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…
February 10, 2007 – Buffalo, NY
We flew to Toronto for this February trip, where we would be taking in two Flames games; one in Buffalo against the Sabres, and another in Detroit against the Red Wings. We made the two hour drive from Toronto to Buffalo on the day of the game and arrived at the arena about two hours before puck drop. The HSBC arena is located in downtown Buffalo, at the Eastern tip of Lake Erie, less than a kilometre from the Canada/US border. As we were driving to the game, I didn’t notice what public transit connections were available, but since the arena is centrally located, I’m guessing there are buses readily available.
I had an “American Encounter” before the game, as we were waiting to enter the arena. Standing on the sidewalk, I struck up a conversation with a Sabres fan as with both stood huddled on the sidewalk, trying to protect ourselves from the cold winter wind blowing off the lake. The sidewalks were covered in ice and waist-high piles of snow, which lined the sidewalks and parking lots in every direction, as the temperature hovered around 15C below zero. After telling the man I was from Calgary, he said, “it must be good to get out of the cold and snow of Canada.” Standing there is disbelief, I asked him if he was serious.
“What do you mean?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Well, Canada’s right there,” I said, pointing to the international boundary that was a mere five minute walk from where we stood.
“So, there isn’t way more snow there?” he continued, still confused.
“Well, no, it’s just on the other side of the river, so there’s the same amount of snow,” I told him, not bothering to mention that Calgary was over 2000 miles away, and had never had as much snow on the ground at one time as the streets of Buffalo had on that Saturday. While I don’t expect him to be familiar with Calgary weather, I found it quite amusing that he assumed the weather across the river in Canada, which he can probably see from his house, was much colder and snowier than Buffalo.
There was a brief security check at the doors, where they went through bags and purses, but no metal detectors. After passing that, we entered the giant atrium that greets all visitors to the HSBC Arena. A full two storeys, and stretching nearly the entire length of the arena, the atrium includes a massive team store at one end and ticket windows at the other. Between the two is a large media area with a sports ticker and several TV’s showing various games and sports highlights. On the 2nd level of the atrium is the Headlines Sports Bar, which overlooks the lower level and has great views of the downtown skyline.
Like other new arenas, and unlike the Saddledome, the concourses of the HSBC are wide and clean, making it easy for lots of traffic to get around the arena. We headed to the upper concourse for a beer and a snack, and came across a unique concession item, the bologna sandwich. Essentially, it was a grilled cheese sandwich with bologna and onions, and it tasted delicious. We washed those down with a beer at a neat little bar nestled in the corner of the concourse called, The Poor Man’s Aud Club. The bar featured artifacts taken from Buffalo’s former arena, the Memorial Auditorium. While sitting there enjoying our beers, we saw Flames play-by-play man Peter Maher buying some french fries. I bet he couldn’t walk around the Saddledome like that without being bothered by a legion of fans.
The seating bowl of the arena is fairly standard, with lower and upper bowls of roughly the same size. In between the two is a level of luxury suites and a level of club seats. Our seats were located in the very last row of the arena, in the upper tier. We were sitting next to a group of 20 hockey fans from Fort Erie, Ontario, who often make the half hour trip into Buffalo for games. One of them mentioned that 30% of the Sabres’ season ticket holders are Canadian.
The game was a tightly fought battle, as the two teams traded goals, resulting in a 2-2 tie after regulation and overtime. The game went to a shootout, where Phaneuf, Lombardi and Huselius failed to score, while Buffalo’s Ales Kotalik was able to get one past Mikka Kiprusoff.
Five arenas down, twenty-five to go…
-TheRev
HSBC Arena Fast Facts
Seats: Section 308; $40.00USD; Sabres website (tickets.com)
Score: Flames 2, Sabres 3 in a shootout
Arena Rating: 7/10
Unique Concession: Fried bologna sandwich
Souvenir Stick: Sabres stick w/team autographs, wooden
Public Transit: Unknown
Unique Arena Trait: Giant Entrance Pavillion
Swag: None
Photos
Next up is a trip to the Motor City to see the Flames take on the Red Wings…
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