So our local hockey team season started up again in October.
We had not been to a live game since the AHL shut down the remainder of the 2019/20 season in March of 2020.
Although we renewed our season tickets for 2020/21 and 2021/22 we did not attend any games. There were severe fan attendance restrictions, no interactions with players, many players were in taxi squads for their NHL parent teams, and mask requirements were not enforced once you passed security and got inside the arena. We were able to carry over most of the cost of 2020/21 into the 2021/22 season. But there was no carry over allowed for this 2022/23 season as the AHL had lifted all of the restrictions on fans, players, and staff.
We have had our current seats since the inaugural 2016 season and like them a lot ... but we are seriously contemplating moving to different seats for next season. We are currently in the fan zone ... first row and isle seats behind the goal we attack twice. We are close to the door where our team enters and exits the ice and don't really have anything in front of us except a small, 5-6 seat handicap area at ground level up against the glass. We get great views when the action is on our end, but not so much when they are on the other end of the ice.
Yesterday we tried sitting in different areas at the arena to get a feel for how the view and feel is in different levels. Our observations are ....
1. Sides - Upper level
Funny how one always thinks the 'upper level' means nosebleed seats. Not the case here. The seats we had were at the very top of the section about even with the blue line on the side we attack twice. These seats were great albeit much further away than our current seats. The two most notable things were that we could actually hear and understand the announcers as we were practically level with the audio system suspended from the ceiling. And we could follow the game quite well and we ALL of the sounds coming off thee ice as well ... every stick hitting a puck, every chirp, every player calling or yelling for the puck. It was also very easy to leave from our seats and go right to the concession stand, bar, coffee cart, or to the outside smoking area. There were also no stairs to climb during intermissions. All very convenient. The final note here is that the very top row is also handicap and/or wheelchair access. Two seats, then two open spaces for wheelchairs or folding chairs ... down the line. To get a handicap spot (which I qualify for), you also need to purchase a companion seat next to that spot. Interesting.
2. Sides - Middle level
We tried a couple of seats in the middle level. The first one had a nice concrete retainer wall which normally would be prefect to put drinks or food. But there was a heavy duty handrail built into about 8-10 inches high that literally obstructed the view of the ice/game (unless you sat perfectly straight and upright for the entire game). There were also the penalty and scorekeeper boxes that kind of blocked out a bit of the ice from that location.
3. Rinkside
The first row right against the glass and the most expensive seats available. We tried them and lasted less than 5 minutes despite more legroom than the upper level seats. Although it is awesome to see the players up close while they skate, battle for pucks, or fight less then a foot away ... the view was weirdly distorted. Again, we were located close to the blue line on the side we attack twice ... but whenever the action moved to the other side of the ice we had to kind of lean forward and to the left to follow the action ... but the glass distorted the view from that position and made it a bit difficult to follow the game. The second thing we noticed that since you are sitting so close to the ice it is cold AF down there. You can actually feel the cold flowing up from the floor into your feet and hands.
So there is a game this coming Tuesday where, since it is a school/work night, the attendance will be lower than usual. We might travel around the arena some more and check out some other seats.
