I got free tickets from a buddy of mine who does the hockey ads for Versus. Any other forum members going?

I have a credential for it, not sure yet if I'll go...

Just found out that the amenities at my place of stay will be:

Free High-Speed Internet Access Recliner Iron and Ironing Board Coffee Maker In Room Video Cassette Recorder

So if anyone wants to come watch some 1980's porn on some state of the art technology....

I'll be there. Staying just south of SUNY the night before the game, but leaving to come home just after.

I don't have a ticket yet. We're (gf and I) going with my buddy and his wife. The wife said she might sell me her ticket, but not sure yet. Either way, I'm gonna tail gate and be there.

You should. I went to the Heritage classic. It was colder than Hell the day after the Eagles reunited, but it was something you'll tell your kids about.

Yeah, i was there.... and I agree that, even with -40 weather, it was something special. Unfortunately, this one kind of has an 'It's been done' feel to it...

I wanted to go because I thought it would be awesome to go to the London Premiere and then this game but I have no money!

Oh well enjoy guys.

The Montreal-Oilers game with the Old timers game before hand wil be hard to beat. The concept is still fun and I would love to go but it does feel like they are trying to reproduce something great. I wonder if this will stick and be a regular occurance in the future. With the long schedule we have its nice to change it up.

I have an idea for an outdoor game in LA...

Instead of everyone freezing, build a rink on Venice Beach...Have the players play in shorts and have bikini clad "laker girls" entertain the crowd..

During the game , have beach volleyball tournament surrounding the event.

Have surfing competitions, rollerblade games and other events to promote the game...


thougths??

Actually, there is very quiet whispers now about the leafs playing a game next season in a college football stadium ( I believe it was Michigan), with. presumably, the Red Wings... the idea being put the college hockey game before it, then the NHL'ers, and try to break the all time attendance record....

The Big House. This is from Wiki

"Michigan Stadium has an official capacity of 107,501, though football game attendance often exceeds 111,000 when bands, stadium staff, and others are added."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Stadium

Now that I'd try to go to. Michigan-Michigan State before and Red Wings and Maple Leafs after. It would be amazing.

That would be amazing and the house would likely be packed. Plus If you think about how much smaller a hockey rink is then a football stadium you should be able to seat a lot of people at rink level to break the record easily. I wonder if the Michigan Football department would have a problem with their seating record being held by a hockey game or games.

bump

Anyone from Buffalo or surrounding area care to enlighten me as to what's somewhat nearby and how proximate it is that will unload fun onto my soul? I'm staying at the lovely Clarion Hotel, Buffalo Airport. Sounds classy.

if you want to play poker, you should definetely check out the Seneca casino, or just cross the border into the Canadian side and lots of poker at the two Niagara casinos...

I'm at an Extended Stay just south of SUNY off 290 for the 31st, but closer to the falls on the 30th.

If you're staying at an airport hotel, you are a loooooooooong way from any fun......

yeah..if you are at the airport hotel, you've got a little ways to go for anything entertaining. I'll be at my gf's apartment at UB north (just off the 290) for that weekend.. I can tell you there isnt much, but if you can find a decent bar, it'll be open until 4 am.. def some areas you need to stay away from.. if you're interested in those areas let me know. For entertainment in Buffalo you are gonna want chippewa and pearl streets, thats about it. The ralph is a good 10-15 minutes away from the airport, with pretty much nothing near the stadium.. a few chain restaurants, walmart.. maybe a bar or two. For poker, there is the senca casino north, along with the 2 canadian casinos.. or down the 90 there is seneca gaming and entertainment.. its a dump, with usually just a 1/2 100 max buyin game going.. but its full of bad college kids (its 18 or over) and even worse drunk old men.

if you need any other info let me know

But it says one of the room features is a video cassette recorder

So Kate Beckinsale you say.....

For anyone from (or is in the know) Buffalo...

I'm staying at 138 Millersport Hwy, Buffalo, NY 14226 Within a few miles of the hotel, there are a few bars/restaurants. Any comments on them for possible decent places for New Year's Eve?

Alternative Brews Inc
Westfield's
Bennigan's Grill & Tavern
Bogart's Bar & Grill
O Restaurant & Lounge
Brunner's Tavern
Ying's Pizza Subs & Buffalo Wings
Buffalo Tap Room & Grill


Also, in case I don't get a ticket for the game, a bar/place to watch the game close to the stadium?


Thanks for any help.

Not sure how far you are from here , but you need to go..

http://www.anchorbar.com/

The home of the original Buffalo Wing...Great place

Indeed Serge, I'll probably visit that establishment. My buddy who's going to the game with me is from Buffalo so I will rely on him to pick out establishments for me to eat/drink at.

I am interested to see how Vegas sees this game...Will the over/under be higher or lower than normal...What if it snows???I am looking outside my office window now and the snow is coming down very heavy in Toronto...I believe I heard they will postpone the game due to rain(which is unlikely in January, however it did rain this weekend) but what about snow..??

Good call. I went there about 10-12 years ago when I was up there, but haven't been since.

weather.com says temp in the 30's with snow/rain, not sure how much though and what constitutes a postponement.

I'm at UB north right now (right up millersport highway) and can say those places are not bad for new years eve.. another suggestion is average joe's bar.. go north on millersport.. turn left onto maple road.. then turn right onto sweet home road (its right after friendly's and fuddruckers..a place i recommend for food) it'll be on your left a few miles up the road.. great little bar with reasonably priced food and a big screen tv in view of every table and chair in the place.

As far as near the stadium, there really isnt much.. there are 3 or 4 bars in the area of the stadium, but they will def. be packed, and arent that great anyway. If you don't get tickets you are really better off staying in Buffalo.

And in terms of the Anchor Bar, great place to say you ate the original wings.. but if you want quality, you're much better off eating at Pearl Street Bar and Grill.

Trip report?

Watched it on TV and it sounded like the crowd was really into it.

Coming from me today or tomorrow...

excellent. It must have been a good time.

Growing up in Detroit I used to go to all the Red Wing games (Dad was a Chrysler big wig purchasing guy. got free tickets to everything)

They used to play at the historic (and sadly since torn down) Olympia back pre Joe Louis arena days. What a mad house this place was during games. They had seats rigged up all over the place. booths litterally hanging out over the ice, strapped to the rafter girders like little ice house shantys. Just a code violation inspectors wet dream.

But the place was hallowed ground...just magical.

It had the league hardest ice, best ice system in any arena. Shit was like granite. They used to hold open skate days for the lucky loos and I got to skate on that ice a few times. It was un real...like getting to shoot hoops in the Forum or go putt a few at Augusta. I slipped and blasted my noggin skating there one time. Almost passed out. Met Gordie Howe, when a skate lace broke his "guy" gave me a new one. I was a speachless blog of goo.


Anyway, I was sick all day and watched this Outdoor hockey game. For what ever reason I have faded away from being a hockey fan over the years....no explanation as to why, sometimes it just happens.


But man was watching this awesome stuff. It just had a different vibe about it, and watching the snow come down while playing really brought back memories of playing on frozen ponds in the dead of winter in michigan. I could almost taste the cold.



Great great fun to watch. Bravo to who ever thought of doing this.

The game was great to watch on TV as a Hockey fan, it was a great game but @ times the ice just looked miserable for the players
When the snow built up you could see everything moving slower but it looked like a lot of fun

I'm cross posting this in the hockey forum and FCPHA thread (that really really long one in OT), so it'll be long with not many paragraph breaks and details only the hockey forum will care about and other details only the FCPHA will care about. Some of you might care about both, but I doubt it, ha.

My buddy Eric, his wife Ang, my special lady friend Rachel, and I left at 10am Sunday morning from Pittsburgh airport area to head north. I was still drunk from the night before, so Rachel drove to the whole way with a few food/gas stops. I borrowed my step-dad's Garmin GPS for the trip, which definitely came in handy many times, especially in the later days of driving here and there and there and here. We checked into our 2 rooms at Hampton Inn a few blocks from the Seneca Niagara Casino. Nice new hotel for only $84, with a pool, spa, breakfast, and nice and close to the casino. We walked to the new Crown Plaza hotel to go to a sports bar for the Steelers/Ravens game. Ate some 25 cent wings (below avg), had some beers, and watched the per-season roster Steelers play with the other 25ish Steeler fans there. After the game, the four of us went to the casino and walked around to check it out. The poker room was smaller than I expected and packed. There was a tournament winding down and a long waiting list for everything. I didn't plan to play, but I watched some weak action for 5 minutes and took off. We headed back to the hotel to hang out and headed to bed.


Monday, we woke up and hit up the breakfast. Checked out and headed to the area of our next hotel. Drove around looking for a place to eat and came across this place called "Ying's Wings and Things" ( http://www.yingswingsthings.com/ ). Crazy bar with Chinese, Mexican, subs, pizza, desserts, fried foods, etc, etc. Biggest menu I've ever seen, you name it, they had it. Crazy specials too, 50% off food if you drink at the bar. $2 shots, $2 drafts, $2 bottles, etc, etc. The 4 of us ate and drank a lot for $32, just insane. After leaving there, we headed to the beer store to stock up for the next day. We went to some beer store, picked out what we wanted, then found out they don't take out of state IDs. WTF? We had to head to a Wegman's (grocery store) to get some beers, then to the hotel to check in. Eric's boss, Dave, and his wife, Diana, had just checked in and were waiting for us there. Diana works for Hilton, so she hooked us up with a cheap room at Homewood Sweets. The 4 of us shared a nice suite, with a view of....a highway interchange.

I realized I left the only nice shirt I brought at the last hotel, which was luckily next to where we were going, so we stopped back to get it. Funny side note, when I realized I forgot it, I called and asked if it was turned in. The woman at the desk said the room wasn't cleaned yet and to call back tomorrow after 5 to see if it was turned it. I explained that I was only in town until tomorrow, plus I needed it to wear that night. She said she would have someone go check and she would call me back. She calls me back and says they found a shirt, but quizzed me on what color and make it was. I thought that was weird enough. Then, when I go to pick it up, she makes me show ID to get it. Silly WNYers!

The 6 of us then headed back to Seneca at 5:15 for our dinner reservations at la Cascata, a nice Italian place in the casino. Good eats, reasonably priced, I would recommend it to others. After dinner, we hit up the casino bar, got some cigars, walked around, drank, BSed, talked to other Pens fans, watched the cheesy but good casino bands, and had ourselves a real good time. Soon after midnight, we headed back to the hotel, since we were getting up pretty early.

Tuesday, we tried to get up at 9, but got out of bed closer to 10. We all showered, packed up, and headed out at almost 11. Stopped for some cash and snacks, then to the stadium. About 1/2 mile from the stadium (on Abbott Rd, north of the stadium, for those of you familiar), I was sick of sitting in traffic, so I headed down a side street to park. Someone had $15 signs to park in a yard. Well, I pull in and realized it's a little soft and wet, but park anyway. We get our Pens gear on (I had jeans, my buddy's Crosby jersey with a black North Face vest over, a khakis Pens ball cap with a 70s Steelers hat over it, and the Terrible Towel of course!), I mix my 2L SoCo and coke (65soco/35coke, btw), grab some beers to walk with and head to the stadium. Rachel and I didn't have tickets for the game, so I started scouting for scalpers. A few were saying they had club for $250, so I just kept walking. We came across one scalper with 3 of his buddies who said he had great seats for $175, so I stopped to talk to him. They were in the corner of an end zone, 10 rows up. He shows me on the chart and says "Look how close they are, these are great seats!" I tried to explain to him that they were terrible because they were too low and weren't worth $175, so he offered me $150 each. I said no and he said "What do you know? Have you ever been to a hockey game before?" I laughed in his face and said "About a million more than you've all been to combined!" A couple blocks closer to the stadium, a scalper had 2 seats for $100/each in row 7 of section 131. I knew they'd be too low to see the rink, but I just wanted in at this point. We bought them and headed to the stadium to check out things around in the parking lots. We stood around and I started many "LET'S GO PENS!" chants when other Pens fans came by.

We headed into the game, got a snack and a beer and went to our seats. We were in line with the goal line, on the corner that the Pens came on/off the rink. As I expected, the seats were low and we couldn't see the ice. The video screen was to our left, the same way the rink was, so we didn't have to turn much to look from one to the other at least. O Canada and God Bless America was insane and sent chills up my spine. Some Sabres fans heckled me a little, but most in good fun. A fat, drunk Sabres fan (wearing a Bills hat, might I add) a few rows up yelled at me before the game started...
Drunk Sabres Fan: Put that Steelers stuff down, this is a hockey game!
Me: And you're wearing a Bills hat!?!
DSF: Sidney Crosby is a pussy!
Me: You do know what Bills stands for, right?
DSF: ......
Me: Boy I Love Losing Super Bowls!
(everyone around is laughing at him)
DSF: Go back to Shits-burgh...
Me: Good come back, I'll go back and look at our Stanley Cups and Super Bowl trophies after the game is over.

Good times. The Pens score 21 (right?) seconds into the game, before a lot of people had gotten to their seats. We cheered and chanted with the Pens fans scattered here and there. 2 Sabres fans behind me knew the team pretty well, so at breaks we talked about this and that on each team. I was lucky to sit by people that actually knew what they were talking about and were there to see a good game.

Rachel and I ran at ice cuts/period breaks to get many beers and restroom stops. I was happy about all the breaks, because I missed very little of the action. Not much to report from the rest of the game, except the always smart fans that yell things like "Crosby sucks!" and creative stuff like that. After Crosby scored to win it, the Pens fans jumped around and yelled and high fived each other for a while. I shook the the hands of the 2 fans behind me as they were leaving. Rachel and I headed over seats to go to the front row. Just as we were getting there, the players were started to come off the ice. We were 25ish yards from them, yelling their names as they came off. The music was on by then, so I didn't think any of them would hear me. When Colby Armstrong came off, I was yelling "Colby!" and waving my towel. He turned and looked, walked some more, then turned again when I yelled. He looked right at me and stopped by a security guard. He pointed toward me and I could see him ask "Can I go over there?" The security guard looked at us, then looked back, said "No." and shook his head. Colby said something else to him as he was pointing to me and the security guard looked at me again and back at Colby. Colby handed him his stick and the security guard jogged it over and handed it to me. I was yelling "Colby, I love you man!" when he gave it to me. I gave him the fist/chest pound and pointed to him. He did it back laughing as he walked away. It was sweet. Rachel was freaking out jumping up and down and yelling she loved him. I would have let him go at her...ha. We waited for Sid to come off, but he was swarmed by people and walked right to the locker room.

We left the stadium and met up with Eric/Ang outside. We walked and chanted "Let's go Pens!" some more on the way to our car. We get to where we parked and it was worse than I thought. There was a full sized Ford and a Chevy TrailBlazer both buried in the mud 8-10". It was baaaaad. I had a straight shot from my spot, about 40-45 feet of ruts and mud and water until the driveway. The problem was, on the other side of the driveway was the house, so if I overshot it, I would hit it. I rocked it back and forth about 5-6' to pack in a good take off spot, put the windows down, then went at it. I don't know how I didn't get stuck, but I sure made a mess on the Jeep and got through it (while giving it a Dukes of Hazzard redneck YeeeeeeHaaaaaaaw, might I add). We changed out of our warm clothes on the road and helped some drunk guy from Toronto get his car off the snow pile his girlfriend got it stuck on. I then yelled to the Ford truck guy "It's a Jeep thing!" and he responded with a "F YOU!" haha

Rachel realized she forgot her purse at the hotel (WHO forgets things at hotels? The dumbass!) so we had to head back 20 mins north to pick it up. For a shirt...they ask for ID, for a purse...nothing, ha. We hit the road and head west on 90 towards Erie, PA. The roads were baaaaaad. At some points, max speed was 30-35. For most of it, I was moving along pretty good compared to the other drivers, especially the ones in cars. We stopped at the Angola rest stop (the one on 90 that you take the walk bridge over the interstate) and it was like being at Mellon Arena. All Penguins fans going back to the 'Burgh. I saw 2 people there that I knew from back home, that told me they saw me on the jumbotron during the game....niiiiiiice! We ate, and headed out, stopping one more time in PA to stretch. It took us about 6.5 hours to get home. I got to bed at about 1am and that was it.

Great time, great atmosphere. So glad I decided to go.

Wait. You got Colby's stick?

That's ****ing sick.

I sure did!

It's a....

awesome trip report..sounds like you had a great time...I have been to several Bills games at Ralph Wilson..I can only imagine how the atmosphere must have been..

very cool

Mike Wilbon of PTI was saying the NHL should make this a weekly event. I like that idea, but obviously it will not happen (at least not soon).

I'd say they could probably do it a few times a year fairly easily (yes this type of event is huge and very tough to plan but cmon they can handle it). Possibly they could even make this an all-star weekend event when it's in an appropriate city.

If they don't do this again next year then a certain someone is more retarded than we ever thought.

See I think the biggest problem is when does it become over done? If you do it once a year when does it become just another outdoor game? I think it should be done every other year. That way you get only 5 in a 10 year span. Besides what I think would be a cool idea which is an All-Star game outdoors.

i love PTI, Wilbon and Kornheiser do a great job. I am glad they featured this story because that is my only knock on that show.

My problem is they bash hockey when a hockey segment comes up which is rarely, and not because they dont like the sport but because of the lack of coverage and interest. Thing is that its show like theirs that are part of the problem, only time they feature a hockey story its usually because of a suspension or an investigation like the Tocchett thing. Start putting on clips of Ovechkin at his best, talking about how Detroit is still so sick after 10 years despite having a pensioner on the blueline, other interesting stories and gradually the interest will come back.

Still, good sports show lol

Wow sick report and getting Colby's stick must have been freaking sweet.

I was wondering if anyone knew much about the financial's behind the this game. Couple questions:

1. Was this a Sabres home game? I figured it would be but Pittsburgh had the dark jersey's on but I thought they may be because their blue retros look so good.

2. Did this game make more, less or about the same as a standard Sabres game? There were obviously way more tickets sold for this game which means huge ticket revenue but the game also probably cost a ton to put on since it required the whole rink being set-up, plus the owner of the Stadium (Bills? City? private) probably took a huge cut and was just wondering what the net was and if the NHL took some responsibility for costs etc.

And I really think an NHL allstar weekend outside would be an awesome event but it would clearly be only possible in about 12 or so NHL cities. Montreal has the allstar game in 2009 which would be an amazing place for an allstar weekend and The Jets/Giants are building a new stadium which I'm sure would make a nice venue for such an event in a few years.

Nice report Tim, wish I'd gone but I hate dealing with scalpers and wasn't doing the $400 apiece Craigslist thing. I had just as much fun hanging out with my friends and watching it on TV, with no mud or frostbite to show for it.

My friends and I are like Criss Angel with fresh new bottles of Jameson, they just disappear and no one knows where they went. Went through 3 and a half litres between 5 guys the morning of my wedding...and my wife knew nothing about it until she saw the pictures a couple weeks later.

Casey - "Why isn't there a single picture of you guys getting ready without alcohol in it?"
Adam - "Because you married me and invited my friends?"

I'd love to see the outdoor games become a yearly event, but not a weekly thing or even a monthly thing. It could easily get played out and it's great to have a big event of a game here and there.

Quick trip report of what I can remember...

Had a crazy white knuckler of a flight from Newark, NJ to Buffalo so much so that the stewardess was not allowed to bring the drink cart through the aisle...people throwing up, etc. Good times. Luckily I always take dramamine before flying mainly because I don't like it and I like being out of it anyway in general. After we landed, my gf and I rented a car and drove to the Clarion which was about 5 minutes away from the airport and yes...they indeed had a VCR in the room. Outstanding. Free breakfast though which is always nice including a waffle bar. Our friends we know from Buffalo know some folks at the hotel so we got $50/night rooms including New Years which is nice. We met up with our friends at the Brew Pub which is about another 5 minutes down Transit Road from there and I had a burger and beers. Slept and me and the gf woke up the next day and ran on the treadmill (I know the food in Buffalo and I know I needed to get a headstart, she agreed).

About 4pm on New Years Eve we pick up my buddy and his wife and head to the Anchor Bar to get some wings and such which were quite good. We drive around downtown Buffalo a bit...it's New Years Eve and the city is dead...very odd city. It reminded me a lot of Newark actually, a few bars here and there and a few nice spots but mostly dark streets and abandoned buildings. We drove back to their place and drank and watched the Twilight Zone marathon and poor Dick Clark.

The next day was gameday and I threw on my layers of clothes made a quick stop at Tim Hortons and met up with my buddy at his place and we drove to the stadium. We arrive and get our seats like an hour before game time, cold didn't seem as bad as I anticipated. Great seats, 32 rows up from the ice which was right about prime considering the stuff in the way of many of the lower level seats like 5 rows further down and on. Already very crowded. I go to take a piss and there is a guy pissing in the communal sink (before the game). Great. I won't go into all the game stuff that much since most of you already saw it on tv. As far as the live experience, it was cold and crowded but still really fun due to the intensity of the crowd. They were really into it even during all the downtime. I can't really think of anything to say about the game that people watching at home couldn't glean themselves so I'll just mention again that it was silly crowded. Luckily when we were leaving we managed to drive behind a cop who was clearing a path for the Pens bus so we got out of there a lot quicker than anticipated.

After immediately showering after arriving at the hotel me and the gf went to Seneca Niagara Casino to eat dinner and play cards. She sat 1/2NL and I sat 2/5NL. Since it was reasonably late already when I sat and I was tired from the long day I planned to only play a few hours so I finished an uneventful session up $100 and she finished at about even. Nice casino different from the A/C casinos I'm used to because they card immediately upon entry, in A/C they won't card until you start to profit.

The following day we had a lot of time to kill before our 6pm flight out of Buffalo so we went to see I am Legend which predictably wasn't good and hung out at Dave and Buster's for awhile and played games until we had to return the car and catch the flight. Making it to Level 10 of Donkey Kong was rewarding. Flight home was delayed 3 hours, even though the plane was at the gate already...thanks Newark. At least the flight was fine and I was able to catch the 3rd period of the Ducks/Jackets last night. Good times.

good report...I actually like the city of Buffalo...A lot of people(especially here in Toronto) make fun of it and call it the arm pit of America...The people are generally very friendly and have been nice to me everytime I have been there.

We're very tolerant of Leafs fans, we know it's just in your blood from birth and you don't know any better.

Steelers fans...on the other hand...

And don't even get me started on Dolphins fans.