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cnot19

Favorite arena

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What's everyone's favorite arena to go to? Can be the joe or anywhere else. Consider game day experience, crowd, food, beer , area, surrounding it, and fans. Mine would have to be the verizon center I went last year for caps wings and it was a whole lot of fun. Great area very nice arena and some exciting hockey even though the wings lost

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Never been to any of them.

From looking at it on TV, I would say the Bell Centre would be the coolest to go to. The atmosphere and stadium look impressive.

I'd love to catch a game in Edmonton too, because it's the same stadium those great Oilers teams played on and appears to be a great atmosphere.

Would love to go to a Panthers game also, because it looks like I could sit anywhere I want to.

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I've only been to a handful but JLA and the Bell Centre are both great.

Maple Leaf Gardens was such a cool arena too with it's one long-sloped side and generally weird layout.

I wish I could have made it to Boston Gardens as well.

Edited by rick zombo

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I know I am probably a little biased but I love the Joe. The low ceilings, its not flashy but loud. The fans are the most critical of there own team but the most knowledgeable. As well as decent price. I know opinions can change from location of the tickets to the year of the team. This was my take.

Other rinks I have attended:

Maple Leaf Gardens (Toronto)- I was 10 years old I don't remember much. But the wings won and Yzerman was involved in a line fight.

ACC (Toronto)- Food was good but way over priced, the fans.... It was a sell-out and the place was packed, but I don't know where the fans were. only time I saw excitement was when Kessel touched the puck. One thing I noticed about games in Toronto as soon as they have the puck in the offensive zone the crowd yells "SHOOT!"

Corel /Canadian Tire Centre (Ottawa) - 70% were disappointed wing fans. We got destroyed that night. nice clean area.

Civic center (Pittsburgh) - The old Igloo before Crosby and after Lemieux. Half empty dumbest fans I have ever met. Most had no clue what was going on. It was just sad.

American Airlines Center (Dallas) - Multiple games during a 3 month work stint. Good crowd, surprisingly knew the game well. Food and tickets were good and cheap. 11 dollars for any upper bowl seat. Tons of promos and fan interaction. probably my 2nd favorite besides the Joe.

HSBC/ First Niagara Center (Buffalo) - much like Dallas just more expensive but far from Toronto. And I have seen the Wings, Ottawa and Boston play, and it is hard to find a Buffalo fan.

Arenas on my bucket list:

Bell Centre (Montreal)

United Center (Chicago)

TD Garden (Boston)

MSG (New York)

Edited by Smite

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Back in 1990 - a buddy of mine, and I took a road trip to Toronto in late June.

We stayed at the Neill-Wycik dorms which was a short walk from the Maple Leaf Gardens...The front doors were wide open, and the security guys let us walk around for nearly 30 min...Had a good laugh with 1 of the maintenance guys; talking about the Leafs, etc.

Toronto is a fun city to visit.

Yeah - back in the late 90's I was at the UC for a Hawks/Wings game...Half the crowd - maybe more - were Red Wing fans (keep in mind this was when the Hawks really sucked).

Everyone around me, and my buddies were Wings fans, and when the Hawk fans started their usual 'DETROIT SUCKS' chant - we started our own 'STANLEY CUPS' chant.....Within a few minutes many other Wing fans in surrounding sections joined in, and before you knew it we were drowning out the Hawk fans.

Mom and I were in Toronto visiting relatives. I was 12. We had no tickets to the Leafs game but someone knew someone that worked at Maple Leaf Gardens. They brought us in the back door used to access the zamboni bay and took us through a bunch of tunnels and stairwells to find and usher, who then proceeded to find us season ticket seats that they knew were going unclaimed for the evening.

It was a crappy game (vs Rangers) with no star power and I've always hated the Leafs. But man, that place was awesome.

Edited by rick zombo

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Mom and I were in Toronto visiting relatives. I was 12. We had no tickets to the Leafs game but someone knew someone that worked at Maple Leaf Gardens. They brought us in the back door used to access the zamboni bay and took us through a bunch of tunnels and stairwells to find and usher, who then proceeded to find us season ticket seats that they knew were going unclaimed for the evening.

It was a crappy game (vs Rangers) with no star power and I've always hated the Leafs. But man, that place was awesome.

Funny you mention that, when I was at the old maple leaf gardens early 90's the guy working the souvenir stand gave me and my friend the previous year's Toronto Maple Leaf year book. My Friends dad saw some players leaving down a roped off hall way. He told us to ignore rope and get an autograph. The usher went to stop us then said "OK get one and come right back". I got Gary Leeman's autograph. Something we will not see in today's world.

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I've been to Nationwide Arena a handful of times (twice to see the Wings) and while it's a nice arena, the fans are absolutely horrible. Half of them have never seen a hockey game and the other half are only there because the Buckeyes aren't playing. I understand the second half since it's a huge college town for one of the biggest schools in the country, but it's annoying having to watch a game next to their fans. At least they're quiet for the most part and there's a lot to do in downtown Columbus.

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lol - you wanna see some bad fans?

Go to the UC with Red Wings gear on.

Haven't watched the Wings there since 2009. From what I've heard the Blackhawk "fans" have gotten just awful toward any opposing fan. Had a friend get told to, in not such nice words, to get the eff out of town for wearing an Ovechkin T-shirt to last years Caps game at the UC. The friend lives in Oak Lawn (just outside Chicago).

It's even bad at the Chicago Wolves games when the Rockford IceHogs play. The home fans are called *******, assholes, "how can you root for those Blues (was Vancouver) players?" etc. all by the Blackhawk "fans" that show up to root for the IceHogs.

You can tell the "fans" from the actual Blackhawk fans, because the actual fans are more respectful to opposing fans and don't think their team is an expansion franchise from 2008.

I know every fan base has the very small handful of idiots that ruin the game for others, but the United Center currently makes the jerks and ****** bros in the bleachers at Cubs games look like choir boys.

Edited by nmuwildcat

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Been to 3 NHL barns but only seen games at 2 - The Joe (dozens of games over the years), United Center (4 or 5 games in the last 10 or so years), and the ACC (only took a tour). The Joe is the best of those, hands down.

Last game I saw at UC was a few years back when Toews and Kane were rookies and the bandwagon was starting to take off, they finally sold out their arena that night. The Sharks were on a winning streak, and ended up winning the game against Chicago, after Chicago's last-second tying goal went in off a guy's glove and was disallowed. Everyone in the arena was pissed, and it was CLEARLY not a good goal, but the jackasses weren't having it. My dad, best friend, and I were just sitting there laughing at them. (Found the game - http://blackhawks.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2007021026). Aside from that, the arena was clearly built with the Bulls in mind, and the views aren't nearly as good as they could be.

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I've been to a lot of hockey games in a bunch of cities, i've seen the Flyers at both The Spectrum and First Union Center, Devils at Continental Airlines Arena, Rangerss at MSG, the Pens at the Igloo, Thrashers at Phillips Arena, Predators at Bridgestone Arena, Carolina at RBC Center, The Whalers at the Civic Center, and of course the Wings at the Joe.

I would put the Joe first, i've never had a bad seat, the atmosphere is great, and I always have a great experience when I attend.

If I had to pick a second, it would be Phillips Arena where the Thrashers used to play. I got free club seat tickets with my job 5-6 times per season and always went, the arena itself is awesome although half of it was typically empty. Good food, fair prices, and it was attached directly to a bunch of restaurants and CNN so at intermission it was easy to go get some Moes or Taco Bell if you didnt want a hot dog, and you didn't have to walk outside of the stadium at all. It was also likely the cleanest stadium I have visited.

My least favorite as a Wings fan in an enemy stadium was both Flyers arenas, with the Rangers in close 2nd.

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lol - you wanna see some bad fans?

Go to the UC with Red Wings gear on.

A few years ago I went to the UC with my daughter to watch the Hawks play the Canes. She was a Skinner fan. The Canes were losing unfortunately and a gentlemen who sat next to me who chatter with me a little bit said, "It looks like your team is losing" to which I replied, "That's not my team, I'm a Red Wings fan" to which he never said another word to me the rest of the night :lol:

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I've been to games in Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim, and Chicago. Out of those the United Center was probably the most fun for me. Probably because I was sitting next to a pair of attractive loud-mouth girls that seemed to know a lot about the game. Their trash-talk was excellent. That arena is huge and completely unlike our building. The worst fans were definitely in Anaheim. I was at this game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8K3l3wfeaQ) and the upper bowl broke out into fights between Wings and Ducks fans after that happened.

As a Wings fan, going to the Joe is like going to mecca. The experience isn't the same anywhere else. The history, banners, and commemorations to the Production line and other Hockeytown heros makes you feel the amazing tradition of hockey in Detroit.

Edited by Seraph

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Been to JLA approximately 60 times, both regular season and playoff. Atmosphere is unbeatable, and my favorite to go to (yes I'm biased).

Been to United Center a season before Kane/Toews were drafted - Hawks fans were mostly jackasses and egged on by the fact that Detroit led 3-0 not even 10 minutes into the game. Arena itself was pretty cool, although not the same since there was plenty of Bulls stuff there too.

Been to Scottrade Center 5 times, most recently in 2003. My first ever Wings game was there in October '99 - Wings lost a heartbreaker in overtime (Pronger tied the game with less than a minute left), and I remember the Blues fans being horrendous.

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I myself have been to St.Louis for a few Wings/Blues games...Some of the Blues fans are jerks, but for the most part they're pretty decent compared to the Hawks fans at the UC.

True story...After an afternoon game in St.Louis my wife, and I headed to 'The Hill' (Italian community just south of downtown) for dinner...The place we decided upon was very busy, and we waited for quite some time...We met a couple (Blues fans), and chatted about the game...After about 20 or so minutes their table was ready, and we said our goodbyes...A few minutes passed when the fella (Anthony if I remember correctly) came back, and invited us to join them since they had extra room at the table, and knew that we'd be waiting for some time.

We bought them a round of drinks, and dessert to show our appreciation...Missouri folks are quite nice, and remind me much of my native Wisconsin, or Michigan.

How about Western Missouri?

My experience with Blues fans isn't that they're not nice, they're just annoying. You'd think their team won multiple championships or something. I'm also starting to think St. Louis is a garbage town considering how many of their residents move somewhere else.

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I've only been to 3 arenas, Tampa's, Florida's and Nashville's. While Tampa and Nashville's are nice, they are really similar except Nashville has better fans/atmosphere. The Florida Panthers arena in Sunrise is really cool. Aside from the crazy, middle of nowhere location and fans that are usually a no show, the arena itself is awesome. It has this big open bar area on the 2nd level I think, that you can stand and watch if you want. It's great if you have kids they can play in that area and don't have to sit still whole game. Me and my wife probably had our best live game experiences there. I even think Weiss scored a couple goals for the Panthers the times we went lol.

As an aside, both the Panthers and Predators have strange traditions of throwing things on the ice like the Wings, only they're rats and catfish...

Edited by MaynardJmzKeenan

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