arena report: staples center

i've been realllllllly slacking with the arena reports. i feel like a bad student who's overdue with a number of essays (MSG was in NOVEMBER for cryin' out loud !!!) so here's the first of three and with any luck i'll get all of them done sometime this week.
:)

the staples center in los angeles is housed in an urban-planned, comprehensive entertainment complex called LA LIVE, which also includes the nokia theatre, the grammy museum, an absurdly clean open plaza and walking mall, apartments, movie theatres, hotels & restaurants etc. it's *conveniently* located in a barren nighttime wasteland of officetowers in the city's downtown, largely deserted after dark, and miles from the hustle of hollywood blvd, the sunset strip, and the beaches. but it does boast a pretty sick statue of the Great One (who seems, in this photo, to be glowing from the junk).


i brought the original GIO jersey out of retirement for this trip, and wanted my LA-based superfun girl friend carly to taunt the kisscam types with me, so we set off to find her a kings jersey. i like the current black LA home model, the home alts, and i'm a huge fan of their purple and gold thirds, but the only ladies' cut they stock in the staples center shop is the white away jersey (and all of them are lettered DOUGHTY !!). i found an employee and inquired if, indeed, the only option in a ladies cut was the road version with "greasy muthafucka" on the back. she laughed and said yes, "unfortunately," and went on to proclaim her love for captain dustin brown... we finally found a kings logo-emblazoned shirt that was purple, kinda cute, and reasonably priced, and when we set about ripping off the tags after purchasing it, i realized alyssa milano is still involved in designing stuff for hockey-loving females. hmph.

our seats were pretty good --13th row off the ice about halfway between the blueline and the goal. there were a few other flames fans in the joint but nobody "oi oi oi"d my "iggy iggy iggy" so they didn't appear to be imports like me. i WAS on the receiving end for a number of highfives in acknowledgment of the flaming C i was sporting.... :)

it turns out that in LA the ice girls hang in the concourse between periods, but they were truly no help at all in my efforts to track down bailey (king of the jungle) for a photo... it took me most of the game to track the big cat down but i eventually squared that away in the middle of the third. as for the arena snack, i was directed by a number of people towards "CPK." even though i was trying to steer away from pizza (the arena snack of choice in detroit), california pizza kitchen is actually quite awesomely good, largely based on the option of chicken as a topping, and the liberal appearance of cilanto. nice touch, CPK... well played. i washed the deliciousness down with a pint of blue moon on tap, which only served to remind me how shitty the pour is back home at the 'dome.... :(

(this pic would've been better if i didn't lose 2xcameras last year)

other staples center notables:

- the crowd were pretty decent at chanting "go kings go" and at inserting "FLAMES SUCK" during the clapping parts of the organ-played "addams family," but since nashville's got the market cornered on chanting, it was largely tame. nobody seemed to cheer along with me as i yelled "GO PANCAKES !!!" when penner did much of anything, though more than a couple people snickered... ;)

- the evening began with a pretty serious laser light show that reminded me of zepplin nights at the planetarium when i was in high school. except that i knew there was a hockey game at its culmination, so it wasn't just lasers then curfew...

- the jumbotron in LA is outrageously amazing. it has the four (presumably LED) main screens around the side with the four "scoreboard" screens in between, and then it has four MORE screens at an angle underneath. you can see in the attached photo. too bad i caught the introduction for rob scuderi and not someone... y'know.... good.

- speaking of introductions ---like they do in jersey, as they announced the flames starting roster, the crowd yells "sucks" following each player. for example "number 12 jarome iginla" "...SUCKS." gotta hand it to those americans. really highbrow stuff, right there.

i guess that's it. flames beat the kings 2-1 in shootout, bringing my flames on-the-road points total to 10 out of a possible 16, if i remember correctly (wins in DET, NASH, STL, & LA, shootout losses in MIN & NJ, and losses in BUF, EDM). the flames should seriously consider taking me on the road.

:)

something's rotten in the state of dionmark....

puck daddy posted this yesterday confirming the slow death of dion's smile. i would like to use it to demonstrate the un-receding of his hairline....

interesting.
:)

(pocket) gaudreau update: BEANPOT MVP !!

johnny gaudreau getting the beanpot MVP
(how AWESOME is this guy !??!?)

i have absolutely no excuse for the amount i (don't) post ---i've got three arena reports in the hopper and one of these days i'll get around to writing them. i've also got opinions on the upcoming "forever a flame" honorees and how ken king has forced me to put airquotes around the word "retire" when talking about sending former flames' jersey numbers to the rafters... and there's always the further adventures of the "mcrimmon" poster at flamescentral (which, btw, was removed two days after my letter to ken king). i'll get around to those. i'll try to put up a little each day for the next while. i can't not !! it's not like i'm employed... ;)

THANKFULLY, there's some upcoming news on the pocket gaudreau project, and today i got a proverbial kick-in-the-pants to write something AWESOME about flames prospect johnny gaudreau from his family... where to start ?!?

pocket gaudreau is officially on the move. after his brief initial winter sojurn in calgary around xmastime, he headed off to puerto rico to visit arik. it was a busy time for our favorite coast guarder, as PG was momentarily ignored while arik spent time with his first born daughter and newest/smallest flames fan, claire mika marie. no photos from PG's time with arik have emerged as of yet, but you can keep an eye out here and also on PG's very own twitter site. i've heard PG has been sealed in an envelope and addressed onward, so check your mailboxes !!! he might be enroute to you !!! :)

in other news, the REAL johnny gaudreau had quite the week as well, as he brought home the MVP title at boston's annual beanpot tournament. bahstahner, ryan lambert, posted some interesting commentary on the subject over at flamesnation, and the org posted some nice stuff over on their site as well. massive congratulations to johnny and the entire gaudreau family on the win, and on being bestowed such an honour... [with a "U" cause we're canadian]
:)

(thanks to the original PG for the photos !!)

as the nhl trade deadline approaches, folks like us can only cross our fingers and hope eternally that feaster/king don't ship off what few solid prospects we have in the formerly "bare cupboards" for splashy vetrerans with ill-advised contracts (gaudreau would certainly be named a keeper in this sort of talk, along with sven baertschi and max reinhart).

the flames honour mcCrimmon

the flames will honour former team captain and '89 cup winner, brad mccrimmon tonight before the game vs. the wings at the saddledome. i think it's a kind and decent gesture by the club, but it got my blood boiling when i realized that, while they are fast to put on a big extravagant show, they still have not corrected the spelling of mcCrimmon's name in the upstairs gallery at flamescentral; an establishment that the organization itself co-owns.

hence, a letter i sent this afternoon to team prez, ken king, as well as VP of communications, peter hanlon, and (to stir shit up) the grandpuckdaddy himself, greg wyshinski.

Dear Mr. King:

I find it inexcusable and embarassing that the Calgary Flames organization is honouring Brad McCrimmon with a ceremony before tonight's game, while the photograph that bears his image has been hanging in the upstairs gallery at FlamesCentral (a bar that is co-owned by the club) for nearly FIVE YEARS with his name mis-spelled.

I brought this error to the attention of the Flames' Media Director, Peter Hanlon, in person at the Flames' Fan Forum in 2010, and my colleague, mentioned it in an email sent to yourself and Victor Choy (Co-Founder & Co-President of the Flames' business partner in FlamesCentral, The Concorde Group) in March of last year.

The attached photo was taken today, January 31, 2012.

I think it's shameful to endorse a public tribute to a man who was a pillar in the local community, a former team captain, and a Stanley Cup winner in Calgary ---who died in one of the game's worst tragedies--- when you can't be bothered to take the time or the effort to re-create a one-inch by six-inch name plate in a shrine that's been on display for nearly half a decade within an establishment that is owned by the team. Surely if you're willing to spend the money on pre-game skate "McCrimmon" jerseys for an entire team, countless hours by countless people preparing jumbotron footage of his career highlights, and no doubt some kind of donation to charity and/or endowment to his family, you can see to it that this oversight FINALLY gets corrected.

I thank you in advance for your efforts in putting this matter to rest,
walkinvisible

maybe it'll get fixed once and for all. i used caps and everything...

god bless brad mccrimmon. rest in peace, brother.
x

pocket gaudreau takes a left turn !!

when i was visiting arik in puerto rico a few months back, we came up with the pocket gaudreau project ----cause we decided that john gaudreau was indubitably THE most awesome, and hands down the cutest, flames prospect on the roster. so i went ahead and made a little laminated version of the kid, that was (in theory) gonna be sent around the world and photographed in all sorts of fun places. i snapped him in a snow drift in my backyard before taking the wee one to the dome to watch the flames beat the avs...

and then i set him free.
;)

i heard he made it to aguadilla but arik never sent photos. and then PG apparently went to england but i'm still hangin' out to see what he did there. i have no idea where he got to after that or if he's stagnating somewhere under some books on someone's desk in the motherland.... it's kinda too bad cause i'd love to chart his progress if anyone wants to let me know where he's at... i probably should've written a return address on'im....

but i digress.

all of a sudden, a totally unimaginably different (but FAR COOLER) thing happened: hitthepost became the unofficial web host of AWESOME johnny gaudreau pics.... huge thankyous to the original PG for starting the wave.

pocket gaudreau hits Beebe Plain Vt . USA


SO amazing.
:)

#playIRV

young leland on the bench in tampa (thx to kingjafi for the pic)

there's a lot of talk about whether or not leland irving should get some nhl starts, and i think the general consensus amongst sane people is that he should get all of the games that henrik karlsson was "scheduled" to play as the flames' #1 backup 'tender. no more, no less. in that time, we'll hopefully get a glimpse of what we've got as a netminding prospect.

in a whimsical sortof analogy, i think young leland is like a geode, and we're on the verge of breaking it open. from the outside, he's nothing really to talk about. y'know, like this:

but we're on the verge of cracking him open and who knows what kind of gem we've got ?!!


unfortunately, i think hank will come back after only a handful of games for the kid (unfortunately ? yeah, i said that...) and the small sample size of games will not sway the flames' hockey ops folks either way. i wasn't a fan of the two year karlsson signing as i thought it essentially told irving they weren't gonna give him a chance with the big club, and that they would likely skip over him in favour of joni ortio in the coming years (with the timeframe and length of the karlsson/kiprusoff deals). i thought it was rather.... discourteous (?) to a goalie who'd given the org his all since being drafted in 2006.

i'd love for leland to prove he's an nhl-level competitor, and then take his contract renegotiations as far as they can go this summer when he becomes an RFA. why ? because i can't stand the continual mismanagement of assets on this team.

#playIRV

Arena Report: Rogers Arena

There are a lot of things to love about Rogers Arena: fabulous downtown location, easy access via public transit, heaps of great restaurants and bars just a hop skip and jump away, everything that happened there on June 15th, the golden goal... But they are all pretty much outweighed by the fact that the Canucks call Rogers home ;)

Like I said, there are a plethora of choices for drinks and food an easy walk from the arena, ranging from Vancouver-snobby to loveable dives. But last game I pre-gamed at a friend's place in Yaletown rather than at a bar, mostly because the booze is free, and Flames vs. Canucks games tend to require a healthy dose of booze. But also because Yaletown condos have views like this:

Sunset over False Creek.

Rogers has, I guess, become my home arena over the past few years, even though I loathe the Canucks to an unhealthy degree. Vancouver has a great pre-game vibe, with lots of energy in the downtown core, even for an early start game on a Sunday night in December. The walk across town is filled with people in jerseys streaming to the arena and piling into bars for beer and nachos, and it's a pretty friendly crowd, even for those of us in red. The Flames fans — and Calgary is usually well-represented — are always ridiculous happy to see each other, ducking across the concourse to share high-fives with strangers and shouting "Go Flames!" from the other side of the street while the Canucks fans remind us that our team has missed the playoffs two years running, and we ask them if they've lit anything on fire lately ;) It's a great place to be an away fan, really. (Well, except that the Canucks own the Flames. But we can hardly control that.)

Rogers has a pretty generic arena feel, though recent tributes to things like the Olympics and the Canucks' 40 years have helped. The in-game entertainment is decent, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. Which is good when you're paying $60+ to sit in the top row.

Iginla to Crosby and in plays on a loop on the concourse.

I was at the game with two ticket holders, and we had a healthy debate as to what might constitute signature food at Rogers Arena. My votes were for either White Spot burgers — White Spot is a Vancouver institution, after all — or rice bowls, because I'm not sure those are available in a lot of NHL rinks. They thought beef dips, which seemed a bit generic to me. So we appealed to Guest Services, who promptly sent us to get "the best sandwiches in the building" at a concession stand on the exact opposite side of the concourse from us...which was closed. Very helpful. And by that time we had about reached the point where I had to either feed one of my friends or send him home to bed, so we scarfed down overpriced sausages and chased them with crappy — and even more overpriced — beer.

And that beer...yuck. Luckily, Wiser's Centre Ice Grill is a full bar, and one of my friends runs a tab. It's a great place to spend an intermission, and it's possible to get up there, have a couple of drinks, and get back to your seat before puck drop. To be honest, most of the third period is a blur. Too many mystery shots during second intermission? Wiser's is also a convenient post-game meeting location when you've got friends spread across the arena. The only downside? The bartender refused to pour me a glass of water and instead gave me this:

 I'm not used to sitting up top in Rogers, but it does allow a great view of the fans streaming out of the game once the score gets lopsided, and there weren't many people in the stands by the time the game ended. Surprisingly it was the Canucks fans who were leaving, while most of the Flames faithful seemed to stick it out. Felt like the building was empty by the time the final buzzer sounded. In recent years it's become more common for Canucks fans to come late and leave early, unfortunately.

Post-game, we headed back to Yaletown, and ended up in...a couple of bars. And, in true Vancouver fashion, we ended the night at a raw bar. Because, well, why not?

FYI, raw oysters to end a night of heavy drinking? Actually pretty great.

nyc: the nhl store boycotts cool flames stuff

this is definitely overdue (as is my arena report on MSG, i realize now) but the beauty of hitthepost is that we only write when we feel like it.... so i'm gonna try to hammer out a few entries over the holidays. starting today.

for the record: i totally understand the lack of calgary flames stuff at the NHL store on manhattan's avenue of the americas; it's not like merch sporting flaming Cs would be flying off the shelves in a market where half the shoppers probably couldn't find calgary on a map. heck, one of the ushers at the flames v. devils tilt last year in jersey asked me if calgary was in the the same league (ie: the NHL !!!), cause she'd never heard of it.... so yeah. you can definitely buy a jersey, and there are a few different options in tshirts, but what stunned me is that you can't buy a single "cool" item with a flames' logo (aside from this reebok ---avs and oilers seen in the background-- which comes in all 30 team models).


i asked an employee if there was any "good" flames merch available (maybe in the back ?) and he brought me a mug, an ugly banner thingo, a jarome action figure, and a mini-stick. just in case you thought you read that wrong, it was a shitty small mug, a banner, an iggy figurine, and a mini stick. no toques, no glassware, none of the basics, and certainly none of the AWESOME stuff:

(left: flyers zamboni nightlight !!!)

(right: habs hockey bag shaped toiletries bag/purse)

a brief (admittedly not-thorough) look over on nhl.com doesn't have these items with a flames logo, either. i think it's totally bunk. the good news is that my east coast team is the rangers, and there was obviously an exorbitant amount of cool stuff with the blueshirts' logo. except i couldn't bring myself to buy any of it.... so it's not really that good news.

anyhow, it's xmastime and i would have loved it if one of my friends or family had the option of some cool flames stuff to get me. instead, i'll probably get something lame (cause that's all there is). ah, well. i've already got two signed gio jerseys so it's not like anyone could top that anyways... ;)

Happy Holidays Flames Fans.

Courtesy of my dear friends over at eBay (who I may add are the newest sponsor of my posts here at htp)...I bring you the Calgary Flames Gnome...

Just in time for the holidays, you can get yourselves (or a family member or loved one or that Oiler fan at your office who was so sure the Oil had turned the corner this season) one of these interesting pieces of Flames merchandise. It's not really clear to me what this gnome is used for but it seems to be some sort of garden item. Duh...who doesn't know you're supposed to put gnomes in your garden...especially ones wearing Flames jerseys that appear to be on fire. I'm sure they're supposed to scare rabbits or some sort of vermin away from eating those prized carrots you've been growing for the past few months. Anyways, Travelocity has nothing on this particular bearded little man and your neighbors will be soooooo jealous. Here's the deal...as of the time I've drafted this post, there are two available for $24.95 each plus $4.99 shipping ($30.58 CAD). You know they're gonna get snatched up fast (stocking stuffer for sure) after this post goes live so here's the link...

Calgary Flames Gnome

Happy Holidays Flames Fans!

blogger meetup: DECEMBER 23 !!

(darren helm as todd bertuzzi. editor's note: i'm now in love with darren helm)

hey, remember last year when we held a blogger meet-up at schanks north (cause steinberg was working the game and had to be there) on december 23rd, and the flames beat dallas and then the entire season started to turn around ? yeah, well we're doing that again and hopefully it'll spurn the same results (though a playoff finish, would be nice this year, thank you very much).

where: schanks north, 103 crowfoot terrace NW calgary
when: december 23rd, 2011 8:00pm
who: flames v. canucks
why: to hang, chill, watch, cheer, drink, and have fun with some of your calgary flames blogger brethren. also ? why NOT ??!

i'm fairly certain that the guestlist will be decent. i'll be there, for starters. i know Pstein will be there cause he gets paid to. hitthepost sometimes-blogger mikeH will be there, and jazzyV from M&G. if any of kent wilson from flamesnation, hayley from M&G, and our very own duncan are in town, they'll show up for sure. maybe dph will come if he can free himself from the new family. newsboy says he'll make the effort from mackenzie town (hopefully he brings the wife cause she's outrageously hot), and wilhelm from edmonton has pondered the journey.... are YOU coming ?!?

(you should)
:)