Mike Cammalleri and his future wearing the Flaming C

Michael Cammalleri. Ten goals, eleven assists in 25 games and two game winning markers. The Flames are getting exactly what they asked for in this diminutive forward who has an eye for the net and a rougher side than most people think. He has a rifle of a shot and actually uses it, unlike the number 13 who plays for Les Habitants and used to dawn the Flaming C. He, along with Matthew Lombardi and Jarome Iginla have formed a top line in Calgary that is quicker, faster, more agile and can blow by opposing defence better than previous instalments of the top unit have ever done before. Cammelleri is the x-factor on that line. Not only are defensemen worrying that Iginla is going to fire it by them, but now they have another forward to cover with Cammy on the other side. Case in point the one of three goals Mike scored against the Canucks two weeks ago where Iginla made one of the nicest passes, in recent memory, cross ice and Cammy potted it into the empty net. Everyone was thinking Iginla would shoot but he knew No. 13 was wide open and rarely misses. Last year Iginla did not have that other shot, showing how valuable Michael Cammelleri really is. Looking into the future Cammy is an unrestricted free agent as of July 1 of next year. He currently makes $3.6 million a year and for a guy that averages just under a point per game, you can bet that he might want a raise of some sort. I am guessing he will garner offers in the $4.5 to $5.5 million a year earnings and will likely be looking for a multi year deal. So where on the Flames does he fit in? Who do they get rid of to free up the needed salary room for No. 13? You look to the back end where you have Adrian Aucoin making $4 million, due for UFA this summer and you have Jim Vandermeer who makes $2.3 million a year and should not garner such a salary. With Adam Pardy gaining confidence game by game, I think you can afford to let go of Pylon boy. So you let Aucoin walk, you do you best to trade Vandermeer, or release him if necessary. Then you have an extra $6.3 million to give Cammy what he needs plus a little more to spend on the defense reinforcements. Losing this guy can not happen. Sutter should be working on some sort of an offer right now to lock him up long term before he starts seeing Toronto (rumours are he wants to play for his hometown) in the forefront. He makes Calgary's offence better and changes it from the one dimensionality it has been for so many years. So Sutter, give Iginla, this city's superstar on and off the ice, some re-assurance that he will not be the only one producing here for the next five years.


This has been Newman on the Flames

Arena #12 - Madison Square Garden

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…

December 7, 2008 – New York, NY

The Big Apple. Not only one of my favourite places to visit, but also home to one of the NHL’s “Original Six” teams, the New York Rangers. We were in town to see the Flames play the Rangers at the self-proclaimed “World’s Most Famous Arena”, Madison Square Garden. To get to New York, we had flown to Toronto and then caught a short flight from there, arriving at LaGuardia Airport the afternoon of the game. If you’ve never been to New York City, nothing can match the electricity you feel walking around Manhattan. The streets are filled with people coming from work, going to work, shopping, or simply walking around. In New York, it is the people that are the real sights to see.

In an effort to save money, something that isn’t easy to do in Manhattan, we booked a room in Newark, New Jersey. Despite being in a different city, and a different state for that matter, it is easily accessible by the PATH train system which runs between Newark’s Penn Station and Manhattan 24 hours a day, and conveniently has a stop underneath Madison Square Garden.

We arrived at ‘MSG’ two hours before puck drop, giving us enough time to grab some food from New York’s many street vendors before heading inside. Entering off 7th Avenue, you pass through a giant atrium that features team stores for the Knicks and Rangers, an entrance to another theatre and the escalators of Madison Square Garden. Unlike most arenas, where the ice level is below ground or at least at street level, the ice at MSG is four storeys up. The theatre entrance we had seen was for a smaller venue that is below the main seating bowl. At the time of the Flames-Rangers game, there was a Cirque du Soleil performance taking place as well.

After taking four escalators to reach the lower concourse, we did our customary walk of the arena. Due to it being built in 1968, and being four floors above the street, the concourses are quite narrow, featuring cinder block walls with concessions and shops tucked into corners underneath the seating. For the most part the concessions were fairly standard, selling the usual assortment of hot dogs, pretzels, nachos etc. The seating bowl itself is also reminiscent of the past, with the luxury suites circling the roof; almost as if they were put in as an afterthought and much like Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The bowl is divided into three levels, but again like the Joe, there isn’t a balcony like in modern arenas. The different tiers are separated by large concourses that circle the arena within the seating bowl.

Our seats were located on the second level, in the first row above the concourse, behind the Flames attack zone. Being in the first row, our seats offered a great view of the ice. However, as the game started we realized there was a problem with the concourse being directly in front of our seats. Throughout the game our view was constantly being blocked by an endless parade of vendors hawking beer, pretzels, popcorn, souvenirs and the like. As we neared puck drop, we grabbed a couple of beers from the bar nearest our seats. Offering a selection of draft beers, this vendor also featured the most unique beer service I’ve yet seen. The plastic beer cups had handles like you’d find on a mug, and in each handle was a pretzel stick! Few combos are better than beer and pretzels, so kudos to the folks at MSG for putting the two together so conveniently.

The game started off slowly, as both teams failed to score in the first period. Finally, late in the second, Iginla was able to score on a pass from Mike Cammalleri. Early in the third period, David Moss added a goal to give the Flames a 2-0 lead, and Rene Bourque would followed that up with a short-handed tally in the final two minutes, as the Flames defeated the Rangers 3-0. The victory marked the first road game shutout we’d ever witnessed, so I’m unable to comment on what the Rangers goal celebration was like. During the game, the crowd was for the most part quite docile, most likely because they didn’t have much to cheer for. We did hear an MSG staple though, as the crowd broke into a “Potvin Sucks!” cheer midway through the second period; a Ranger-fan tradition since 1979.

During the second intermission, while sending a text to a buddy, I was approached by a man who said, in a heavy accent, “I see you are fan of my countryman!”, as he pointed at my red Flames jersey. It turns out that he and a buddy were in town from their native Finland, and were at the game to cheer on Kipper. Both Finns were from Turku, Kiprusoff’s home town, and had played pee-wee hockey with him. “Only until we were about six or seven years old, then he was much too good,” we were told. We ended up going for a beer with the two after the game, discussing the Flames, the NHL and the Winter Olympics until the wee hours of the morning. Thanks for the beers Ville and Jarkko! Along with the Flames victory, it was another great night in the city that never sleeps.


Twelve arenas in the books, eighteen more to see…


-TheRev

Madison Square Garden Fast Facts

Seats: Section 349; $75, Ticketmaster
Score: Flames 3, Rangers 0
Arena Rating: 7.4
Unique Concession: Pretzels in beer
Souvenir Stick: Rangers, wooden, no color
Public Transit: Everywhere. World’s busiest train station (Penn Station) underneath arena; PATH train below that; NYC subway below that.
Unique Arena Trait: Ice level four storeys above street level, theatre underneath ice
Swag: none

Photos



Next stop is in Montreal to see the Flames play the Habs tomorrow…

A Day to Forget for Number 3

Tonight marked the first night the Dallas Stars looked like the Dallas Stars everyone is used to seeing; minus giving up 37 shots on net. And to solve that problem they had Marty Turco at his finest. He stole the game away for the Stars and did not give the home town Flames much all night.The Flames stuck to their game plan all night, getting pressure on the forecheck and cycling the puck, and cycling the puck, and cycling the puck...The problem was, real scoring chances were few and far between and when they did get an opportunity, they would miss the net wide or Turco would come up with a great save. Turco didn't look like a goalie with a .868 SP and a 3.68 GAA, he looked like the Turco who had 5 straight 30 win seasons. He snapped up rebounds and made numerous key saves to keep the Stars in the lead. Not to mention he hancles the puck better than any goalie not named Martin Brodeur, and even then he might handle better than Brody. The Flames did their darndest to keep it away from him most of the night but whenever given the slightest second he would fire a clearing pass out harder and more accurate than most Defensemen ever thought possible. Looking at the Flames tonight, they did not necessarily play a bad game of hockey, they just could not thwart the Turco fortress. This might be due in part to the lack of PP time the team had all night. One man advantage to speak of all night spaced out over the 1st and 2nd stanzas produced the momentum the Flames needed and the following shift David Moss tied the game up at one. The crowd was into it, the Flames were flying, shift after shift Calgary was pressuring in the Stars end but could not find the net. Then a defensive lapse and Fabian Brunnstrom( supposedly the best player not in the NHL last year, or so you may have heard) went through the Flames resident Pylons of the night, in this case Dion Phaneuf and Mark Giordano, and took the lead at 7:38 of the 2nd. This killed the Flames momentum, and the crowd was totally taken out of the game. On a night when the most talked about player was not even on the ice, Sean Avery, his target earlier in the day Dion Phaneuf had his head in the clouds most of the night. A horrible minus 3 on the night and a key reason for the first goal, did not clear the puck when given the chance, and the 2nd goal, see above twin pylon comment. A game the young talented D man would most like to soon forget, but one that will help him learn down the road. If he thought dating a Hollywood actress would be all glitz and glamour, I guess he did not fully look into what kind of baggage it could possibly bring, and one can only guess how it affected him mentally? Phaneuf, who is still only 23 years old remember, looked like a 23 year old kid tonight. And I guess some nights, until he really matures Flames fans have to expect that. He is going to make mistakes(insert throwing it up the middle in your own zone) he is going to be selfish(trying to go through 2 Dallas Stars in the neutral zone when two of his teammates are open for the pass) and he is simply not always going to be the All-Star that he is made out to be. He has got a long way to go, and hopefully he keeps maturing and getting better, especially in the defensive zone. Right now in my mind Robyn Regehr is 5 times more valuable to the success of the Calgary Flames than Dion Phaneuf is. Phaneuf has the potential to be a great defenseman but he has a longer road ahead than some might think.


Newman on the Flames

Arena #11 - Nationwide Arena

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…

March 18, 2008 – Columbus, OH

A game against the Blue Jackets in Columbus was the final stop in a trip that had already seen games in Washington DC, Atlanta, and Chicago. We left Chicago on Monday afternoon, giving us plenty of time to make the five hour drive to Columbus. The game itself took place on Tuesday night, and I killed time that afternoon at the Jack Nicklaus Museum on the Ohio State University campus. If you’re ever in Columbus, and a fan of Nicklaus or golf, I’d highly recommend a stop there.

Nationwide Arena is in downtown Columbus and part of a new entertainment district called, quite fittingly, the Arena District. The Arena is the focal point, and the plan is to one day have it surrounded by restaurants, bars, and shops, but right now it is still in the development stages, with only a couple of facilities nearby. One of these, a pub called O’Shaughnessy’s, was no more than 50 paces from the main entrance to the arena, so we headed there for a pre-game beer. Much like Dutton’s in it’s proximity to the arena, O’Shaughnessy’s is a great place to head for a drink before the game. Unlike Dutton’s however, it was empty, even though puck drop was only a little over an hour away. When it cam time for the doors to open we headed over to see the arena.

Entering through the main doors of Nationwide, there is a large three storey atrium with floor to ceiling windows facing outside, and the concourse is open to the rink and seating bowl on the other side. We began our walk around the building to see what it had to offer, and went to find our seats. We had purchased tickets in section 219, which was the arena’s “All You Can Eat Seats.” For $30 each, we received tickets in the 200 level and a wrist band for unlimited concessions, which you could redeem at the concession booth right next to our section. Unfortunately this did not include beer, but it did included pop, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, nachos, candy, and ice cream.

After getting our wrist bands, and a couple of dogs, we headed back to the main concourse to continue walking around. There are a couple of unique features in Nationwide Arena on the main level. First off, there is a full practice facility on the east side of the building, which includes a full sized rink and seating for 1500 people. It is not only used for Blue Jacket practices, but can also be rented out for tournaments or rec leagues. From the concourse you can see the facility through large picture windows. On the other side of the concourse, facing the rink, there is a large Civil War-era cannon, which is fired every time the Blue Jackets score. This answers the question of what exactly is a Blue Jacket. I thought it might be some kind of insect, but it is in fact a Union solider from the Civil War, hence the cannon.

As we were finishing our lap of the concourse we were approached by a man and woman in Flames jerseys, who asked us where we were sitting. They had driven to Columbus from Hamilton and had purchased their tickets on eBay. It turned out that he had bought four tickets in the third row behind the Flames’ bench, and as there was only two of them, had planned to give them to the first Flames fans they saw; which happened to be us! The new seats would be farther away from our all-you-can-eat section, but I’d never sat behind the bench like that, so I was willing to make the sacrifice.

As puck drop neared, we made another run upstairs to our concession stand and picked up some hot dogs, nachos, and candy for our new friends from Hamilton. When we arrived at the seats in our new section, 104, we immediately saw the upside and downside of the seats being so low and behind the bench. The proximity to the bench meant you could see more of what’s going on behind the scenes, so to speak. We could see the coaches tapping the next players to head out, and observe all the interaction between the players during play. The downside was, we couldn’t really see much of the game, as there were people standing on benches, five feet in front of us. As a result, we ended up watching much of the game on the jumbotron. Fortunately, we didn’t miss much, as this turned out to be probably the worst performance I’d ever seen by the Flames in the post-lockout era. The Blue Jackets dominated every aspect of the game, and ended up winning 3-0. It was a terrible end to what turned out to be a terrible road trip for the Flames.

After the game, as a result of needing to get back to Calgary, we left Columbus, and began the drive back to Toronto. We ended up spending the night in Ashtabula, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. If you only get one vacation a year, make sure it isn’t to Ashtabula, the kind of broken down town next to the Interstate, that if it weren’t for a couple of gas stations, a few motor inns, and a couple of restaurants, would cease to exist. The next morning, we were up at the crack of dawn, to finish the drive to Toronto. When we arrived at the car rental drop off, the trip odometer read 4,998km; only two off from my pre-trip prediction of 5000! Despite the Flames’ poor performance, it was still a great trip, where we were able to not only see four hockey games, but a lot of the country that we had never seen before.

The Washington-Atlanta-Chicago-Columbus Trip by the numbers:

4,998km driven
8 Nights
14 States
7 State Capitals
4 NHL arenas
10 Flames’ goals
14 Goals Against
1 Win
3 Losses
7 Stops at White Castle/Krystal


Eleven arenas down, nineteen to go…


-TheRev

Nationwide Arena Fast Facts

Seats: Section 218; $35, all-you-can-eat seats; Ticketmaster
Score: Flames 0, Blue Jackets 3
Arena Rating: 7.6
Unique Concession: All-You-Can-Eat Seats
Souvenir Stick: Blue Jackets, blue, wooden
Public Transit: unknown
Unique Arena Trait: Practice rink in the concourse, goal cannon
Swag: none

Photos

Arena #10 - United 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…

March 16, 2008 – Chicago, IL

This leg of our journey began in Atlanta, GA, the morning after watching the Flames blow a 3-0 lead. Having drunk a few too many fruity drinks at the Trader Vic’s in Atlanta, we headed out on the road a little later than we had originally planned. It didn’t matter however, as we had two full days to reach Chicago, and I had only anticipated the drive taking about 12 hours total. We spent one night outside of Louisville, KY on the way there, home to Churchill Downs and the world’s greatest horse race, the Kentucky Derby. When we checked into our hotel that night, we learned we had missed a deadly tornado ripping through downtown Atlanta by only two hours. On TV, we saw images of the CNN Center and Olympic Plaza in ruins, a mere three blocks from our hotel, and where only 12 hours earlier we had been walking around after the hockey game

The game in Chicago was on a Sunday afternoon, and we made our way into the city on Saturday, which gave us a little time to take in the sights of the Windy City. The annual St. Patrick’s Day parade had been held on Saturday morning, and we we’re lucky enough to see the river dyed green for the event. (You might remember this from the movie “The Fugitive.”) We were also lucky enough to see the results of drinking green beer from 7:00AM to 7:00PM, as there were several puddles of green puke on the sidewalk!

The United Center is another new arena, featuring many of the same amenities as any other. One thing that is different however, is the location. The United Center is near downtown, but not right downtown, and not within walking distance of downtown. (especially not in Chicago’s winters) We arrived via the subway, which drops people off three blocks away in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway. The walk to the arena passes empty parking lots and government row housing, and provides an unwelcoming and desolate approach to the facility. The arena itself is surrounded by a sea of parking lots and fences, and is not very inviting. There aren’t any restaurants or shops anywhere near the arena, and only one bar, the Billy Goat Tavern, located about two blocks away. Now, I have never liked afternoon games, as it just doesn’t feel right heading to an arena before you’ve had lunch. There’s a reason it is called Hockey Night in Canada and not Hockey Mid-Afternoon in Canada. However, upon further thought, it might have been a good thing the game was in the afternoon, as the area didn’t look like one a couple of Canadians should be walking around in at night.

We passed through the gates, and were each handed a free green Blackhawks hat, in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Fortunately, we had come equipped with our own green Flames hats, which I had bought the previous year for a game against the wild on March 17th. The Blackhawks are beginning to experience a sort of renaissance. The team is improving because of some new young talent, but it is the passing of long time owner Bill Wirtz that is having the greatest impact. There was suddenly life injected into the franchise by his son Rocky, who took over. This included broadcasting games on TV (something that hadn’t been done in over 40 years) inviting former players like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita to the arena as “hockey ambassadors,” (they wouldn’t set foot in the United Center because of their dislike for their former boss), and many other fan-friendly efforts. According to some Blackhawks fans we talked to after the game, old man Wirtz’s passing was like flipping a switch on the franchise, and it began to turn around almost immediately.

The concourses of the Untied Center are fairly standard, being wide, well lit and clean. The concessions are also pretty standard, except that most of them serve Chicago-style hot dogs instead of your normal frank. The dogs also come in a convenient hot dog coffin, which encloses around the dog and snaps shut, avoiding any possible spilling; perfect for taking to your seat. One unique concession was the Budweiser Brew Pub, which included an actual working brewery inside the arena, and a large seating area to enjoy a beer before the game, much like Dutton’s in the Dome.

We headed to the seats well before puck drop, to check out the seating bowl and ice. The United Center is the 2nd largest arena in the NHL, with a capacity of 20,500. As a result, the seating bowl is huge, and very cavernous. It is made even worse by the fact that the Blackhawks rarely sell out; in fact their average attendance this season is only 13,000. However, as with everything else, this has been on the rise since the passing of Bill Wirtz, and the team has even had a couple of sell-outs in the middle of a losing season. Our seats were located in section 109, in the corner of the Flames’ attack end. We were low enough that we could still hear the players, but high enough there we could see over the glass. Given my druthers, this is probably where I would want my season tickets to be.

As we approached puck drop, we prepared ourselves for something we had heard about going to Blackhawks games, the National Anthems. Unlike most arenas in Canada, where people sing along with the anthem, or most arenas in the States, where people turn toward the flag and salute, the fans in Chicago go, for lack of a better word, bezerk. As the anthem started, the cheering began, and not just a little bit of clapping or whistling, but rampant, hollering, cheering, screaming, arm waving and fist pumping. I’d never seen anything like it. The crowd was louder during the anthem than when the Blackhawks scored. The game ended up being a nice change of pace for us on this road trip, as the Flames dominated the game from start to finish and out played the Hawks in pretty much every way. On the backs of Iginla, Aucoin, Phaneuf and Huselius, the Flames were able to leave the Windy City with a 4-2 victory, and a chance of evening up their record on this road trip in two nights in Columbus.

After the game, which due to the afternoon start ended at 3:30PM, we headed to the Billy Goat Tavern for a beer. Despite being surrounded by Blackhawks fans, we walked in with our heads held high, and weren’t worried at all about hearing any verbal from the opposition. While drinking green beer (it was still St. Paddy’s Day weekend after all), we met a group of 40 Blackhawks fans from Wisconsin, who rent a bus and drive down for every afternoon game, something they had been doing for over 15 years. We even managed to make our way into the group photo they take for each trip; 40 Hawks jerseys and two Flames jerseys. The fraternity of hockey fans was alive and well in Chicago.

Ten arenas down, one third of the league, and only twenty to go…


-TheRev

United Center Fast Facts

Seats: Section 109; $75; Blackhawks
Score: Flames 4, Blackhawks 2
Arena Rating: 6.4
Unique Concession: Chicago-style dog in hot dog sarcophagus
Souvenir Stick: Blackhawks, red, wooden
Public Transit: ‘El’ Station three blocks from arena
Unique Arena Trait: Brewery in arena
Swag: Blackhawks St. Paddy’s Day hats

Photos



Now it’s on to Columbus, Ohio to see if the Flames can even up this trip…