level seats outpaces fans' desire to sit in those seats. The problem is in the stadium's marketing: fans must purchase club-level seats for every event at the VC, not just hockey games. So a diehard Wizards fan who wants rich man's seats doesn't attend 41 Caps games a year. (Of course, the Caps being the hottest team in town lately, this trend has probably shifted the other way, with club-level ticketholders abandoning Wizards games.) Second, the layout of the lower deck ensures that some seats on the far corners are far from the ice. These seats dont provide a good vantage point and can even be obstructed in the far same-side corner. I would prefer to sit in the last row of the upper deck at dead center ice than in some of the lower level corners. And that's a problem, because the lower corners are significantly more expensive than the center uppers. So fans there are getting the short end of it.

History/Banners

In a recurring theme, the Caps recently raised all-new banners to go along with the team's attempt to brand the entire stadium red. These banners are simple, plain, and quite attractive. The old blue and gold banners did not work, especially the retired number banners that featured the likenesses of Rod Langway, Dennis Maruk, and Dale Hunter in gold on a blue background. No one wants to see your ugly mugs.

That said, no analysis can be complete without mentioning that the Verizon Center features the second-biggest joke among banners hanging in NHL stadiums, honoring the WNBA's Washington Mystics three championships. You ask, "Surely these banners honor actual championship wins, right?" Incorrect. They honor the Mystics attendance championships. This is an utter embarassment. No team should cater to a part-time tenant in such a shameful way. Or, they should take the banners down during every stadium event that is not women's basketball. I have seen only one worse banner, in Florida, where they honor Celine Dion's multiple sellout performances that opened up stadium. (Yay! Three concert sellouts!) But the attendance championship banners are far worse than the 7th man banner in Nashville or banners in some stadiums honoring #1 fans.

Concourse/Concessions/Cool Stuff

The stadium loses points here. The concourse, while not boring, offers nothing unique. It's not the fire hazard like Mellon Arena or Nassau Coliseum, but it pales compared to the excellent and interesting concourses in Columbus, Denver, and Philadelphia. And the bathrooms are just crowded enough to make you want to hold it until the end of the game.

The concessions are improving. You can now purchase bbq, Chinese food, Dunkin Donuts, and other interesting cuisines. But the prices are too high ($10 mini-pizzas) and the lines often obstruct the walkways.

There isn't nearly enough cool stuff for a team celebrating its 35th anniversary in the league. How about replicas of Ovechkin's Hart and Pearson trophies? A showcase of the 1998 Stanley Cup run? An exhibit about the team in the 1990s, when Bondra, Pivonka, and Ridley (three of my favorite Caps players of all time) ran the show? A history of the team's coaches? Famous quotes on the wall? Peter Bondra was one of the most exciting players in the league and scored 4 goals in a game twice, both at home. But if you walked around the stadium you'd never know it.

Bars

I dont care about this category. Unlike my 30-30 bretheren, I don't booze much at games. It's too expensive, and especially at the Verizon Center there are too many good places to drink before and after games. But the bars in the stadium have changed for the better. The upstairs, which formerly was the redheaded stepchild of NHL upper concourses, features a bar with dozens of beers. Both concourses have multiple bars where you can stand in a very short line to overpay for liquor. JP and CC, drink to your heart's content.

Store

The Verizon Center features a better-than-average store. There are dozens of Caps shirts, about 50 selections of hats, and lots of toys for kids. The prices are pretty brutal, though. But one thing it has going for it are tons of player name and number tees. If you want a David Steckel #39 shirt - and you should - it can be yours.

Value

This is a difficult category to assess. Just try to buy tickets to a weekend game from the box office. You can't do it. And the Capitals ticketing department has poached some of the best ticket salespeople in the business, including folks from the Flyers, such that the team sells out most games including those against some of the most boring division rivals in hockey. (Florida Panthers on a Tuesday night? The average fan would rather slog through a congressional subcommittee hearing.) Interestingly, the team marks up the face value far beyond the season ticket holder cost. Weekend tickets in the upper corners, for instance, retail for $60, but the team charges season ticket holders only $25. Contrary to what you might expect, this disparity has created an excellent secondary ticket market - the ticket holder can sell for more than his purchase price, the buyer can buy for way less than face value, and everyone walks away happy. Aside from that, you're paying to watch one of the most exciting teams in the league. So if the question is whether this is great value, the answer is an unequivocal yes; comparable teams charge far more and have far stingier secondary markets. But we defy you to get your hands on lower bowl tickets at center ice for less than $120 apiece.

Overall

This is a clean, attractive stadium with a solid game presentation, and the best location of any stadium in the U.S. It loses some points on some of the physical stuff - outer appearance, concourse, bathrooms. But what it lacks in those categories it more than makes up for in excitement and passion. With a good team, this is as exciting a place as any in the league to catch a game.

Norris

Aah, the Norris. One of the three easiest ways to engage me in a bar fight. Let it be known that I hold my pro-Lidstrom bias out in front, for all to see. The guy should have at least one, possibly two more Norrises than he does. The hockey world as a whole, in my opinion, was a few years too slow in recognizing his true greatness, and despite all the awards, accolades, and gushing commentary about him, I still will contend that he is somewhat underrated and will be in the historical long-run. It is highly unlikely I will ever enjoy watching someone play defense as much as I have Nick Lidstrom. Mention Scott Niedermayer in the same sentence, and unless the words ‘couldn’t carry his jockstrap’ are included, I’m likely to end the conversation and dismiss you. So, anyway, the narrative that took hold early this year when the Wings sputtered out of the gate defensively (thanks, Ozzie, for being yourself again) was that this was finally going to be the year when someone would swipe the trophy from #5. And despite the fact that there could be a perfectly legitimate case made for him to win it anyway, I agree that there is a better candidate this season. My fears are growing, however, that the writers will pick the wrong guy.

Barring an obscene lack of good candidates- which this season certainly does not have; “defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position” had better be the guy you would have on the ice in the last minute of a game if your team was up OR down a goal. He had better be your top PP and PK guy, or pretty close to it. That guideline may be simplistic, but I think it’s pretty damn accurate. I love pure defensive d-men, and there are a ton of really good ones. However with the way the game is today, a ton of your offense comes from the blueline- in terms of creating a rush, transition, and on setups in the offensive zone. Guys who contribute at a high level in that category have to get preference. So, sorry Willie Mitchell, and Greg Zanon, and Robyn Regher. The reverse is also true. If your contributions are heavily skewed towards the offensive side of things, I don’t care if you control the game like Paul Coffey, I am not going to name you the best defenceman in the league- especially as I said when we are in an age right now where there is no shortage of guys who do both.

Now, Mike Green’s offensive stats are just disgusting. He had one of the most ridiculous offensive seasons we’ve seen in decades. And the way he plays is 100% game-changing. He’s lethal. Also, to be fair, the Caps play a very open, run-and-gun style, so it may be slightly more difficult to see his true defensive prowess.

But you’re not throwing Mike Green out there 30 minutes a game in all situations. He isn’t on your top PK unit. And If you’re up a goal and going the purely shutdown route, he probably isn’t the guy you’re putting up against Jarome Iginla or Evgeni Malkin. It is certainly possible to be elite defensively in other ways, but to me, Green falls short of that level, and its enough to make me quite sure that he isn’t deserving- yet- of the Norris.

The Norris goes to Zdeno Chara, a player who can control a game in every conceivable situation. We’ve long been told that guys play differently when for example, there is or isn’t s a goon on their bench watching after them. Whatever. It is certainly the case that players and entire teams play differently because of Chara. I truly believe that if you took Chara off of Boston, the entire identity of their team as a rugged, chippy, relentless group would go out the window. There is no way to properly assign credit to all of the factors involved- be it coaching, maturation, or whatever else, but look at the seismic shifts/evolutions of many Bruins over Chara’s seasons as their leader. Savard. Kessel. Wideman. Thomas. In my mind you just cant overstate the importance of a guy who plays in all situations, gives you 30 minutes a night, is an absolute rock defensively, is a tremendous leader/example to younger players, and shoots 100mph. Oh yeah, and he will FUCK YOU UP if he so chooses. The Norris top 5 are Chara, Lidstrom, Green, Streit, and Keith. In that order. Because I say so.

Selke

It’s pretty unreasonable to think one can make a judgment on an award like the Selke without seeing every team on a nightly basis. It really can't be determined on stats alone or even on stats + copious Center Ice viewing. Of course, this same reasoning does *not* apply to the Norris, which I am perpetually qualified to award because I am smarter than the voters, and that's just the way it is. Anyway. You really have to care and appreciate solid, if boring, defensive play to get a sense for the skills of guys like Lehtinen, Madden, or Axelsson. I’m sure if I was a fan and 82-game observer of their teams, I could make a nice case for Antti Miettinen or Kamil Kreps or Manny Malhotra….you get the point. So I fully acknowledge that the guys on my list are certainly the sexier, more glamorous choices. It is also worth noting that the star who plays amazing two-way hockey is now becoming a lot more common than it used to be- brutal defensive slackers are becoming the exception now. It doesn’t take much focus to realize that these are fantastic, game-controlling defensive players, but when you do focus on them, the appreciation just grows bigger.

Winner: Pavel Datsyuk. There isn’t too much more to say about this guy at this stage. He is one of the more unique players I’ve seen in some time. Last year was really his overall coming-out party, and this year he has played at a super-high level all season long. His ‘takeaways’ get the most press, but his overall speed, positioning and smarts, ferocity on the backcheck and in the corners, and physical play make him an absolute treat to watch. He could probably win this award any given year for the foreseeable future.

Then again, so could my runner-up, Mike Richards. His candidacy (and possible win) will rest largely on his outstanding stats on the penalty kill (no, I’ll never call it on the shorthand), where he was the top guy on a very dangerous unit. Richards fits the hockey world definition of the elite, two-way, gritty center to absolute perfection.

Coming in third I have Ryan Kesler, who is far less flashy than either Datsyuk or Richards, and falls into the mold of more of a shut-down type player. No one likes playing against Ryan Kesler, and the fact that he can add 58 points to his tick-you-the-hell-off presence is massively important to his team.

We are men of culture.

QMJHL Arena Review

Colisee Pepsi – Quebec Remparts

Convenience/Access – It’s sort of on the outskirts of the city but traffic is not an issue in Quebec. I drove there from my hotel in Vieux Quebec (old Quebec) in like 10 minutes or so. The parking wasn’t free, which was kind annoying to be charged to park for a junior game. They also use a variety of lots and we were in one that was a good walk from the arena. In fact, you couldn’t see the Colisee from where we parked.

Location/Scene – The Colisee sits on some sort of exposition grounds along with some other buildings whose uses I didn’t bother to determine. Imagine the Nassau Coliseum but just on a bigger footprint with some other buildings around. There are no restaurants or bars within walking distance.

Outside Appearance – I believe the building was erected in 1950 but it doesn’t look nearly that old from the outside. The front of the building is mostly glass. I imagine the glass facade was added in a renovation at some point.

Inner Aesthetics – Absolutely awesome. The seats are the colors of Quebec’s old NHL team, the Nordiques. I don’t know if that was on purpose or not but it looks great. The lower seats are red, the middle section is blue and the upper seats are white. The upper levels sweep upwards behind the nets in a way that I’ve never seen anywhere else. These seats are very steep and come equipped with guard rails to keep their occupants from tumbling to a serious injury. The Colisee has a very old school rink feel that you can’t get in very many places anymore.

Concourse – The hallways of the Colisee are very crowded and very quirky. There are parts of the upper level that are wide open but then bottleneck everyone through a single doorway that leads to a narrower area. Weird. If you’re not paying attention you might run over a little kid playing ball hockey between periods. The bathrooms were spacious though and there weren’t lines spilling into the hallway, which was good. I had to miss the first five minutes of the third period in order to make my way through the throngs to see all of the displays on the lower concourse. The lobby was absolute chaos before the game. Will call tickets were distributed not from the ticket windows, but from a table in the middle of the lobby that you couldn’t even see until you got right up to it because of the swarm of people around it. That was confusing and not practical.

Sightlines – Good, unless you sat where I sat, which was under the overhanging upper level. My view of the rink itself was fine, which is the most important thing but I couldn’t see the scoreboard at all. There were monitors on the overhang for us but it was impossible to read the clock on them. Like most old rinks, the seats are very steep.

Concessions – Besides standard arena fare there was the provincial staple poutine and popcorn enhanced with maple syrup. Poutine is a pile of fries covered in gravy and cheese curds.

Fans/Atmosphere – Canada is obviously obsessed with hockey but there are many CHL teams that play before half empty buildings and less than fired up crowds. The Quebec Remparts are not one of them. There were over fifteen thousand fans (just short of a sellout) at the game I attended, game 6 of the Remparts’s second round series with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The crowd was electric from the drop of the puck. Cape Breton had three or four power plays in the first period. The crowd booed the Eagles extra man unit the entire time they had the puck. There were plenty of “Let’s go Remparts” chants, some egged on by a recording, some spontaneous. Most of the crowd wore red, which looked awesome. Like every Canadian NHL arena, everyone was glued to their seat during play. When I was returning to my seat after the third period had started, there was nary a soul in the halls. These people came to watch a hockey game, not eat ice cream and chiens chaud (hot dogs). That goes for the many children at the game too, which tells you something. As for the artificial part of the atmosphere, the music was heavy on techno (no surprise there). Refreshingly, there was no toolbox in-arena host constantly on the scoreboard and no puck shuffle. Again, these people were there for hockey. Props to the Remparts staff for recognizing that.

History/Banners – The ceiling of the Colisee is littered with Quebec hockey history. Where to start? The Quebec Aces were the building’s first tenant and their star Jean Beliveau’s number 9 hangs proudly. There have been two incarnations of the Remparts. The first one was from 1969 to 1985 and the current one that began in 1997. The first team won the Memorial Cup in 1971 with the help of Guy Lafleur, whose number 4 still hangs. The current team won the Memorial Cup in 2006. Their star that year, Alexander Radulov, has his number 22 retired. Simon Gagne’s 12 is also up there. Then there’s the Nordiques of course. Their WHL Avco Cup banner is still there, as are the retired numbers of J-C Tremblay, Marc Tardiff, Peter Stastny, and Michel Goulet. The history in the House That Beliveau Built is palpable and the banners reflect that.

Cool Stuff – The hallway on the lower level bears displays on the Quebec International Pee Wee Tournament, the Memorial Cup teams, former Remparts, the 2008 World Championship that took place there, and Jean Believeau. The only black mark is that the hall displays ignore the Nords.

Bars – The only beer offered is Bud Light. I can’t really say I’m surprised. It’s the lame world we live in now. Canada and Quebec produce plenty of tasty beer but yet the only beer available at this hockey palace is shitty, American, and light. You can get red wine though.

Store – Small, but solid. I got a hooded sweatshirt for $26 CDN. T-shirts, hats, pucks, sticks, car flags, hockey cards, windbreakers are all offered. The staff was very friendly and happy to speak English.

Value – The tickets were $14 but of course needed an extra $4 tacked on each for bogus charges, but that’s just the way it is now. The concessions were reasonably priced, as they should be. It’s a junior hockey game, not the NHL.

Overall – Personally, I was like a kid on Christmas morning in this place. It’s an absolute treat for anyone who’s interested in hockey history and this building holds so much of it. Attending a game with 15,000 enthusiastic Quebeckers was awesome enough and I haven’t even mentioned that Patrick Roy coaches the Remparts, which is very cool. Just considering that players like Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur skated there as teenagers and that players like Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe played there in the WHA and that greats like Stastny and Goulet played there in the 1980’s blows my mind. No building in the NHL today can offer that.

Top 10 Games - E

Listed below are the top ten professional hockey games I've attended. I'm using the same criteria as JP - evaluating the games in their present context. After careful consideration, I picked these games either because of the excitement of the game, the company, or the context in which the game was played - and sometimes all three. I allow myself to cheat by listing two games at the number 10 spot.

#10 (t). Saturday, June 1, 2008 - Chicago Wolves, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2 (Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL) - Game 2, Calder Cup Finals
Minor league baseball games sometimes feel more pure than professional games. This game was the hockey equivalent. The view from the seats made you feel like you had traveled to the 1960s. The game featured brutal hitting, lots of talking on the ice, and a rowdy, obnoxious crowd that screamed obscenities for the full 60 minutes. Sure, the level of play was significantly lower than in the NHL. (Let's just say that Joel Kwiatkowski won't be playing serious minutes in the Stanely Cup finals anytime soon.) But it's tough to get to the finals in any sport, and this game had all the feel of a championship match.

#10 (t). Saturday, June 13, 1998 - Detroit 2, Washington 1 (Verizon Center) - Game 3, Stanley Cup Finals
Of the games on the list, this one had the fewest interesting moments by far. After the opening introductions, the level of excitement dropped and never returned. But it was a Stanley Cup Finals game, and that alone qualifies it for the 10th spot. President Clinton attended this game - his first hockey game and also the first time a sitting president attended an NHL game while in office. The nation's capital had a buzz about it during the early summer of 1998, and for the first time in my life everyone was talking about hockey. Unfortunately, this game was the penultimate chapter of that wonderful playoff run.

#9. Saturday, March 14, 1998 - Dallas 3, Boston 1 (TD BankNorth Garden)
My first game at a non-Patrick Division stadium. In fact, this was only the second "new" stadium I had visited. Perhaps the seed for attending all 30 NHL arenas was born that day. Anyway, it was also a great game. Brett Hull scored career points 998, 999, and 1000. Sergei Samsonov showed why he was drafted in the first round by Boston, skating circles around players.

#8. Saturday, March 25, 2006 - Washington 3, Carolina 1 (RBC Center)
This was the first time I attended a Caps game outside of DC (not counting the many times I saw them play in an old, ugly stadium in Landover, Maryland). I thought it would be a pretty benign place to watch a game wearing the opposing team's jersey, but I caught a surprising amount of heckling from Carolina fans. The trip was justified, however, because the Caps won an exciting game, Ovechkin scored a goal and an assist, and the Canes won't be winning the Southeast Division anytime soon. I was impressed with Carolina fans - they were surprisingly passionate and knowledgeable fans considering North Carolina's biggest sports draw is NASCAR.

#7. Saturday, Feb. 5, 1994 - Washington 6, Tampa 3 (Capitals Centre)
Peter Bondra scored four goals, including three in first period, and Tampa received a lesson in how to play in the NHL. To this day, this was one of the most memorable games, and one of the most dominating individual performances, I have seen.

#6. Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 - Washington 4, Toronto 1 (Verizon Center)
Alex Ovechkin approached a special level of dominance during this game. He didn't do much on the score sheet, tallying only an assist on the Caps first goal. But he was targeted by the Leafs - and particularly Bryan Berard - the entire game, and he proved that he could stand up to all kinds of harassment. Throw in three quasi-brawls and a very near fight between Olie Kolzig and Ed Belfour and this was one helluva game.

#5. Saturday, Feb. 21, 2004 - Philadelphia 5, Atlanta 4 (Wachovia Center)
No special context here, just an awesome game. The Flyers dominated early, scoring three goals on a 5-minute power play in the 1st period. Atlanta made a great comeback, but everyone in the building knew that it would end well for the home team. Simon Gagne won it on a penalty shot with one minute left in the 3rd period.

#4. Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005 - Washington 3, Columbus 2 (Verizon Center)
This was the Caps home opener, and my first game after the lockout, so it was bound to be special. It was also Alex Ovechkin's first game, and he didn't disappoint. Ovechkin excited us from his very first shift, during which he hit an opponent so hard that he dislodged a support beam. He went on to score two goals and almost a third on a breakaway. This game marked the start of something special for the NHL and something transformative for the Caps.

#3. Saturday, March 8, 2008 - Pittsburgh 4, Washington 2 (MCI Center)
I flew from St. Louis to DC to attend this game. The atmosphere at the Verizon Center was electric; even during the Stanley Cup finals it was never like this. The teams played playoff-style hockey for three periods, scoring two goals each. With a minute left overtime seemed like a surefire bet. But Nicklas Backstrom put the puck in his own net, Sidney Crosby got credit for the goal, and the Penguins scored an empty netter to seal the win. Probably the most devastating game I've attended since the lockout.

#2. Friday, Nov. 23, 2007 - Washington 4, Philadelphia 3 (OT) (Wachovia Center)
If this game had been in the playoffs, it would have landed in the top spot. When the ref dropped the puck for the first faceoff, the Capitals had a league-worst record of 6-14-1. This game, Bruce Boudreau's first as coach of the team, sparked them onto an incredible run that would end with them winning the division and finishing third in the conference, only to lose to the Flyers in Game 7 of the first round. This game was all Washington for the first 30 minutes, with the Caps taking a 3-0 lead. The Flyers rallied for two goals in the second period and then future captain Mike Richards tied it with five minutes left in the third, a potentially backbreaking goal that sent the teams to overtime. But the Caps demonstrated an ability to bounce back, a trait Boudreau taught them which led to great success the rest of that season and the next. Three minutes into overtime Ovechkin took the puck up the wing, right in front of our seats, and dished a perfect pass to Nicklas Backstrom, who scored the winner. And so a rivalry was rekindled.

#1. Monday, May 25, 1998 - Washington 3, Buffalo 2 (OT) (Verizon Center) - Game 2, Eastern Conference Finals

Simply the greatest game I have attended, without question. Washington and Buffalo squared off as two strong teams with very distinct styles: Washington had great scoring, strong veterans, and a string of overtime victories; Buffalo had solid defense, hitting, leadership, and - oh yeah - the best goaltender in the world playing at his peak. Buffalo won Game 1 in Washingotn; in Game 2 of this series the teams were still getting to know (and hate) each other. One of the most indelible memories I have is watching Peter Bondra run Dominik Hasek. Hasek responded by throwing his blocker pad at Bondra thirty feet away (and missing). An even better moment happened a few minutes later in overtime. The Caps dumped the puck deep into the Buffalo zone, on what was probably a blown icing call by the referee. Underrated forward Andrei Nikolishin dug the puck out of the corner, passed to the high slot, and Todd Krygier slammed the puck home for the gamewinner. This team was in Hasek's head, and they had that extra spark that you need in the playoffs. Washington would go on to win the series, four games to two, before getting swept in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Top 10 Games - J

My criteria for these rankings are fairly simple. Simply, the best 10 hockey games that I have attended. I am basing these on the quality and experience of the game when it happened- I am not including games that in retrospect qualify as momentous due to a milestone, retirement ceremony, or event that I was too young to remember. In short- has I attended a game like Wayne Gretzky's last one, it would have qualified, but a game that sucked or was unremarkable but happened to come after Mike Richter's banner-raising does not. Onwards.

#10. Feb 11, 2007 – Colorado @ Dallas
A 7-5 shootout seen from great seat, and in Texas. Both goaltenders pulled. That’s good enough to qualify for #10 on this list.

#9. April 3, 2007 – Rangers @ Islanders
To set the stage: as always, a half-Ranger fan crowd (but not a sellout). The Rangers need 2 points to clinch a playoff spot- and in doing so would eliminate the Islanders, who were long shots at best to make a late run to the postseason. Only a full 2 points would keep NYI alive- they had to win out and get a ton of help in their final 5 games to make it. Complete afterthought backup goalie Wade Dubielewicz is in nets. Isles take a 2-0 lead, slightly easing some nerves, but then cough it up brutally, and NYR tie it. Game goes to OT, Isles survive a penalty kill and force the shootout. Now, Henrik Lundqvist was and is the most successful- by a fair margin- shootout goalie in the league. And we have Dubie. But Dubie manages to stone Nylander, Shanahan, and, on a gorgeous save, Jagr, to give NYI the win and prolong their season- which ultimately did indeed continue into the postseason. The legend of Dubi was born.

#8. Jan 30, 2007 – Detroit @ Islanders
Detroit’s first trip to NVMC in 5 years (another memorable game which I attended). Arena nowhere near full. Fast, well-played game. Isles look terrific, going up 3-0 heading into the third. Hasek in net, looked bad. Wings come back to win 4-3 in overtime, with Lidstrom (my all-time favorite player) setting up the final 3 with gorgeous, gorgeous assists. Zetterberg with the winner.

#7. Oct 12, 2006 – Pittsburgh @ Rangers
6-5 thriller, with some suspect goaltending and Crosby stealing the show with 3 assists, and a jaw-dropping game-winning goal with 3 seconds left in regulation.

#6. Dec 9, 2005 – Detroit @ Washington
An early game in the newfound NHL arena quest, which is important in itself. My first NHL game with Eric. A good, intense game that I will always remember so vividly because it was my personal, “holy shit this #8 is outrageous” game. 4-3 win by Detroit, who were excellent, but Ovechkin was all over the ice, playing exactly the type of game which has made him what he is. I will never forget his complete pasting of Lilja in open ice.

#5. Jan 4, 2009 – Hannover @ Berlin
There’s no way my first and only European league game isn’t getting on here. While I was pretty prepared for the overall atmosphere since I follow the European sport culture more than many might, it was still a completely different, intriguing and unique hockey-watching experience. And a 5-2 good game, too.

#4. May 27, 2006 – Edmonton @ Anaheim
It was obviously just cool to be at the deciding game of the Western Conference Finals, but this game was very well-played and there was a terrific vibe/tension in the arena throughout. Roloson and Pronger were outstanding.

#3. Apr 14, 2003 – Ottawa @ Islanders
My first playoff game, as absurd as that is to contemplate. In what would become a trend, the Isles come home with the series tied 1-1 against a heavily favored, #1 seed opponent. A great game that goes to double OT, with Todd White scoring a goal (after a fluke deflection off a linseman in the neutral zone) directly in front of my seats, the image of with will be with me for a long time. An absolute crusher.

#2. Nov 3, 2005 – Pittsburgh @ Islanders
My first time seeing Crosby live (and just his 13th game), but that doesn’t put it on the list. He had 2 goals and an assist (his first multi-goal game), but that’s not it either. The lasting memory from this game was sitting with my dad, in our great seats, watching Mario Lemieux collect 3 ridiculous assists, and just shaking our heads watching 2 guys, one age 40 and one age 18, at totally disparate stages of their careers, that just oozed talent above and beyond anyone else on the ice. 5-1 Pit.

#1. Aug 31, 2004 – USA @ Canada
The 2-1 Canada final was probably a bit flattering to the USA. It wasn’t that close. I wasn't planning on having this be number one. But more than anything, this is a list of hockey games, and I'm a lover of the sport. And so beyond the phenomenal atmosphere, beyond the coolness of the effort we put in to be there, beyond being in Montreal and able to watch it with my dad, and beyond being able to partake in what is a rivalry that means a hell of a lot to me, is the simple fact that this game was played at such a high level, it was really breathtaking. The talent and the effort and the overall entertainment value of the hockey game was absolutely unparalleled in my experience.

#7

TD BankNorth Garden – Boston Bruins

Convenience/Access – Right on top of the main train station and some subway lines. Directly off of the highway. About as good as it gets.

Location/Scene – The location is fine, although a tiny notch below the gold standard of NY/WAS. There is plenty of activity around the Garden although it is in the city of Boston, which detracts points. No one ever said we were unbiased.

Outside Appearance – A huge square box with a slightly cool curved roof atop it. Its relatively unique looking, which is good.

Inner Aesthetics – If you cant tell by now, we love color-matching seats. Especially when you have distinctive colors like black and yellow, and when those colors win out over an equally historic NBA co-tenant’s, extra points. But the view of this rink from your seat is terrific. Beyond the yellow, the setup is good, the boxes are unobtrusive, the LED boards aren’t out-of-hand, and the ceiling is low.

Concourse – Compared to some other cookie-cutter rinks, the concourse here feels small, and somewhat sparse. Totally uninteresting one way or the other.

Sightlines – Good. We sat in the last row of the place in the corner, and we loved the view. The rink feels small and steep.

Concessions – This is another rink that fell very early on the trip, before we would make it a point to scour the entire rink for its food offerings. We did enjoy the decent prices and plentiful dunkin donuts stands.

Fans/Atmosphere – Again- our game was during the very lean years for the Bruins. The crowd was small and provided zero intimidation for the plentiful Isles fans there. Now it has obviously turned around 180 degrees, however we will note that even during the game we were at, we noted that with a good team, the TDBNG had the potential to be a sick scene. Boston’s a good sports city, what can we say.

History/Banners – Fan-fucking-tastic. Awesomely displayed, tasteful, and as unique as we’ve seen (the circular B logo, ful-name ones for the bruins, the very small, checkerboard ones for the Celts. There were statues of past greats around the arena. Tons of points here.

Cool Stuff – Of all the things it has going for it, this category isn’t one of them.

Bars – Or this one.

Store – A very good store with good prices. One of the first places we saw to carry non-superstar name and number shirts. Random note: many years ago during a visit here, JP bought a small box of ground up parquet floor from the old Garden. I think I lost it.

Value – No good at all on the tickets. For the state of the team at the time, we should not have spent 50 bucks on the worst seats in the house for a Bruins Isles game. The concessions and store were slightly better than we expected.

Overall – This rink tops the list of ones that we want to return to. Mostly because we have a feeling it may rank even higher when we do. This place dhas a ton of the things we all like in a rink, and hardly any of what we don’t. Even situated in this b.s. city, we all give TDBNG high marks, with the footnote that they may even be too low.

#11

Madison Square Garden - New York Rangers


Convenience/Access - Couldn't be better. Located on top of Pennsylvania
Station, North America's busiest train station, MSG is easily accessible
from just about anywhere in the tri-state area. There are over priced
parking garages in the vicinity but there is absolutely no need to drive to
attend a Rangers game, no matter where one is coming from.

Location/Scene - We're talking about the heart of New York City here.
Bars, restaurants and nearly everything else abound.

Outside Appearance - Unique for an arena in that it is round. There are
only windows on the four elevator columns. An arena amongst the urban jungle
of Midtown Manhattan looks pretty cool.

Inner Aesthetics - MSG sports a very unique interior look. The ceiling in
particular, has an interesting spoked wheel look to it, reminding you that
you're in a round building. The seats are very ugly. Prior to a 1991
renovation the Garden's seats were referred to by their color. The reds were
the two digit sections, the oranges were the 100's, the yellows were the
200's, the greens were the 300's, and the blues were the 400's. Since the
renovations the two digit sections are purple, while the rest of the
building's seats are teal. The seats are neither the colors of any team that
calls the arena home nor the most intimidating hues.

Concourse - The hallways of the Garden are small. Some are more narrow
than others. If they pass fire code it must be by the slimmest of margins.
There are very few areas to eat your food if you don't want to eat in your
cramped seats.

Sightlines - The self-proclaimed "World's Most Famous Arena" has the worst
sightlines we've seen. Many older buildings offer a steep set of seats that
often gives the feel of being on top of the play. The Garden couldn't be
more different. The slope of the seats is very gradual. By the time you get
to the 400's you are quite a ways away from the playing surface. There are
two inner walkways, which are great in that you can keep your eyes on the
game while walking to your seat, but you're also blocking the view of others
while doing so. If you're sitting in the front row of the 100's or 300's
you'll have fans and vendors walking in front of you all night. Also the
angles of the seats in relation to the rink are awful. 95% of the building
can't see a thing in the corner nearest to them. The seats are also small
and offer little leg room.

Bathrooms - MSG's bathrooms are small and many are weirdly arranged. When
approaching some Garden lavatories one notices there are two ways into the
space, neither of which are labeled. Many assume that one side is for
entering and the other for exiting. But if you enter the side that appears
to be the exit way you'll find stalls and urinals that are on a different
side from the rest of the bathroom that none of the people going through the
"enter" side are spilling into. Many people are miffed to see people
seemingly cut the line to enter what looks like the exit. These people are
merely going to the lightly used side of the bathroom. It is a very poor set
up. Also, the bathrooms begin the game clean and well prepared but fall into
disarray quickly.

Concessions - The Garden's food is great if you like soggy knishes or half
cooked pretzels. The food options at MSG are scarce and not so healthy. All
of the common fare is offered: pizza, hot dogs, burgers, chicken fingers,
pretzels, peanuts, etc. You'd think maybe a New York arena would sell good
pizza given that the area flaunts its ability to produce superior pizza.
Nope. They sell La Famiglia, a terrible chain pizza.

Fans/Atmosphere - This is hit or miss. Some nights you'd swear the Garden
is the most rocking building in the league and others it's a library. The
game presentation has suffered over the past few years. Probably the best
example of this is a "fan" known as Dancing Grandma. Dancing Grandma is an
elderly woman who dances to a particular song that is often played during
the third period. She is put up on Gardenvision (fancy name for the
scoreboard video monitors) during this. She is so obviously a planted fake
fan it is sickening. The atmosphere has also suffered over the last decade
or so as a result of so many seats being owned by corporations. Many of the
premium seats visible on TV are often unoccupied. Too many people using
those seats show up late and leave early. Many games are listed as sellouts
because all 18,200 seats are sold. That doesn't mean they're all in use.

History/Banners - The Rangers don't have the most decorated history if you
only measure history in winning. They only have four Stanley Cups to show
for their 81 years in the NHL. That said, walking through MSG doesn't inform
one in the least about the eight decades of New York Rangers hockey. This
is a shame. The retired number banners are tasteful, besides the arch on
some of the players' names not being true to the arch as it is on Ranger
jerseys.

Cool Stuff - There isn't any.

Bars - There are a few bars but they don't match up with the bars in many
of the newer buildings. They're hardly the only ones to do it but MSG
servers measure out their liquor, ensuring you get an exact, miniscule shot
for your $9. The beer selection isn't great but a few choices are offered.

Store - Possibly the worst in the league. The stores are small and very
cramped and don't offer much. The player t-shirt selection is awful.
Cosby's, a private store located outside the main entrance to the building
is well stocked, but very expensive.

Value - When the Blueshirts failed to qualify for the playoffs for the
sixth year in a row in 2002-03, MSG chairman Jim Dolan promised a 10% drop
in ticket prices if they didn't end that streak the next year. They didn't
so prices were dropped coming out of the lockout in 2005-06. The team has
made the playoffs every year since though and things have been looking up.
The prices have gone up considerably since.

Overall - JP and CC have been to many, many games here so we have a
soft spot for it. I (cc) especially do being that I'm a Ranger fan. MSG
definitely has charm and plenty of character. It manages to feel cozy
despite the slope of the seats. In a tough-to-describe way, it definitely
feels different in every way from any other building we've been to in the
NHL. That said, it needs to and probably will be updated or replaced in the
near future.

#9

Scottrade Center - St. Louis Blues

#10

Bank Atlantic Center – Florida Panthers


Convenience/Access – Get in your car and drive to Sunrise for the treat of watching the Cats. Apparently only the Heat are worthy of Miami proper.


Location/Scene – There is clearly no room on South Beach, but somewhere a bit more connected to the nightlife and social scene down here would undoubtedly help. There is no scene that we saw in Sunrise, besides at the tiki/margarita bar that we ate at a few hundred yards from the parking lot. There are probably some good reasons to have the rink out here, more central to other areas than all the way south, but these are our rankings and we like rinks in cities.

Outside Appearance – Chock up another newish, glass and white concrete structure to the NHL landscape. Nice, but nothing otherworldly. Some funky Miami art deco architecture would have been cool.


Inner Aesthetics – More blandness. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t memorable or good. The seats are green, which is nothing if not different. The scoreboard and outer LED boards are on the hard to read side.

Concourse - Best feature of the arena, by far. One of the higher scores in any given category of any rink, actually. The inside of this place is clean, interesting, unique, and screams Miami. Among the highlights: CARPETING, curtains, salsa dancers, lots of neon. Our game was actually the highest-attended game in Panthers history, and the concourses were not suffocating.

Sightlines – Good. Our club level seats were excellent and while there are steeper setups, this place certainly affords pretty good views. To our discredit, we did not check out the upper level sets in any detail.

Concessions – Like all good newer rinks, you can get anything you want here. We don’t recall anything amazing us or jumping out as especially interesting, but the lines weren’t long and there were plenty of stands.

Fans/Atmosphere – We got a sweet game- Montreal and all of their snowbird fans in town on the day before New Years’ Eve. Made for a crowd vibe but we really cant give any credit here, because we all know that the usual scene is way worse, and even with the charged crowd, the overall atmosphere was bland anyway. The continued “tradition” of the “Panthers….Goal” fan response is cool.

History/Banners – The few actual accomplishment-related banners were fine. There were the obligatory, cheap and unnecessary banners of all 30 nhl teams, but there wasn’t any #1 fan or such nonsense. A push, we say.

Cool Stuff – For a team with very little history, the panthers acknowledge and display their tradition well. Lots of homages to the 96 team, rat displays, etc. The large banners proclaiming the various skill-sets of current panthers (our favorite: Mike Van Ryn – KNOWLEDGE, is above) were a riot.

Bars – At least 2 big, non-generic bars on the main level- one of which was a cool vodka/ice bar type thing. We partook.


Store – Great selection, albeit light on jerseys and player shirts that we noticed. High prices.

Value – Very good, at least for the club seats. This team needs cheap tickets.

Overall – A really clean and attractive arena with a very bland seating bowl and no atmosphere in or around the rink to speak of. Another rink whose ranking is influenced heavily by one “outlier” ranking (EP’s).

USA disappoints in WJC...again.

It’s the holidays, so here’s my analysis of USA Hockey’s latest flop at the World Junior Championship.

First off, let me state that I realize it's weird that my allegiance to my pro team (the New York Rangers) is equal to my allegiance to my country’s teams in the sport I love. This is common in other countries but not so much here.

So, much to my chagrin, the US finished fifth this year. Just about their customary spot. Since winning their first WJC gold medal in 2004, the US has snagged one lonely bronze. It is completely unacceptable to have nothing to show for the last five tournaments except one bronze medal. It’s beyond a shame.

Now, I can’t get in the heads of the kids who’ve suited up for us in recent years, nor can I get in the heads of the coaches, but it just seems to me that no one cares about this tournament. This blows my mind. When they see the excitement it generates in Canada, how can they not have a burning desire to win the thing? How can they not want to rain on Canada’s parade? Many of these kids are junior or college teammates or have been with some of the Canadian players. How can they not have a strong desire to beat them? Have they no pride? Russia loses their semifinal to Canada and Nikita Filatov looks like he wants to jump off a bridge. The Canadians would have been in tears if they had lost on home ice. I don’t recall any Americans taking any of these bad showings over the last five years to heart.

If we were choosing teams from a shallow talent pool, or if we were simply without the talent to compete, I might be able to understand the apathy shown toward this event. Even though we don’t have Canada's depth of talent, our top players equal theirs.

I’m not suggesting President-elect Obama call together a summit on the state of American hockey like Canadians might ask of their leaders after results like these, but USA Hockey needs a complete overhaul. The leadership is rotten and crooked. But, the same old problem persists: no one notices. No one cares.

There are rinks in Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, and other warm weather states. This is viewed as great progress for our game in this country, and it is. I just think the game would be better off if those same rinks could display posters of players like James vanRiemsdyk and Colin Wilson wearing gold medals around their necks. A kid in Atlanta who learns of us winning a tournament might think it is worthwhile to play hockey over another sport.

We have made some progress. We’ve done well in the World Under 18 Championships. There are far fewer foreigners on American college rosters than ever before. I don’t say that because I don’t want Canadians or Europeans coming to our schools. I just think it’s awesome that there are enough Americans to fill most of our rosters. Ten or twenty years ago, the Canadian major junior castoff or academic-minded player who was starting to think about playing in the NCAA didn’t have to worry about a player from Texas or California taking his spot. Now he does and I think that’s great. But somehow we fail so spectacularly in the most prestigious tournament for young players.

Some things to consider:

World Junior Championship medals since 2005

Canada – 5 (5 gold)
Russia - 5 (3 silver, 2 bronze)
Sweden – 2 (2 silver)
Czech Republic – 1 (1 bronze)
Finland – 1 (1 bronze)
United States – 1 (1 bronze)

First round NHL draft picks who’ve played in WJC since 2005

Canada – 47
Unites States – 30
Czech Republic – 9
Russia – 7
Sweden – 7
Slovakia – 4
Denmark – 2
Belarus – 1
Switzerland - 1

A little intense, but here’s the entire list of those players. I had to put it together to arrive at those numbers, so why not look at it?

Canada - 47

2003
Braydon Coburn, 8th
Dion Phaneuf, 9th
Jeff Carter, 11th
Brent Seabrook, 14th
Ryan Getzlaf, 19th
Mike Richards, 24th
Anthony Stewart, 25th
Corey Perry, 28th
Shawn Belle, 30th

2004
Cam Barker, 3rd
Andrew Ladd, 4th
Devan Dubnyk, 14th
Kyle Chipchura, 18th

2005
Sidney Crosby, 1st
Benoit Pouliot, 4th
Carey Price, 5th
Luc Bourdon, 10th
Marc Staal, 12th
Sasha Pokulok, 14th
Ryan O’Marra, 15th
Ryan Parent, 18th
Kenndal McArdle, 20th
Andrew Cogliano, 25th
Steve Downie, 29th

2006
Jonathan Toews, 3rd
Jonathan Bernier, 11th
Bryan Little, 12th
Claude Giroux, 22nd
Leland Irving, 26th

2007
Kyle Turris, 3rd
Thomas Hickey, 4th
Karl Alzner, 5th
Sam Gagner, 6th
Brandon Sutter, 11th
Colton Gillies, 16th
Angelo Esposito, 20th

2008
Steven Stamkos, 1st
Drew Doughty, 2nd
Alex Pietrangelo, 4th
Luke Schenn, 5th
Cody Hodgson, 10th
Tyler Myers, 12th
Colton Teubert, 13th
Zach Boychuk, 14th
Chet Pickard, 18th
Jordan Eberle, 22nd
Tyler Ennis, 26th

United States - 30

2003
Ryan Suter, 7th

2004
Blake Wheeler, 5th
Al Montoya, 6th
Drew Stafford, 13th
Rob Schremp, 25th
Cory Schneider, 26th

2005
Bobby Ryan, 2nd
Jack Johnson, 3rd
Jack Skille, 7th
Brian Lee, 9th
T.J. Oshie, 24th
Matt Niskanen, 28th

2006
Erik Johnson, 1st
Phil Kessel, 5th
Kyle Okposo, 7th
Peter Mueller, 8th
Trevor Lewis, 17th
Mark Mitera, 19th
Bobby Sanguinetti, 21st
Chris Summers, 29th

2007
Patrick Kane, 1st
James vanRiemsdyk, 2nd
Ryan McDonagh, 12th
Kevin Shattenkirk, 14th
Ian Cole, 18th
Max Pacioretty, 22nd
Jonathan Blum, 23rd
Jim O'Brien, 29th

2008
Colin Wilson, 7th
Thomas McCollum, 30th

Czech Republic - 9

2004
Rostislav Olesz, 7th
Ladislav Smid, 9th
Marek Schwarz, 17th
Lukas Kaspar, 22nd

2005
Martin Hanzel, 17th
Jakub Kindl, 19th

2006
Michael Frolik, 10th
Jiri Tlusty, 13th

2007
Jakub Voracek, 7th

Russia - 7

2004
Alexander Ovechkin, 1st
Evgeni Malkin, 2nd
Alexander Radulov, 15th

2006
Semen Varlamov, 23rd

2007
Alexei Cherepanov, 17th

2008
Nikita Filatov, 6th
Viktor Tikhonov, 28th

Sweden - 7

2003
Robert Nilsson, 15th

2005
Nicklas Bergfors, 23rd

2006
Nicklas Backstrom, 4th
Patrik Berglund, 25th

2007
Mikael Backlund, 24th

2008
Erik Karlsson, 15th
Mattias Tedenby, 24th

Finland - 5

2004
Lauri Tukonen, 11th
Petteri Nokelainen, 16th
Lauri Korpikoski, 19th

2005
Tuukka Rask, 21st

2006
Riku Helenius, 15th

Slovakia - 4

2004
Boris Valabik, 10th
Andrej Meszaros, 23rd

2005
Marek Zagrapan, 13th
Vladimir Mihalik, 30th

Denmark - 2

2007
Lars Eller, 13th

2008
Mikkel Boedker, 8th


Belarus - 1

2003
Andrei Kostitsyn, 10th

Switzerland - 1

2008
Luca Sbisa, 19th

Of course, having players of great repute doesn’t guarantee success on the ice. And of course, Russia would surely have had more players chosen higher in the draft had the relations between the NHL and Russia not grown so frosty. Still, to have had three more first round picks play for us in the last five years than the Czechs, Russians, Swedes, and Slovaks combined and yet to have only one medal to show for it…I sound like a broken record.

Anyway, in thirty-three years of competing in the WJC, the US has won five medals. Five medals in thirty-three years.

Ron DeGregorio, Walter Bush, Jim Johannson, David Ogrean, Scott Sandelin, Walt Kyle, Ron Rolston, John Hynes, and whoever else who has or has had any power whatsoever at USA Hockey, I ask you...What the fuck?