HIFK – Lukko (07-10-2017)

 

After seeing two soccer games at rather low level, I thought I would reward myself by going to see a hockey game in the highest division in Finland, the Liiga, traditionally one of the hockey supper powers in Europe.

 

Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (Sporting Society Comrades, Helsinki) plays in the Helsingin jäähalli (Helsinki Ice Hall), a modernized hockey stadium, originally built in 1966, which holds 8,200 people. I buy a ticket for €25.50, which puts me high in the corner, but still with a great view of the rink.

 

The stadium is almost two-thirds full, with an official attendance of 6,613, and has a cozy and lively atmosphere. The audience is white, but very mixed in age and class, with some 25 percent women. I don’t see many away supporters, but Lukko (Lock) is from the town of Rauma, in the Swedish speaking part of southwestern Finland, roughly 250 km (ca.  160 miles) from Helsinki.

 

While HIFK dominates the opening minutes, and even hits the post, but Lukko scores the first goal: 0-1 in the 6^th minute. In the 16^th minute HIFK gets a great chance in Power Play, but misses.. Two minutes later they do finish a rebound with a low, hard shot: 1-1. Despite two more good shot of the home team, two good saves by the Lukko goalie make 1-1 the score after the first period.

 

In the 3^rd minute of the 2^nd period a covered shot from 5 meters goes high in the goal: 2-1 for HIFK. The play becomes even messier, with many smaller and bigger mistakes on both sides, and very poor Power Play. They do like to hit the boarding hard, but overall the game is not rough. A few big misses ensure that 2-1 is the score after the second period.

 

At the beginning of the third period HIFK gets to play 6 against 4, as two Lukko players have penalties, and still the Power Play is bad. They miss three chances from about 2 meters. Seconds after Lukko is complete again, the hosts score with a “lost” shot in the corner: 3-1. The Power Play of Lukko isn’t good either. Overall, both teams miss a couple of chances, which means 3-1 is also the final score.

 

To be honest, I had expected better hockey in the Finnish top league, but maybe this was just a sloppy game. In any case, the atmosphere was really good and Helsinki Ice Hall is a cozy and real hockey arena any hockey fan should visit.

Detroit Red Wings – Phoenix Coyotes (14-12-2009)

As my Brazilian friend and colleague A. is about to go back to Rio, we planned a farewell trip to Hockeytown USA: Detroit, Michigan. To my surprise I had been able to buy tickets online, through the dreaded Ticketmaster: $38 + $6.50 “service charge” (ca. €30.50). We left South Bend around 14.00, making sure that we would be in time for both the game and the Coney Island test. Fortunately, it wasn’t snowing, so we made the 210 miles (ca. 340 km) within 4 hours, including a snack stop.

We parked under the Civic Center and followed some (drunken) fans to the Joe Louis Arena. “The Joe” is a hockey arena and has been home to the Detroit Red Wings since 1979. It holds 20,066 people for Red Wings games. As soon as you walk in, you taste the tradition.

Detroit was among the six original founders of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1917. However, at that time the team was called the Cougars (1926-30), later changed to the Falcons (1930-32), and finally the Red Wings (since 1932). During their more than 80 year existence the team won numerous titles, most recently their eleventh Stanley Cup in 2008.

After checking out the merchandise, which was out of control, we made our way to our places. We were totally at the top of the first rank, in between some die hard Red Wings fans. To my surprise the stadium was at best 75% full, which might be due to a combination of a bad start of the season and the economic crisis (which, yet again, hits Michigan hard). The view from our seats was fine though.

After the obligatory national anthem, which was interrupted by a shout (something I have never experienced before in the US), we got ready for the game with, how could it be anything else, “Detroit Rock City” of KISS! Magic!

The first period started a bit slow, but within minutes the Red Wings started to combine well and create some chances. A good combination leads to 1-0, and finally some noise in the Joe. While the Coyotes had power play, the Red Wings got out with a counter and score with a lucky shot: 2-0. Not much later the Coyotes score while a Red Wings player is on the ground, which leads to massive booing and a 2-1 score after the first period.

Shortly into the second period the Red Wings shoot softly at goal and the Coyotes goalie totally misses it: 3-1. The hosts dominate the rest of the period, but the play gets poorer and poorer. While the fans around us are clearly hardcore, they don’t make much noise. Moreover, the only chant seems to be “Let’s go Red Wings”. Just before the end of the second period, the Coyotes score through a hard shot: 3-2.

The third period starts out fairly well, with the Coyotes pressing for the tie. The Red Wings hardly feature in the game. The people around us get worried, but in the end the Red Wings hold on to the tight one-goal lead.

There is no doubt that hockey is alive in Detroit. The city lives for its Red Wings, even if The Joe isn’t always sold out. That said, the atmosphere was less impressive than I had expected. Moreover, the team’s performance was light years away from that of the Red Wings that dominated the NHL only a couple of years ago. They do miss Steve Yzerman.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Atlanta Thrashers (07-12-2009)

I had to be for business in Toronto and decided to go and see a game of the Maple Leafs, the pride of the city and an established member of the National Hockey League (NHL). To my surprise I was able to buy a ticket through Ticketmaster, three weeks before the game, for $62.50 (this includes a $7.50 “convenience charge”) – incidentally, we are talking Canadian dollars here, which are a bit cheaper than American dollars (equivalent is ca. €40). Fortunately I was able to get a ‘real’ ticket from the guy next to me, as the Ticketmaster tickets are so boring.

I picked up my ticket at the Will Call ticket office of the Air Canada Centre (ACC), in downtown Toronto, roughly an hour before the game. I was surprised to see already long lines in front of the stadium. After changing clothes in my hotel, I walked back to the stadium, just in time for the national anthems.

Turns out that $62.50 buys you a seat at the top row of the stadium. Damn, that is far up. Oddly enough, you see the game quite well. Still, you are somewhat watching other people watching the game, as you are so far up.

The Air Canada Centre holds 18,800 people for hockey games, and although this game was by and large sold out, there were many empty seats. Probably many people couldn’t be bothered to come and were unable to sell their (season) ticket – the Leafs are not having a good start of the season. The first period was dismal: slow, uninspiring, few real goal attempts, and the Leafs not even scoring with two men more on the ice: 0-0.

The second period was the exact opposite of the first. Although the hockey wasn’t that much better, the Leafs seemed to score every short on goal. Within one period, and without really dominating or excelling, the Leafs went from 0-0 to 5-0! Finally they had woken up, and so had the crowd.

I used the break between the second and third period to wonder around the stadium, get some quite decent buffalo chicken with fries, and a souvenir for my brother (who always has had a weakness for the Leafs). The audience was quite diverse, though whiter and more male than the very multicultural city.

The five goals in the second period seemed to have been all that the Leafs were willing to do. The third period was like the first, as far as the hosts were concerned, but this time the visitors were doing the scoring. Without necessarily improving their game extensively, the Thrashers scored twice, while the Leafs had signed off for the day: 5-2 the final score.

This was the fourth NHL game I visited, and yet again I was left disappointed. The pace of the game is so slow, the skating and stick handling technique is remarkably average, and the atmosphere is far from spectacular… and that in Toronto, at the Maple Leafs, one of the institutions of North American hockey. Let’s hope my next game, in Detroit, will redeem the NHL.

Atlanta Thrashers – New York Islanders (28-02-2008)

February is not a good month for sports in the US. Both the football (no, it’s not ‘soccer’!) and the American football seasons have not started yet, and neither has the baseball competition (if one would care to go and watch that). So, you by and large have (professional or college) basketball and ice hockey to chose from, an easy choice, even in Atlanta.

Together with my girlfriend and some of her friends I arrived late at the Philips Arena (yes, Eindhoven’s second source of pride, after PSV, is everywhere!). That’s the price you pay for going to a good Mexican restaurant before the game. Anyway, we park close to the arena and join a large group of people – being late at a sports event is not a problem in the US, as the sports is secondary to the eating. We had ordered tickets online, at just 29 dollar per two!

As most sports arenas in the US, the Philips Arena is a combination of a food court, an entertainment park, and a sports arena. Still, it is a beautiful sight. It was opened in 1999 and cost a staggering 213.5 million dollar to build. It is home to both the local basketball (Hawks) and hockey team (Thrashers). For hockey games it can hold 18,545 people. While hockey is not big in the South, the Atlanta Thrashers have built a quite nice following in their ten years of existence. On average they draw a crowd of 15,768. Unfortunately, for this low-key game against the New York Islanders the arena was only half full (my estimate, but maybe everyone was just eating).

As in the previous times I visited an NHL game, I was far from impressed by what I saw. The Thrashers were absolutely dramatic in the back and were 2-0 behind after 10 minutes. Both goals were mistakes of the Thrashers rather than good plays by the (also poor) Islanders. The Thrashers are a strange team: most players are fairly unknown, and those known, are in their late thirties (e.g. Hedberg, Holik, Recchi). The Islanders have always been in the shadow of their big city rivals, the New York rangers. I mainly was interested in Miroslav Satan, who does not only have the coolest name in sports, but is also a very good Slovak forward. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in this game.

After the Islanders had scored their third, it was time for a break, in which I checked out all the food places. Shortly in the second period the Thrashers finally scored: 3-1. For some bizarre reason, the Islanders completely fell apart and by the end of the second period the score was equal: 3-3. The third period was tight and therefore exciting, even if the hockey itself remained of poor quality. Quickly into the third period the Islanders scored the 3-4, but 1.22 minutes before the end old-timer Bobby Holik equalized: 4-4 and extra time. The crowd went wild.

The euphoria and refound optimism of the Thrashers fans was short-lived, however. Three minutes into extra time the Islanders scored: 4-5 and game over! On the upside, the (many) Thrashers fans at least had some sense of pride, even if it lasted for just a couple of minutes. On the downside, until they will buy a lot of new players, the Thrashers will remain a team struggling to even make the play-offs, let alone win them.

HC Slavia Praha – HC Slovan Ústečtí Lvi (13-01-2008)

I hadn’t been back to Prague since 2003, but boy, what a beautiful city it is. As it was the heart of Winter, and the Czech football league takes a very long winter break, a football hop was out of the question. However, there is something even better, at least in the Czech Republic: ice hockey. In my humble opinion, the Czech league is the most exciting ice hockey league in Europe; or, at least, it used to be in the 1990s.

As my favorite team (HC Sparta Praha) was playing for the European league, my girlfriend MG and I decided to see a game of town rivals Slavia. Fortunately I checked their website the day before the game, as I had completely missed the fact that they had exchanged their old Communist-style stadium for the brand new Sazka Arena. This ultramodern stadium was built for the 2004 Men’s Ice Hockey World Championships and holds 18.000 people, making it one of the biggest ice hockey stadiums in Europe.

After a 15 minute ride with the yellow metro line B, we got out at station Ceskomoravska and walked the 400 meters to the Arena. We were more than an hour early, so the only scattered fans around were the visitors from Usti nad Labem, a destitute city close to the German border (some 85 km north of Prague). We bought tickets a couple of rows behind the dug-outs, which at 250 Czech Crowns (ca. 9.50 euro) a piece must have been among the most expensive tickets I ever bought for a sports game in Eastern Europe. The game between the number two and number last of the O2 Extraliga, the Czech First Division, attracted some 3.500 spectators, not even bad for a Sunday evening in Prague, but fairly pathetic in such a huge stadium. While the home fans were by far the more visible and vocal, the ca. 500 away fans were enthusiastic and seemed to have the day of their life in this ultramodern surrounding.

The expected severe beating of Slovan didn’t take place. Although Slavia did start well, being 1-0 up, Slovan came back and turned the score around to a shocking 1-2 after the first period. While both the visitors and the home fans didn’t believe their eyes, the former enjoyed themselves tremendously.

The second period was fully for Slavia, 2-0, although the team hardly impressed. But with 3-2 after two periods, the game was still well open. With the level of play deteriorating even further, the game remained extremely tight. In the third and last period Slovan fought like devils and came back to 3-3. Unfortunately, Slavia was able to score the 4-3 and defend it to the end of the game, to the relief of their fans.

While MG was raving about her first hockey game, I could not help but feel a bit cheated out of my East European experience. Sure, the Sazka Arena is beautiful, but it has the same problem as all those new ultramodern football stadiums: no character. There is nothing ‘Czech’ about it. In fact, I felt more at a NFL game than at an Extraliga game. I cannot help it, but I missed the old Eden Stadion!

Groundhopweekend February 2005

My, my, what a weekend! I cannot remember the last time I was so cold! And I mean C-O-L-D!!! And on this cold(est) weekend I was groundhopping. Yep, and it again didn’t exactly go as planned.

Hannover Scorpions -- Iserlohn Roosters (25-02-2005)

On Friday afternoon my brother T.M. and a friend of him picked me up at Schiphol airport and we were on our way to Hannover to see a game in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Having driven around the traffic jams we arrived more than an hour in advance to the beautiful, brand-new TUI Arena. The hall can hold 10.600 people for icehockey games, which makes it a large-size ring. For this game some 6.000 people turned up, among whom a remarkable number of girls and women.

We bought tickets for a standing place behind the goal for 14 euro and entered the stadium. The atmosphere was classically good, as with all sport manifestations in Germany. The icehockey was a lot less good, particularly from the hosts. They were 2-0 behind after 6 minutes and never looked like winning. The final score of 2-6 was deserved, even if Iserlohn didn’t play a top match.

After a short night in the usual F1 hotel we decided to be ambitious after all and head out to Luxemburg, in the hope to see the cup game between Progres Nierderkorn and Dudelange in the afternoon, and a game of Raon L’Etap in the Franse Championnat National (Third Division) in the evening. Almost the whole time we drove through a snowed-under Germany and at times it was still snowing. When we finally arrived at the Stade Jos Haupert, some 40 minutes before kick-off, we saw the squad practice at a training pitch. After inspection of the empty stadium and snowed-under pitch, we decided to also skip the French game and look for a safe alternative instead.

Sint-Truiden VV -- AA Gent (26-02-2007)

And so we drove without any rush to Sint-Truiden in Belgian Limburg. After a short stop at Frituur Juliette (hmmmm) we drove to the stadium to make sure that we could also buy a ticket without a Fancard. The security was watertight: Fancard or identity papers.... or just giving your name. J Thus we bought a ticket for just 7.50 euro and spent the next 60 minutes in Cafe Stadion, warming ourselves and watching the game Hertha-HSV on tv.

It was freezing in 'the hell of Staaien', but fortunately the game was less boring than the last time I visited STVV. This was mainly the merit of AA Gent, who scored early in the game. Thereafter the vistors remained the better team, though most remarkable was how poor STVV is. Only Benji de Keulenaar is a good player, but by himself he was obviously unable to defeat AA Gent. In the end “the Buffalos” won 0-2 and we drove with frozen toes to Antwerp.

KV Kortrijk -- Excelsior Virton (27-02-2007)

After a good night rest in my own bed, and a delicious cup of coffee, we set off to Kortrijk (in West Flanders) for a game in the middle bracket of the Tweede Klasse (Second Division). We knew it was going to be freezing col, but when we got caught in a snow storm just outside of Ghent we were starting to worry for another cancellation. Fortunately the snow storm was local; in fact, it hadn’t even snowed in Kortrijk.

At 14.15 we arrived at the ramshackle Guldensporenstadion of KV Kortrijk. We saw almost none, except for a bus with green-white supporters. We turned out to be at the back of the stadium together with the away fans, in this case some 25 jolly Walloons from Virton. We bought a ticket for a steep 12 euro and joined the Virton fans on Tribune (Stand) 4.

All in all I don’t think more than 500 supporters were in the freezing stadium. This was a shame, as the game was not bad at all. After 5 minutes Virton was already 0-1 up and another 5 minutes later KVK had equalized. 1-1 was also the half time score but there had been some good football, particularly from Virton. In the second half both teams played much weaker, most notably the Walloons. Some 15 minutes before the end of the game Virton lost the game, when it got reduced to 10 men and, shortly after, got two goals against because of individual mistakes. Thus, the final score was 3-1 for KVK in this 6-point game.

LOSC -- Stade Rennais (27-02-2007)

Directly after the final whistle we jumped into the car and drove to Lille to catch a game in the French Ligue 1 (First Division) an hour later. The last time I saw LOSC, they played in the center of town. Whether or not as a consequence of renovation, Lille plays this season at the Stade Metropole, a typical athletics stadium. L We bought a ticket for just 11 euro and entered the bare, concrete stadium.

I’m going to keep it short: could, COLD, C-O-L-D!!! Man o man, how cold were we! At one time I tried to text a friend and my fingers froze so quickly that I had to stop texting and put my gloves back on (which helped only partly). And than also a 0-0 game! Still, I do recommend a visit to LOSC. Not only is Lille a pretty city (for North France), LOSC plays good and attractice football, the atmosphere is (usually) good, and the merguez americaine greasy. But do choose a day that the weather is (much) better!