Arena #3 - Arrowhead Pond

My mission is to see the Flames play in all 30 NHL arenas, a mission that began in October of 2005 while at a local pub watching the Flames take on the Oilers. With the previous season’s work stoppage, and the season before’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Flames tickets had become a very hard item to come by. I was then struck with the idea of combining two of my favourite activities; watching hockey and travelling. You can follow my quest to visit all 30 arenas right here…

April 17, 2006 – Anaheim, CA

We headed to the home of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, as usual, a couple of hours before the game. Located a few miles from Disneyland, and two blocks from the home of the LA Angels, is convenient to access by car and nothing else. Transit in Los Angeles leaves something to be desired, and transit in Anaheim is next to non-existent.

The Pond, as it is known, appears to be very modern. Glass and polished stone cover the outside, while the interior concourses are made of faux-marble walls and floors. Before entering the Arrowhead pond, you must pass through airport-style security. Like at an airport, you emptied your pockets into a tray, and then continued on to a security officer with a metal-detecting wand. Out of habit from airport security, I began to remove my belt. “Save it for the ladies…” said the older man who was screening me, as he waved me on. Now that we were secure, we could finally enter the building.

We did a tour of the concourse after entering, seeing a sea of run of the mill concessions, the same ones you would see at any arena. As it was the final game of the season, it was “Fan Appreciation” night, but from what we could tell, this entailed nothing more than saying that it was in fact, “Fan Appreciation” night. There weren’t any free handouts and there didn’t appear to be any special concession prices.

The seating bowl in the Pond is fairly standard. There was a row of luxury suites at the top of the lower bowl, another row of suites four rows into the second level, followed by a fairly large upper level, with about 30 rows of seats. Looking up to the rafters, I noticed that the Might Ducks only had three banners hanging, and two of them were celebrating the team’s existence. There was one banner honouring the team’s inaugural season and another commemorating the team’s tenth season. I guess if you can’t win, you can always celebrate not folding or relocating. The third banner did mention the franchise’s only real success; a trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 2003, where they lost to the New Jersey Devils in seven games.

Our seats were located in section 407, which is in the third level of seating. For some reason, the sections at the Pond are the 200’s, 300’s and 400’s. There weren’t any 100 sections, but I’m guessing those are for floor seats for concerts or basketball. One thing of note was that despite opening in 1993, there aren’t any elevators or escalators for accessing the upper concourse. Not unlike the Dome, but unexpected of a newer arena.

The game was fairly uninspiring until midway through the 2nd period. At that point, due to an Avalanche loss, it was announced over the PA that the Flames and Ducks would be facing each other in the first round in four days. Following the announcement, the checks started getting a little harder, and players on both teams started to skate a little faster. Playoff intensity had already begun in Anaheim. Despite the fierce battle in the 2nd half of the third, the Flames were again defeated, falling 4-3 to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

The Arrowhead Pond was quite disappointing, and inferior in almost every way to its cross town rival, the Staples Center. It made me appreciate the Saddledome that much more.

Three arenas down, twenty-seven to go…..


-TheRev

Arrowhead Pond Fast Facts

Seats: Section 407; $19.50USD; Ticketmaster
Score: Flames 3, Ducks 4
Arena Rating: 5.2/10
Unique Concession: None
Souvenir Stick: JS Giguere goalie stick, plastic
Public Transit: None
Unique Arena Trait: No escalators or elevators
Swag: None

Photos

Arena #2.2 - Staples Center

My mission is to see the Flames play in all 30 NHL arenas, a mission that began in October of 2005 while at a local pub watching the Flames take on the Oilers. With the previous season’s work stoppage, and the season before’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Flames tickets had become a very hard item to come by. I was then struck with the idea of combining two of my favourite activities; watching hockey and travelling. You can follow my quest to visit all 30 arenas right here…

April 15, 2006 –Los Angeles, CA

My second away game saw me returning to the Staples Center for the Flames 2nd last game of the ’05-’06 season. This time I was accompanied by my girlfriend, and our trip also included stops at the Honda Center for the Flames’ final game of the season, a Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger Stadium and a couple of days at the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland.

When we arrived at the Staples Center before the game, my girlfriend was a little apprehensive about seeing a game in enemy territory. I had assured her it wouldn’t be bad and that people wouldn’t be yelling at us or anything, but nonetheless she was still worried. Much to her relief, the first hockey fans we saw as we approached the West side of the arena, was a group of over 30 Flames fans! These guys were playing a game of street hockey in the California sun. They had sticks and balls, and were using a couple of pylons for goal posts. Although it wouldn’t be that out of the ordinary in Canada, it wasn’t something we had expected to see in Los Angeles. After talking with a couple of them, we learned they were a group of Saddledome employees who head to a Flames away game each year. This year’s group had over 30 people, and they were attending the same sporting events we were; both hockey games and a baseball game.

Although there wasn’t anything on the line for either team; the Flames were already guaranteed 3rd place in the Western Conference and the Kings had already missed the playoffs, the game was destined to be a special one, as long-time King, Luc Robitaille was playing in his final game at the Staples Center, and the 2nd last game of his career. With over 600 goals and 1300 points, the Montreal born left-winger was calling it a career after 19 seasons. As we entered the arena, we were each given a t-shirt commemorating Robitaille’s last game with the words ‘King of Kings’ on the front and a silhouette of the future hall-of-famer raising his hands in celebration of a goal.

Walking the concourse before the game, we found another unique food at a concession booth called Camacho’s, burritos. I had never seen Mexican food at a hockey game before, but when in Rome…! We ordered a couple of burritos and headed to our seats. Entering the seating bowl, we were greeted with a sea of yellow and white placards that were on every seat in honour of Mr. Robitaille. The cardboard signs read “Thank You Luuuc” on one side and had the number 20 on the other. The same signs were also on the boards between several ads.

With the North West Division already clinched, it was obvious the Flames were sort of mailing it in for this game. There wasn’t a lot of hitting, and there didn’t seem to be much hustle from the away team. Fortunately, the Kings lacked a few key components to hockey success. Most notably, speed, strength, goal tending, defence, offence and overall talent. As a result, the game ended up tied 1-1 after regulation and overtime, and continued on to a shootout. Pavol Demitra was able to score on Kiprusoff while Jason LaBarbera was able to stop all three Flames shooters, handing the Flames a 2-1 loss.

A brief retirement ceremony followed the game, with the Kings faithful letting out a string of “Luuuuuucs,” and Robitaille doing a celebratory lap of the rink.

Next up is the Flames-Ducks game at the Arrowhead Pond against the Mighty Ducks.


-TheRev

Staples Center Fast Facts

Seats: Section 314; $28.00USD; Ticketmaster
Score: Flames 1, Kings 2 in a shootout
Arena Rating: 8/10
Unique Concession: burritos
Souvenir Stick: none
Public Transit: Train stop across the street
Unique Arena Trait: 3 levels of luxury suites
Swag: Luc Robitaille t-shirt, Luuuuc!/#20 Placard

Photos