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Stadium Review: Joe Louis Arena

The Red Wings-Penguins game yesterday was the first leg of two Detroit sporting events I attended yesterday and, despite the game turning into a blowout, I was impressed with Joe Louis Arena. It's an old facility (the third-oldest in the NHL) and you feel that when you're inside. With a retro scoreboard and an intimate setting, where every seat offers a pretty good view, watching a game there feels a little bit like stepping into a time machine. Of course, there's a reason that a new arena is being built and that's evident as well. Parking is a nightmare, the concourse is crowded, and the building simply looks old and outdated on the inside. Maybe that's part of its charm because even with shoddy infrastructure, Joe Louis Arena remains a great place to watch a game.

Atmosphere: 6.5/10: This is tough to judge because the Red Wings got blown out and it wasn't competitive after the first period. When the team plays badly, the crowd is going to react accordingly and this crowd was no different. People started leaving after the second period and after Pittsburgh took a 5-2 lead in the third, the crowd left in droves. However, it’s tough to blame them for doing so. The Red Wings were playing terribly, getting outshot, outhustled, and outplayed by a Penguins team that seemed superior. If you're a Red Wings fan, it's understandable why you wouldn't want to stick around and watch more of that. And when you factor in that the crowd was into it during the first period, when the Red Wings were winning and playing well, you get a decent score in this category. It was a near sellout crowd when the puck dropped and people were into it. Chants started without the help of the PA announcer, Sidney Crosby was booed without fail every time he touched the puck, and it was tough to find an empty seat if you looked across the way. It's tough to make an argument that, if not for the nature of the game itself, this score wouldn't be a lot higher. When you consider that, 6.5/10 almost seems low.

Quality of Facility: 6/10: The retro feel and history of Joe Louis Arena outweighs any deficiencies it may have in terms of amenities for me. It's not a modern arena by any stretch of the imagination, if you're someone who wants to sit in a suite and have people wait on you as you watch the game, don't go. You have to be a hockey fan to enjoy Joe Louis Arena because, although it lacks modern amenities, there’s an unmistakable history about it. There's the retro feeling that comes when you look at things like the scoreboard and the closeness of the seats to the ice that leads to an appreciation for the history that happened in that arena. When I sat down, I was struck by the banners, the sheer number remind you that the Red Wings are an Original Six team with a history of success. Though I don't like that they hung banners for fairly pedestrian achievements like playoff appearances (something that should be above a franchise that has won 11 Stanley Cups), history isn't lost on anyone who walks into Joe Louis Arena, and that matters more than anything else.

Quality of Game: 2/10: This game was competitive for the first period, but from the second Pittsburgh tied things up at 1 (which happened just 20 seconds into the second period), the Red Wings looked lost. The end result was a 7-2 Penguins win, a 41-23 shot disparity, and both Detroit goalies (Petr Mrazek was pulled for Jimmy Howard late in the second period) being somewhat embarrassed by a Penguins team that looked vastly superior. This was no unimportant game either. The Red Wings are tied on points with the Flyers for a playoff spot having played one more game. With less than 10 games left to secure a playoff spot, you'd think the Red Wings would show some urgency, but apparently not. This was a pathetic performance from a team that needed a win and a fairly dominant performance for a team that's fighting more for seeding than a playoff berth. The effort was lacking and the play was even worse from the Red Wings. After having watched that, I can't say I expect them to do much in the playoffs.

Other Things to do in the Neighborhood: 4/10: This would be much higher if transport to and from the game wasn't a complete disaster. There's good food a short distance from the arena which is a huge plus, but the parking at Joe Louis Arena is among the worst I've ever seen. From what I could tell, there's just one, gigantic parking structure to house everyone, leading to rampant traffic and an overflow of people walking in and out of the arena at a given time. As far as I'm aware, there isn't much in the way of public transport which leaves the fans to navigate a cesspool of traffic in a hellish parking garage. 

Random Jersey Sighting of the Day:  A Brett Hull jersey at a Red Wings-Penguins game! Hull won the 1991 Hart Trophy with the Blues and led the league in scoring three times while he was in St Louis. He played there for the bulk of his career and his #16 is retired by the Blues.

 

Overall: 18.5/40: The game itself really hurt this score, but seeing a game at Joe Louis Arena is something all hockey fans should do, especially with it closing soon.

Stadium Review: PNC Arena

I'm going to preface this by saying that I don't go to very many hockey games. And when I say that, I mean that I could probably count the games I've been to on one hand. I also don't watch a lot of hockey in comparison to other sports. The Rangers are the only team I watch with regularity before the playoffs start and my knowledge of the rest of the league is fairly limited. I don't have the NHL package and I'll generally watch basketball over hockey 99 nights out of 100. There's an NHL tab on this website and I'm not really sure why. In fact, I'll probably delete it at some point because it implies that I have enough hockey knowledge to write about it intelligently, which, in my own estimation, I don't. But I'm going to try to do so here.

Last night, I attended my first hockey game in over a year and saw the Hurricanes take on the Sabres. It was a fun game and hockey is generally more fun live. This is because the fans are more likely to be paying attention to what's happening in the game. There's no campy music playing during the action like in basketball and hedge fund managers who will take clients to a hockey game over basketball or baseball are few and far between. There are more diehards and less people who are there for the hell of it. The unfortunate part of this is that sometimes, there aren't enough diehards willing to shell out money to see their mediocre team take on the crappy team that's in town on a Tuesday night. This seems to be what happened in Raleigh last night, where most of the seats were empty and the ones that were filled, were often filled with players wearing Sabres gear. 

As always, if you're not familiar with the grading system, go to the 'Stadiums' tab and scroll down.

Atmosphere: 0/10: As I said above, last night was the type of game that people just weren't willing to shell out money for. Not too many people want to pay to see Hurricanes-Sabres on a Tuesday night, which is understandable. That's pretty far from a Stanley Cup preview. But this place was half-full at best and at least half the people in attendance were Sabres fans. Raleigh seems to be a weird place to have so many Buffalo expats, but they were out in full force last night. There were "Let's go Buffalo" chants that could be heard all night as easily as the pro-Hurricane chants that the PA announcer was trying to start. When the Sabres scored two goals late in the game to take the lead, the place was twice as loud as it was for anything else that happened all night. Considering that the Hurricanes are Raleigh's only pro team and while they're not a playoff team, they're certainly competitive, that's beyond disappointing. If you're in a market where you have one professional team, the least you can do is show up and support them. If the NHL ever decides to open up discussions on relocation, the Hurricanes are going to be one of the first franchises to be given the choice of building a new arena with public money or being relocated to Quebec or Las Vegas or San Antonio or wherever. And after seeing the crowd last night, I understand why.

 Quality of Facility: 6/10: This is a decently new arena with a wide concourse area and broad food options, but it has one fatal flaw. The seats have a painstakingly low amount of leg room. It's normally a stupid thing to complain about, but if you can sit in one of those seats for an entire period without cramping up then props to you. If you've ever been to Fenway Park, they have a section of seats that they've kept in essentially as long as the park has been in existence. It's a nice ode to the history of the park, but they're also probably the worst seats you can imagine to sit in for a 3 hour ballgame, despite decent proximity to the field. The seats at PNC Arena are like that, except they were built in the 21st century. It's mind-boggling that nobody stepped in while this was being built and said "Hey wait a minute, sitting in these seats for 3 hours makes your legs feel like you just got off a flight to Shanghai." Ultimately, the wide array of food options and general cleanliness in the arena saved this score, but sitting in those seats was a bad experience.

Quality of Game: 7/10: Despite the fact that the game was essentially meaningless, this was a fun game. It was close throughout and three goals in the third period resulting in the Hurricanes taking a lead, then the Sabres taking back the lead--and the game--was a great end. It's always a positive to see someone like Jack Eichel, and although he didn't stand out in this game I was impressed with some of the passes he made, and as I said before, hockey is a great spectator sport. It's frantically paced, you can't take your eye off of things, and there are constant scoring chances. It surprises me that kids don't like hockey more for this reason. Kids should love hockey, it's the perfect sport for people with short attention spans. Fast-paced action, frequent breaks, constant scoring chances, it's perfect for kids. I want to know why the NHL isn't marketing more to kids.

Other Things to do in the Neighborhood: 6/10: Raleigh is nestled right between UNC and Duke which gives you a plethora of things to do. Those colleges offer a lot of entertainment and good food, although I can't say much for the actual city of Raleigh. Those surrounding areas do a lot of the heavy lifting, but do it well enough to salvage everything Raleigh lacks.

Random Jersey Sighting of the Day: Tough to beat this guy in a #11 Quebec Nordiques sweater. Upon further research this seems to be an Owen Nolan jersey. Nolan, in five seasons in Quebec before the team moved to Colorado, had two All-Star appearances and two seasons of over 70 points. Not too shabby.

 

 

Overall: 19/40:  Solid experience, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a big fan.

All stats are from hockey-reference.com unless otherwise noted

 

Stadium Review: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Welcome to Stadium Review, a new column that I'll be writing on a sporadic basis (yes, there will be a Rewatch out tomorrow or Monday). Basically, this is only going to be written when I go to a stadium or arena that I've never been to and I'll write a review of the stadium based on my day’s experience. The scale will be out of 50 with points given out of 10 in the following categories.

Atmosphere: How were the fans? Were they loud, did they make a difference, were they even there? By the way, a Marlins game at Sun Life Stadium would be dead last in this category.

 

Did it live up to expectation? The points given for this one are going to completely vary and probably be the most questionable because it's based on what I expected it to be like in all 4 other categories. If a stadium lives up to exactly what I thought it would be it would be a 5.

 

Quality of Facility: Is there anything immediately wrong or awesome about this place? Does it look like it's falling apart from the outside? Is there a cool feature that isn't there in other places (think Green Monster-esque)?

 

Quality of the Game: Like the expectation category, this one is also entirely based on my personal experience. Although it may not be fair to judge a stadium based off of the game that you saw there, it certainly affects your personal experience there. Therefore, we're judging the stadium based off of that.

 

Other Things to do in the Neighborhood: Can you conceivably go to a game here and make a day out of it? This can be a restaurant, tourist attraction, or anything else that you can spend some time at before or after the game and have fun. As long as it's close, it counts. Now let’s get into the review.

 

So earlier today I was at the Islanders-Blues game. Although I hadn't heard great things about the Coliseum, other than cheap seats, it certainly was pretty good in a lot of ways. In other, not so much.

 

Atmosphere: 7/10: I didn't expect a lot here. It was a Saturday afternoon game, and the tickets on StubHub were dirt cheap. Also, the Coliseum doesn't give off the best atmosphere on television. However, the place was nearly sold out. The fans were loud when they needed to be, and into the game. Maybe it was because it was Bob Nystrom Night, despite it being the middle of the day, or because people jumped at the chance to see Martin Brodeur play (although he didn't start, he came in after the first period. More on this in the section about the game). However, the fans were only loud when they needed to be. The cheering came only when encouraged by the PA announcer, and there were more Blues fans there than there should have been. The distance between St. Louis and Long Island is big enough that if you took every Blues fan in the stadium and put them into one section you shouldn't be able to fill it. But you could have filled up a section pretty easily here. Also, too many fans left after the Blues scored their 6th goal to go up by 2. The fans that left should have learned from earlier in the game when Paul Statsny and Patrik Berglund scored within 2 minutes of each other to cut down an Islander lead from 3-0 to 3-2. Although unlikely, it's always possible.

 

Expectation: 5.5/10: Nearly everything was as expected except for in 2 categories. The fans were better than expected, the facility worse. I toyed with the idea of giving a 6 or even a 6.5 here because the fans defied expectations, but the facility was just so bad that anything even above a 5 was probably generous.

 

Quality of Facility: 0/10: There's a reason that the Islanders are moving to the Barclays Center after this season and Nassau Coliseum is it. From the outside, it's unimposing and boring. You wouldn't even know that it was a sports arena if not for an Islander logo on a poster outside. On the inside it was worse. First off, the video board (I'm not giving it the compliment of calling it a Jumbotron), hadn't been replaced since at least 1980. I don't think I've seen a video board that wasn't in HD since the old Yankee Stadium. But I did today. The biggest problem in this category is something that shouldn't even be an issue in any stadium ever. The hallways aren't big enough to accommodate a big crowd. Instead of multiple levels, Nassau Coliseum has one level with hallways in it and to get to seats on a higher or lower level, you just take the stairs that are out in the arena. This would be fine, if those hallways could fit everyone. However, when the end of regulation came, even without a sellout crowd and with a lot of people leaving early, walking through that hallway was like driving in bad traffic in the city of Los Angeles. No one was moving because there wasn't enough space on the highway for the amount of cars that were on the highway. The worst part was that this was the stadium without even being a sellout crowd. What are they going to do when the Islanders are in the playoffs later this year and the crowd is over capacity? It's going to be a complete disaster to the point where you wonder why they didn't move away sooner.

 

Quality of Game: 8/10: After the 1st period, the score for this wasn't looking good. Despite 3 goals, they were all for the Islanders and the game looked to be over. Despite having 10 shots, the Blues had nothing and Jaroslav Halak was a brick wall in net. However, when Jake Allen was pulled after one period, two things changed. First off, going to this game was automatically worth it. I hadn't seen Brodeur live before and will likely not have a chance to again. Secondly, it stopped being so easy for the Islanders to score. The Blues were able to control the puck, and pull the game back to 3-3. Although the Islanders scored at the end of the period to go back up, the momentum had shifted and the whole building knew it. When St. Louis scored 3 more times in the 3rd period, no one was surprised. However, the game was good, had lots of goals, and a living legend. What more could you want?

 

Other Things to do in the Neighborhood: 6/10: Although there is a restaurant that was on Food Networks, "Diners, Drive ins, and Dives", within a few miles that's really good, there's nothing else in the area at all. And, since the Coliseum itself is most likely out of the way unless you either live in the area or feel like a day at Jones Beach in the middle of December, it scores low in this category. My advice is to go to the restaurant for lunch or dinner but allow yourself enough time to do only that. Spending a day in the area would be a waste of time.

 

Total: 26.5/50: The facility really hurt it but this score is pretty accurate based on what you'd probably get if you went for the next Islander game. Unless you're a big hockey fan, or an Islander fan from out of town who may not get a chance to go to a lot of games, I wouldn't recommend it. Just wait until they're in Brooklyn. Judging off of what I've seen at the lone Nets game I've been to there, pretty much everything will be better.