We showed up to the event a bit later than we planned to because traffic was crazy.
The last game we went to at the RBC Arena, on New Years Day, we got to the arena about an hour before and we pulled right in with almost no wait and walked to our seats. Of course, the game was not sold out but it was not empty either. For this, we tried to get there about 50 minutes early and we walked in about 15 minutes before it started. Traffic! We ended up circling the entire arena to get to this dirt parking lot. I don’t know if a bunch of normal spots were blocked off for All-Star festivities (concerts and venues) or what? Pandemonium! The arena was about half empty for the start of the event and I did not see an empty seat by the last event, so I do not think that we were the only one surprised by the traffic. And that is about the end of the negativity because everything else about the event was awesome! |
| The new camera has a panoramic feature but it did not work so well with that glass |
When we walked in, we discovered how awesome our seats were! Row E (five) near the goal line. You could see the players well and even read what brand their skates were (if you’re a goalie gear whore like I am, things like that are important).
We immediately started snapping pictures and trying to update our status on Facebook (stupid AT&T/RBC Center prevented this until after the game, but that is not the fault of the All-Star game). Shortly after that, something terrible happened. A Penguins fan sat down next to me. I consider myself lucky that he was a nice guy and we had a good time bantering with each other, but in reality, he is the lucky one. Lucky there was no snow for me to make a snowball with a battery inside of it to throw at him and/or Santa Clause (look it up, Philly fans are classy!).
Highlights from the event were:
One of my favorite events was the trick shot shoot out. This is where the guys try to do crazy between the legs shots and other imaginative things. Surprisingly, one of the highlights was the Pittsburgh goaltender Flurry. He was doing push-ups as the guys came down the ice, stacking the pads, and twisting poke checks. Just having a good time. Personally, I think Suban had the best attempt at a goal (they typically don't score because they are trying crazy shots) where he flipped it up as he came down the far side of the goal, then skated around the goal and tried to bat it out of the air as it came down. My next favorite was the guy who got the puck up on his stick and flipped it around like he was playing lacrosse and then flung it at the goal (hit the crossbar). The fans gave the award to Ovechkin which I'm not upset about. He had some good ones too and he has such a fun personality when he is out there. Plus, he is the Great 8.
Another funny event was during the accuracy shooting contest where you try to hit styrofoam targets in the net. One of the Sedin brothers went four for four which is pretty awesome, but that was not the funny part. The crowd got excited when the home team, the Hurricanes, player (Staal) decided to compete. They started a "Lets go Canes" chant. Normally, good idea. When your player is going head to head with a player named Kane (pronounced just like Canes), you might want to rethink which cheer you use. In fitting fashion, Kane won (probably because the crowd was chanting his name).
The team's mascots were roaming the arena that night and we had the misfortune of running into one of them. As if sitting with a Pittsburgh fan was not bad enough, I had to put up with this crap!
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| You can tell how happy I am to have a Devil behind me creeping into my picture |
Another highlight was witnessing a new World Record for hardest shot. Chara beat his own record and posted 105.9 MPH. Glad I was not standing in front of that shot.
As a final reflection, I must say that there were a TON of Flyers fans there. I believe that after the Hurricanes fans (which had to have been over 80% of the fans) the next jersey I saw the most was a Flyers jersey. And you know they all loved my orange pants.
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| Giroux doing one-timers |
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| Brier had two goals in the game on Sunday and he was not originally invited |
All things considered, we had a great time and the event was well worth the money. I’m not sure I would fly across the country and pay for a hotel to attend another all-star weekend, but I might be willing to drive a couple of hours if they have it somewhere nearby.
It would be a cool opportunity to see a city and plus the players honestly look like they are having a good time. The players all start out on the bench and by the end of the night, they are all on the ice in a line so they can see what the next guy is going to do.
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