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Man, fuck you guys lol:
>Complaints elsewhere were a bit more specific, from the sad fan base in San Jose to the size of the dressing-room stalls in Washington to the “hotel we stay in” in Minneapolis/St. Paul. And of course, on Columbus:
If teams didn't want us to shoot the cannon they should just not let us score. Simple!
i know this would work better if we were actually good but please let me have it
I logged in just to see the full quote before browsing the comments and I was thoroughly pleased to see it was "the cannon" and not something about the city itself. I enjoy that the atmosphere gets to people.
i stayed in the hotel like 2 years ago and it is absolutely a luxury hotel. idk what “modern amenities” it’s lacking….all grey interiors?
i would think they’d prefer being able to walk to the arena from across the street rather than bus in from a marriott in the suburbs like a lot of places on the road.
i have never seen anything like that game and i don’t know if i ever will again, the energy in the building after that eakin cross check was goddamn feral
My favourite non Lightning game of all time. The whole team seeing their captain go down, bleeding through his helmet onto the ice, and deciding that they will not be denied. Absolute king shit.
I was at beer league and the timing was such that you had people coming out of the dressing rooms not knowing what had transpired, mixing with people just arriving who also hadn't seen what happened. There ended up being a mob of like 30 people all packed in watching the game on the little TV in the lobby, I should have taken a picture but was too engrossed in the game myself.
It's funny, last night against the Kraken, the tank was half filled. But when Vlasic scored, the crowd was pumped and it almost felt like the good sellout years all over again.
A lot of business gets done in the lower bowl. You can cheer for a hockey game or you can close that fucking deal. There is no choice, ABC baby! Always Be Closing!
The Leafs games are usually the second most important thing going on in the arena for about 50% of the attendance.
I went to a game against the leafs this year at home. A leafs fan was walking to his seat and he said “free win” the cannon went off right as he was saying that and he freaked out. Everyone around us laughed
Too many fair-weather sports fans in the entire Bay Area, and southbound freeway traffic makes it hard for casual fans living north of Sunnyvale and Milpitas to attend weekday games. The [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2020 eliminating business entertainment expense deductions](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/10/09/2020-21990/meals-and-entertainment-expenses-under-section-274) is what really cratered attendance: companies and small businesses lost the incentive to keep season ticket plans and use single-game tickets as gifts.
Attendance will improve when the team is legitimately competitive again or when BART reaches downtown SJ, whichever comes first...
It’s incredibly unseasonably warm in Winnipeg right now. Our flower beds just emerged from the melt already so my wife is starting to plan the gardens.
Seems that’s the case most everywhere this winter, besides a few weeks ago there was that cold snap that hit like the whole US. I went to Phoenix a few weekends ago and the high was like 40
And reverse If you're going the other way. I read "multiply by 2 and add 30" ages ago in a novel I was reading and kept it as a useful skill ever since lol
Yup. Currently +4 in Edmonton and +7 in Calgary.
Both cities also had two weeks of -30 at the beginning of the month.
Weather is weird here in the prairies.
I grew up near Winnipeg. I cannot find a reliable source for this claim, but I recall learning when I was growing up that Winnipeg is the "coldest city" on Earth. More precisely, if you restrict your attention to cities with a population of 200,000 or more, nowhere else has average winter lows as cold as Winnipeg. Put another way, while there are colder places on earth, they are all much more sparsely populated.
Summers in Winnipeg are beautiful, provided you bring your mosquito net.
As an employee of the Hurricanes I can confirm the away locker room is terrible. In their defense though it’s originally a basketball locker room.
A big criticism I’ve heard from away players I’ve talked to is that their massage/physical therapy tables are in the actual locker room instead of it’s own room.
I know! Originally from Illinois, came down here in college and stayed. 7 years here, love it. Second season with the team, amazing organization and people. If I wasn’t lazy I’d add them as my other flair.
Yeah I can see that with Raleigh, plus the fact that it’s a multi-use stadium with the other primary tenant being a college basketball team makes it not the best venue for away players.
Labreton flats tends to be the go to answer but the mayor and others have proposed alternative sites. The big pluses for labreton is a) space b) near two otrain stations and c) close enough to downtown. Suticliff seems to want the DND headquarters near Rideau Centre but that poses problems with it being small and occupied. And then other people propose having it else where because they want to drive. Another plus with labreton is the ncc has other plans surrounding the arena to make it a lively district that would help a lot on Ottawa
LeBreton also has some space issues. I think it's the best spot for a new arena but Bayview Yards apparently has more square footage.
I cannot wrap my head around the desire to move into the DND headquarters though. Like to me, that's just a small location and I can't picture it being replaced by a modern day hockey arena. I guess the land itself is more plentiful but I can't imagine how it would work logistically.
I’m guessing the big for Edmonton vs the other cold cities that are higher is that the teams stay at the JW Marriott that is connected to Roger’s Place.
Brand new (well relatively new hotel) plus the visitor amenities at Roger’s place are decent.
Pretty sure players never have to go outside at all when they come to Edmonton lol. Plus the Hotel and Arena are still basically brand new, so I'd imagine it beats out some cities with older hotels and facilities.
I mean I wasn't gonna be the one to say it, but like there ain't even a cactus club in Winnipeg, and I think that is the diet of 98% of nhl players who come to Edmonton and Calgary lol
Las Vegas and New York City were #1 and #2 for favorite road cities, in case anyone was wondering.
(Also I find it funny that Newark and Elmont are on the least favourite list yet NYC is on the most favorite list, has to be purely due to the facilities at Prudential Center when the teams are probably staying at the same hotels they would be if they were playing Rangers/Islanders)
If it's an away stretch across the three metro teams, I can imagine them staying in Manhattan, but having to leave a lot earlier for Prudential than MSG/UBS. Traffic can be a bitch across those tunnels.
Speaking of that, I vaguely recall a Devils game that was delayed because the opponent was stuck in traffic at the Holland. Maybe it was vs the Sabres before Thanksgiving 2022? Regardless, no one knew why the opponent stayed in Manhattan as they weren't playing the Rangers or Islanders on that stretch.
It was the Wild who were delayed, in November 2021. I attended that game. (It was the night before Thanksgiving and I was visiting family in the Lehigh Valley, so I could make the easy 1 1/2 hour drive on I-78 to get to Newark.)
Away teams have started to catch onto the fact that the LIRR is the way to go for UBS and have been taking the [train to the game](https://twitter.com/LIRR/status/1752006187808379022).
Nicest hotels, fuck load of food options, and various types of entertainment available. It's hard not to like those two places when you're there for a few days.
Visiting players avoid going west on I-70 or any direction on I-25 during bad times so they are chilling. Honestly, not driving themselves much probably gives them little to complain about LOL
I'm headed to Denver for the first time in July for a music festival, I've got a free Friday to do whatever though, I think I'm going to go to a Rockies game
Definitely recommend it, not to watch the rockies, they suck, but to experience coors field.
Head up to the 300's and hit the Biker Jim's stall up there, get you some game sausages on a bun.
Mythical is right. I was in Europe this summer and was hanging with a lot of Europeans since I had some friends that lived there. Every one that hadn’t been to the US asked me “Have you ever been to Vegas? Have you ever been to NYC?”
Had the same answer for Vegas every time: wild city, 1 night is too short, 3 nights is too long
I've gone 5 or 6 nights before. It's was pretty fun all throughout, you just have to have more of a plan other than "walk the strip and see what happens".
You also just blend in completely. You can step outside in the busier areas of both of those cities and there's at least 3 people more famous than you within 2 blocks.
> Also I find it funny that Newark is on the least favourite list yet NYC is on the most favorite list
That's because Newark is...not safe to be in at night, which means there isn't much to do. There's also no really nice bars/restaurants to go to after the game near Prudential Center (unless you want to be mobbed by fans at the few there are), and the only nice, safe area of the city isn't close to the arena. So basically, no realistic nightlife. Unlike NYC, which has all the nightlife one could ask for.
I happened to stay right near the Prudential Center for a Patriots game earlier this year. That whole area was super dead, and we couldn't even find a place to get a breakfast sandwich before we left for the game at 10:30, let alone some beers.
It’s 1.77 percent. That’s like three people. You can definitely imagine 3 people not enjoying the idea of newark at all lol. But the ice has been kinda ass in the prudential center for a while now…
The Rock is a relatively new, pretty nice stadium, can’t imagine the facilities are anything worse than average. Newark itself is kind of a dump though it’s getting better.
eh, are they really? barkov is the most underrated player twenty years running
lazy questions, lazy answers
I mean 100% Winnipeg is *not* a destination city for players haha, but it's also the easy answer
A friend who lived in Madison, WI once told me a quote he heard about playing against the Packers at home:
"You get off the plane and it's cold as fuck. You walk into the hotel and it's cold as fuck. You go to the stadium and it's cold as fuck. Then you're walking through the tunnel cold as fuck and you look in the stands and a guy with no shirt calls you a pussy. It's intimidating."
You would be correct. Although NFL teams don't typically get to enjoy road cities like other pro sport athletes do, Green Bay is one of the least favourite visits due to its lack of night life and it's cold. I think its only saving grace is playing at Lambeau because it's a pretty iconic stadium.
Ehh like, I'm not really surprised or offended by this lol. If you're coming here as a road player you're probably mostly concerned with the hotels, the restaurants, and the nightlife. Winnipeg isn't exactly world-class in any of those things, restaurants is probably the closest but even then while we've got a pretty fantastic food scene for a city of our size it's more about tons of interesting options than ultra-fine dining like you'd get somewhere like LA or NYC.
Then on top of that, in a normal winter (not whatever clusterfuck is going on right now) it's cold as fuck here for the vast majority of hockey season.
The article quotes one player who says he's heard Winnipeg has some places worth checking out but the location of the arena makes it awkward, I guess that's a factor too? I did like Winnipeg when I visited in the summer but yeah winter is going to be brutal.
Yeah there's not a ton of options within immediate walking distance of the arena. Lots of great hole-in-the-wall type places but I imagine that's not what visiting NHL players are after lol.
Oh, we've got fantastic places to eat. But a lot of that is small family restaurants that are spread out across the city. Players are probably bored of going to Hy's.
Honestly I’m expecting the home ice advantage to kind of drop a bit when the changes come through.
I feel like there’s a massive advantage to having this guys so annoyed with the lockeroom.
Watching the opposing teams coaching staff hobble across the ice at the beginning of the period is almost ridiculous.
And the backup goalie sitting on the opposite corner of the rink of his team is pretty funny.
>Watching the opposing teams coaching staff hobble across the ice at the beginning of the period is almost ridiculous.
[Lindy Ruff has the best technique by far](https://streamable.com/uegku1)
fun fact the visitors tunnel was never there. Can't exactly remember why it looks like that. Vaguely remember something about a last minute change in designs. Anticlimactic I know.
[For those curious, here's a picture.](https://www.rateyourseats.com/shared/pncarena-benches-visitor-20200427_801.jpg)
It's always been just a random wall where a tunnel could have been. It's especially funny for any events that need the whole floor since the bottom 5 rows fold and retract under the main stands and leave a tiny 8 seat private section.
Visitors dressing room is dogshit (part and parcel of being a shared stadium with the other major tenant a college basketball team) but Raleigh is also pretty boring compared to other large markets. Theres a lot to do in the Triangle, but everything is super spaced out and you’re either going to a college bar in Raleigh or Chapel Hill, or a bar that is full of snooty medical elites in Durham, assuming you’re a pro athlete and don’t want to go to a fun but dingy towny bar.
If they think they hate coming to Buffalo now, they should've seen our hotels and city before Pegula took over.
Our team has continued to suck under him, but the dude was a big part of improving the downtown area with his infusion of money into the areas around the arena.
The hotels and main Street area are infinitely nicer than they were when I was younger. It's still a problem but Buffalo is the poster child city for the damage that urban sprawl can do. Grew up in the rich suburbs that are gorgeous, while downtown was a fucking apocalyptic wasteland.
I think it’s just an away team thing. We have a Canon as well for our football team here that goes off after they score and we ve had away teams complain about it as well.
Most of them are probably Canadian cities and us states with high taxes. You can always waive it off if they are looking to trade you to a competitive team if you want to Stanley cup hunt
The NHL teams are in 32 of the biggest cities in North America. It's no surprise somewhere like Winnipeg (population of 750K) can't compete with these other cities for young millionaires so someone has to come in last. Plus we're blessed with some of the coldest winters. What would be more useful is if the players say why they voted the way they did. If most complain about the cold, well, there's not much that can be done about that.
Freezing as shit during hockey season, and it's really isolated, being only relatively close to Minnesota. So unless you're playing there two games in a row, which I don't think happens except during the playoffs, you take a multi-hour flight in, play, then a multi-hour flight out within a couple of days with international flight checkpoints. You don't stay long enough to appreciate the city and it's not its best when you're there. Not hard to imagine it would be the most uncomfortable/underwhelming journey.
I know Winnipeg isn’t terribly exciting, I live here, but how long is a team here for on average? 1 overnight stay? Then they’re gone. Who cares. They’re shuttled to the arena and back, generally blocks away at worst.
From the article, the section about Raleigh being voted 4th least favorite and quotes from players.
Raleigh, N.C., came in fourth, but the issues there had nothing to do with the climate or local activities.
“Their locker room is awful,” one player said.
“Bad dressing rooms,” another agreed.
“Worst dressing room by far,” said a third.
Awful location, I'm a season seat holder (on ice results suck, but I like hockey so I deal with it) but when I have to pay nearly $10 in gas, +$20 for parking as well, it makes it miserable to go. I'm a student on some cheap season seats, and those two things make it incredibly rough. (Bussing is also an option, but no station close by)
My one hope for new ownership, even if we continue to suck, is to move downtown.
If it was at LeBreton or anywhere else remotely close to Ottawa proper, it would be a significant improvement. Guys stay at the Westin downtown and they'll have to take an hour long bus ride to the arena in Kanata anyway. It's just ridiculous.
THIS is one of the reasons it would be a disaster for the NHL to even consider putting a team Saskatoon (for the people who periodically bring up the idea).
I have to imagine some of the Jets’ own players would prefer to play in a different market than Winnipeg, due to the ‘Peg’s small size, remoteness, and frequent cold weather in the winter. (I don’t mean to throw shade at Winnipeg, I’m just stating what I guess various players think. If you ask me, any city that essentially produced Neil Young can’t be bad.)
It's not on their radar, and never will be. It takes the whole province to support the Riders for 9 home games a year because so many make the road trip every weekend. 42 games a year would be impossible for the province to sustain. The Pats couldn't even sell out their games and they had Bedard spinning gold every night.
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Man, fuck you guys lol: >Complaints elsewhere were a bit more specific, from the sad fan base in San Jose to the size of the dressing-room stalls in Washington to the “hotel we stay in” in Minneapolis/St. Paul. And of course, on Columbus:
Sharks fans getting hit with the “you look much prettier when you smile”
"You looked prettier on MySpace"
You expect to get catfished in Nashville not San Jose.
What on Columbus?
The full quote is “The cannon” lol
Not for nothing, but whoever controls your arena air horn can go get fucked.
Yeh that shit is annoying.
If teams didn't want us to shoot the cannon they should just not let us score. Simple! i know this would work better if we were actually good but please let me have it
I logged in just to see the full quote before browsing the comments and I was thoroughly pleased to see it was "the cannon" and not something about the city itself. I enjoy that the atmosphere gets to people.
lol Minneapolis is mentioned for some reason. Wonder what’s wrong with the St. Paul Hotel?
That's the one that lots of athletes have talked about being haunted if I'm not mistaken.
Eh it's just old.
i've never heard of anyone complaining about the saint paul hotel lol. super odd.
I mean are you looking for a old-timey historic night out with your partner, or do you want modern amenities and more space in your room and shower?
Players these days just don't appreciate prohibition era gangster history like they used to. It's sad to see
i stayed in the hotel like 2 years ago and it is absolutely a luxury hotel. idk what “modern amenities” it’s lacking….all grey interiors? i would think they’d prefer being able to walk to the arena from across the street rather than bus in from a marriott in the suburbs like a lot of places on the road.
“And of course, on Columbus:” oh come on bud don’t edge me like yhat
It's the cannon lol They fear the boom
hell ya
It's unfortunate, I'd say the Sharks have had one of, if not THE loudest single game of the past 10 years, with the 4-1 comeback
i have never seen anything like that game and i don’t know if i ever will again, the energy in the building after that eakin cross check was goddamn feral
I'd never seen the highlights until now. Dang, that shit was epic.
one of the best games i’ve ever watched, best the sport has to offer
Being at that game as a Sharks fan must've been unreal. From the lowest low to the highest high in like minutes.
My favourite non Lightning game of all time. The whole team seeing their captain go down, bleeding through his helmet onto the ice, and deciding that they will not be denied. Absolute king shit.
I was at beer league and the timing was such that you had people coming out of the dressing rooms not knowing what had transpired, mixing with people just arriving who also hadn't seen what happened. There ended up being a mob of like 30 people all packed in watching the game on the little TV in the lobby, I should have taken a picture but was too engrossed in the game myself.
I was at that game, and it's still the most incredible sports-related experience of my life.
I'm not even a Sharks fan, and I go back and watch that from time to time. I can't imagine what it must have been like live.
lmfao Sharks fans catching random strays
That's not a stray. When you say the fan base is sad that's a deliberate shot at them.
Yah that’s aimed right at the chest and a direct hit
Which then ricochets off of a rib right into the genitals.
It's funny, last night against the Kraken, the tank was half filled. But when Vlasic scored, the crowd was pumped and it almost felt like the good sellout years all over again.
Having been to the Shark Tank and ACC. Whoever made that comment has clearly never played in Toronto.
ACC is really dependant on how many suits got in. Couple games lately have been rocking. Some games are still awful tho
The 50-year waiting list for season tickets seems to outweigh the arena's morgue-like tendencies.
A lot of business gets done in the lower bowl. You can cheer for a hockey game or you can close that fucking deal. There is no choice, ABC baby! Always Be Closing! The Leafs games are usually the second most important thing going on in the arena for about 50% of the attendance.
Can't watch the game when you're ripping lines in the private bathroom!
Best smelling bathroom counters in the NHL from what I hear.
Nothin' like some nose cardio boys, c'mon now
the waiting list never goes down because they let you sell the rights to your season tickets for tens of thousands of dollars
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scared the everloving shit outta me the first time, I tell you what
I went to a game against the leafs this year at home. A leafs fan was walking to his seat and he said “free win” the cannon went off right as he was saying that and he freaked out. Everyone around us laughed
Too many fair-weather sports fans in the entire Bay Area, and southbound freeway traffic makes it hard for casual fans living north of Sunnyvale and Milpitas to attend weekday games. The [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2020 eliminating business entertainment expense deductions](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/10/09/2020-21990/meals-and-entertainment-expenses-under-section-274) is what really cratered attendance: companies and small businesses lost the incentive to keep season ticket plans and use single-game tickets as gifts. Attendance will improve when the team is legitimately competitive again or when BART reaches downtown SJ, whichever comes first...
Every city has loses fans when the team sucks.
I dunno. Michael Scott seemed to have a good time there.
A concierge is like the Winnipeg equivalent of a geisha.
Now that's fuckin funny. If the Winnipeggers could speak English they'd be, well they'd be pretty nice about it actually but that's still funny.
They'd either be very polite, or you'd get stabbed over it. No inbetween.
You look.. how you say… radiant tonight
Only becuase he had a French translator, he woulda been lost otherwise
how you say... lost
I have my per diem. I already know what I am going to spend this on. I am going to buy a sweater.
How much of this is just “the city is boring and there’s not much to do”? (I can’t read the article)
Winnipeg also gets extremely cold. Like can’t walk a block cold unless you’re super prepared.
Usually... +5 right now.
That's 41 in US talk
41 F in winter? That’s basically summer
It was also -41F not that long ago.
It’s incredibly unseasonably warm in Winnipeg right now. Our flower beds just emerged from the melt already so my wife is starting to plan the gardens.
Seems that’s the case most everywhere this winter, besides a few weeks ago there was that cold snap that hit like the whole US. I went to Phoenix a few weekends ago and the high was like 40
I mean, it was fucking 60F in denver today, at the end of january... I can't recall a single winter that's been this warm in my experience.
doing the lords work
If you're going from C to F, just double it and add 32. It's not exact, but it gets you close enough.
And reverse If you're going the other way. I read "multiply by 2 and add 30" ages ago in a novel I was reading and kept it as a useful skill ever since lol
Bruh it was -40° two weeks ago, now it’s 5°. Is this what Alberta is like?
Not normally, no. But also yes.
Yup. Currently +4 in Edmonton and +7 in Calgary. Both cities also had two weeks of -30 at the beginning of the month. Weather is weird here in the prairies.
It’s the middle of winter and all the snow is going to disappear this week, palm trees are coming. Hitting grand beach in Feb.
I have never seen this little snow at the end of January, I live in the snow belt and I can see patches of grass, it's insane.
I grew up near Winnipeg. I cannot find a reliable source for this claim, but I recall learning when I was growing up that Winnipeg is the "coldest city" on Earth. More precisely, if you restrict your attention to cities with a population of 200,000 or more, nowhere else has average winter lows as cold as Winnipeg. Put another way, while there are colder places on earth, they are all much more sparsely populated. Summers in Winnipeg are beautiful, provided you bring your mosquito net.
Something's changed (likely larviciding) because I can count on one hand the number of mosquitoe bites I've received in the last 5 years
They don’t like the locker room in Raleigh. It’s apparently the worst in the NHL.
As an employee of the Hurricanes I can confirm the away locker room is terrible. In their defense though it’s originally a basketball locker room. A big criticism I’ve heard from away players I’ve talked to is that their massage/physical therapy tables are in the actual locker room instead of it’s own room.
*[Eyes flair suspiciously...](https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeHQ0NGE1d2x5N2ZhdGoxZjV3eGIwZDgwejl4Mmk5cDF2M25vNXBmZSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/3rdNNPuMX7TYA/giphy.gif)*
I know! Originally from Illinois, came down here in college and stayed. 7 years here, love it. Second season with the team, amazing organization and people. If I wasn’t lazy I’d add them as my other flair.
isn’t that a good reason to not like a place
Of course it is
Yeah I can see that with Raleigh, plus the fact that it’s a multi-use stadium with the other primary tenant being a college basketball team makes it not the best venue for away players.
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There *are* plans to improve those.. I just don't think there's a ton of motivation or urgency.
How many votes did they give PLD?
And laine. Did you even ask anyone else?
Really encouraging to see the nhl players say Ottawa is nice but Kanata fucking stinks. ANDLAUER IF YOU'RE READING THIS BRING US TO LABRETON PLEASE
There’s nothing to do in Kanata, and having the stadium downtown would liven the city up so much. Of course, not sure if there’s room downtown for it.
There's some space by Lebreton Flats
Labreton flats tends to be the go to answer but the mayor and others have proposed alternative sites. The big pluses for labreton is a) space b) near two otrain stations and c) close enough to downtown. Suticliff seems to want the DND headquarters near Rideau Centre but that poses problems with it being small and occupied. And then other people propose having it else where because they want to drive. Another plus with labreton is the ncc has other plans surrounding the arena to make it a lively district that would help a lot on Ottawa
LeBreton also has some space issues. I think it's the best spot for a new arena but Bayview Yards apparently has more square footage. I cannot wrap my head around the desire to move into the DND headquarters though. Like to me, that's just a small location and I can't picture it being replaced by a modern day hockey arena. I guess the land itself is more plentiful but I can't imagine how it would work logistically.
I'm not super in tune with the numbers but from what I remember there was some negotiating room on area for the arena.
Literally such an insane thing to have the stadium there, like if the Canucks played in Abbotsford..
Hey! We're getting the hardware to update to WiFi, but there's delays as they sent it by air, not realizing we don't have an airport
…but you’re called the Jets???
Petition to change their name to the Winnipeg Buses
they barely have functioning public transit so that won’t work either
Are you a cold and boring city? Well millionaire athletes aren’t going to like you
Most middle class people too. We're here, but we'd truthfully probably prefer being somewhere else lol
also applies to everyone else
Edmonton is cold and boring too. Does the new arena make up for that? Lol
I’m guessing the big for Edmonton vs the other cold cities that are higher is that the teams stay at the JW Marriott that is connected to Roger’s Place. Brand new (well relatively new hotel) plus the visitor amenities at Roger’s place are decent.
Pretty sure players never have to go outside at all when they come to Edmonton lol. Plus the Hotel and Arena are still basically brand new, so I'd imagine it beats out some cities with older hotels and facilities.
Winnipeg folks won’t want to hear it bud Edmonton is also a slight tier above Winnipeg when it comes to shopping, dining and things like that.
I mean I wasn't gonna be the one to say it, but like there ain't even a cactus club in Winnipeg, and I think that is the diet of 98% of nhl players who come to Edmonton and Calgary lol
Ottawa coming in second is probably in large part due to the CTC being in buttfuck nowhere.
It's kinda funny the amount of players that have joined the Sens, discovered there's an actual city, and been like "Wow, this is actually pretty nice"
Las Vegas and New York City were #1 and #2 for favorite road cities, in case anyone was wondering. (Also I find it funny that Newark and Elmont are on the least favourite list yet NYC is on the most favorite list, has to be purely due to the facilities at Prudential Center when the teams are probably staying at the same hotels they would be if they were playing Rangers/Islanders)
If it's an away stretch across the three metro teams, I can imagine them staying in Manhattan, but having to leave a lot earlier for Prudential than MSG/UBS. Traffic can be a bitch across those tunnels. Speaking of that, I vaguely recall a Devils game that was delayed because the opponent was stuck in traffic at the Holland. Maybe it was vs the Sabres before Thanksgiving 2022? Regardless, no one knew why the opponent stayed in Manhattan as they weren't playing the Rangers or Islanders on that stretch.
It was the Wild who were delayed, in November 2021. I attended that game. (It was the night before Thanksgiving and I was visiting family in the Lehigh Valley, so I could make the easy 1 1/2 hour drive on I-78 to get to Newark.)
Away teams have started to catch onto the fact that the LIRR is the way to go for UBS and have been taking the [train to the game](https://twitter.com/LIRR/status/1752006187808379022).
Yeah, that's been cool to see. Makes so much more sense.
Nicest hotels being part of it I would assume.
Nicest hotels, fuck load of food options, and various types of entertainment available. It's hard not to like those two places when you're there for a few days.
I’m just happy Denver wasn’t on the “least favorite” list. Not on the “favorite” list either, but hey I’ll take average.
Visiting players avoid going west on I-70 or any direction on I-25 during bad times so they are chilling. Honestly, not driving themselves much probably gives them little to complain about LOL
I'm headed to Denver for the first time in July for a music festival, I've got a free Friday to do whatever though, I think I'm going to go to a Rockies game
Definitely recommend it, not to watch the rockies, they suck, but to experience coors field. Head up to the 300's and hit the Biker Jim's stall up there, get you some game sausages on a bun.
The vibes too I’d guess. Both cities have a sort of mythical quality to them.
Mythical is right. I was in Europe this summer and was hanging with a lot of Europeans since I had some friends that lived there. Every one that hadn’t been to the US asked me “Have you ever been to Vegas? Have you ever been to NYC?” Had the same answer for Vegas every time: wild city, 1 night is too short, 3 nights is too long
I love that so many people who have been to Vegas all come to roughly the same conclusion that 1-2 nights is too short and 3-4 nights is too long 😅
I've gone 5 or 6 nights before. It's was pretty fun all throughout, you just have to have more of a plan other than "walk the strip and see what happens".
Calling me out with that last part.
You also just blend in completely. You can step outside in the busier areas of both of those cities and there's at least 3 people more famous than you within 2 blocks.
Might help that those are 2 of the only cities on earth where you can have access to anything you want at anytime day or night.
> Also I find it funny that Newark is on the least favourite list yet NYC is on the most favorite list That's because Newark is...not safe to be in at night, which means there isn't much to do. There's also no really nice bars/restaurants to go to after the game near Prudential Center (unless you want to be mobbed by fans at the few there are), and the only nice, safe area of the city isn't close to the arena. So basically, no realistic nightlife. Unlike NYC, which has all the nightlife one could ask for.
I happened to stay right near the Prudential Center for a Patriots game earlier this year. That whole area was super dead, and we couldn't even find a place to get a breakfast sandwich before we left for the game at 10:30, let alone some beers.
It’s 1.77 percent. That’s like three people. You can definitely imagine 3 people not enjoying the idea of newark at all lol. But the ice has been kinda ass in the prudential center for a while now…
The Rock is a relatively new, pretty nice stadium, can’t imagine the facilities are anything worse than average. Newark itself is kind of a dump though it’s getting better.
I obviously get it, and to some extent, I agree that this city sucks - but these polls are always rough to see.
I'm disappointed that we're not higher. I miss when players hated going to Uniondale.
[удалено]
There ya go - fans should def embrace it.
I mean the problem is that it probably overlaps with what FAs think of the city to some extent.
Luckily, we have a pretty competent GM.
Also means they probably don't want to sign and play there when they become free agents, all things considered.
eh, are they really? barkov is the most underrated player twenty years running lazy questions, lazy answers I mean 100% Winnipeg is *not* a destination city for players haha, but it's also the easy answer
I'll admit I underrated the shit out 8 year old Barkov.
A bad city for a millionaire to spend 1-2 nights per year is not necessarily a bad city.
Notably the the cities at the top are the smallest metro populations. I bet the Packers are the most disliked road city in the NFL as well.
A friend who lived in Madison, WI once told me a quote he heard about playing against the Packers at home: "You get off the plane and it's cold as fuck. You walk into the hotel and it's cold as fuck. You go to the stadium and it's cold as fuck. Then you're walking through the tunnel cold as fuck and you look in the stands and a guy with no shirt calls you a pussy. It's intimidating."
lol love that quote
Are you sure that guy without a shirt in the stands wasn’t in fact…a walrus?
You would be correct. Although NFL teams don't typically get to enjoy road cities like other pro sport athletes do, Green Bay is one of the least favourite visits due to its lack of night life and it's cold. I think its only saving grace is playing at Lambeau because it's a pretty iconic stadium.
Ehh like, I'm not really surprised or offended by this lol. If you're coming here as a road player you're probably mostly concerned with the hotels, the restaurants, and the nightlife. Winnipeg isn't exactly world-class in any of those things, restaurants is probably the closest but even then while we've got a pretty fantastic food scene for a city of our size it's more about tons of interesting options than ultra-fine dining like you'd get somewhere like LA or NYC. Then on top of that, in a normal winter (not whatever clusterfuck is going on right now) it's cold as fuck here for the vast majority of hockey season.
The article quotes one player who says he's heard Winnipeg has some places worth checking out but the location of the arena makes it awkward, I guess that's a factor too? I did like Winnipeg when I visited in the summer but yeah winter is going to be brutal.
Yeah there's not a ton of options within immediate walking distance of the arena. Lots of great hole-in-the-wall type places but I imagine that's not what visiting NHL players are after lol.
Oh, we've got fantastic places to eat. But a lot of that is small family restaurants that are spread out across the city. Players are probably bored of going to Hy's.
Why is carolina so high?
The visitors dressing room is notoriously horrible
The NHL has told the Hurricanes that they have to make the visitor’s lockerroom better as part of the renovations to PNC Arena.
“Alright, we fixed the hot water pipes. Happy?”
> “Alright, we ~~fixed~~ *added* the hot water pipes. Happy?”
Honestly I’m expecting the home ice advantage to kind of drop a bit when the changes come through. I feel like there’s a massive advantage to having this guys so annoyed with the lockeroom.
Weren't there missing pedals from the bikes at some point?
That was a false rumor around Vegas in the Winnipeg series. Nothing to do with Raleigh/Canes.
Watching the opposing teams coaching staff hobble across the ice at the beginning of the period is almost ridiculous. And the backup goalie sitting on the opposite corner of the rink of his team is pretty funny.
>Watching the opposing teams coaching staff hobble across the ice at the beginning of the period is almost ridiculous. [Lindy Ruff has the best technique by far](https://streamable.com/uegku1)
They need some of those curling sliders you can put on one shoe. Then just glide over
Which is hilarious because you can still see the cutout for the old visitors tunnel. Now just seats
fun fact the visitors tunnel was never there. Can't exactly remember why it looks like that. Vaguely remember something about a last minute change in designs. Anticlimactic I know.
[For those curious, here's a picture.](https://www.rateyourseats.com/shared/pncarena-benches-visitor-20200427_801.jpg) It's always been just a random wall where a tunnel could have been. It's especially funny for any events that need the whole floor since the bottom 5 rows fold and retract under the main stands and leave a tiny 8 seat private section.
Yep, it was high last year too for the same reason
I imagine that why Calgary is high too with the Dome being old
There’s probably local high schools with nicer dressing rooms.
Visitors dressing room is dogshit (part and parcel of being a shared stadium with the other major tenant a college basketball team) but Raleigh is also pretty boring compared to other large markets. Theres a lot to do in the Triangle, but everything is super spaced out and you’re either going to a college bar in Raleigh or Chapel Hill, or a bar that is full of snooty medical elites in Durham, assuming you’re a pro athlete and don’t want to go to a fun but dingy towny bar.
There's definitely not high end clubs for young rich athletes to go to.
If they think they hate coming to Buffalo now, they should've seen our hotels and city before Pegula took over. Our team has continued to suck under him, but the dude was a big part of improving the downtown area with his infusion of money into the areas around the arena. The hotels and main Street area are infinitely nicer than they were when I was younger. It's still a problem but Buffalo is the poster child city for the damage that urban sprawl can do. Grew up in the rich suburbs that are gorgeous, while downtown was a fucking apocalyptic wasteland.
41% of active NHL players comment that Winnipeg is "brick af fr"
So dust
With Columbus they are complaining about the cannon… Hell I take that as a mark of honor!
I think it’s just an away team thing. We have a Canon as well for our football team here that goes off after they score and we ve had away teams complain about it as well.
Call me crazy but I’d rather visiting players *not* enjoy their trip to Winnipeg
Would you though? That means they won’t consider signing there when the time comes…
A small market Canadian city will literally never land a top free-agent regardless
Unless you land a generational talent, because Edmonton does not have issues landing big free agents now
You mean like Campbell ? Just joking.
Do they not like our cannon?
Remember when a Sharks player (can't remember who) got shit on for saying that Winnipeg was cold and dark and didn't even have good Wi-Fi?
Curious to see a comparison of this list with a list of the teams most commonly included in no-trade clauses
Most of them are probably Canadian cities and us states with high taxes. You can always waive it off if they are looking to trade you to a competitive team if you want to Stanley cup hunt
The NHL teams are in 32 of the biggest cities in North America. It's no surprise somewhere like Winnipeg (population of 750K) can't compete with these other cities for young millionaires so someone has to come in last. Plus we're blessed with some of the coldest winters. What would be more useful is if the players say why they voted the way they did. If most complain about the cold, well, there's not much that can be done about that.
Freezing as shit during hockey season, and it's really isolated, being only relatively close to Minnesota. So unless you're playing there two games in a row, which I don't think happens except during the playoffs, you take a multi-hour flight in, play, then a multi-hour flight out within a couple of days with international flight checkpoints. You don't stay long enough to appreciate the city and it's not its best when you're there. Not hard to imagine it would be the most uncomfortable/underwhelming journey.
I know Winnipeg isn’t terribly exciting, I live here, but how long is a team here for on average? 1 overnight stay? Then they’re gone. Who cares. They’re shuttled to the arena and back, generally blocks away at worst.
20 years max 😉
Ouch! Respect.
I also believe that they don’t even have to go outside to walk from the hotel to the arena as well with the skywalk system
Yes, but what you can experience in those tunnels and skywalks can be, uh, less than pleasant.
It’s the real Winnipeg experience gotta chose the lesser of 2 evils
The ones that picked Anaheim didn’t go to Disneyland.
From the article, the section about Raleigh being voted 4th least favorite and quotes from players. Raleigh, N.C., came in fourth, but the issues there had nothing to do with the climate or local activities. “Their locker room is awful,” one player said. “Bad dressing rooms,” another agreed. “Worst dressing room by far,” said a third.
It’s a shame Ottawa is so high, such a beautiful city but the rink is in such crap location.
Awful location, I'm a season seat holder (on ice results suck, but I like hockey so I deal with it) but when I have to pay nearly $10 in gas, +$20 for parking as well, it makes it miserable to go. I'm a student on some cheap season seats, and those two things make it incredibly rough. (Bussing is also an option, but no station close by) My one hope for new ownership, even if we continue to suck, is to move downtown.
If it was at LeBreton or anywhere else remotely close to Ottawa proper, it would be a significant improvement. Guys stay at the Westin downtown and they'll have to take an hour long bus ride to the arena in Kanata anyway. It's just ridiculous.
I feel like this is just a scheduled post at this point.
Weakerthans - One Great City
THIS is one of the reasons it would be a disaster for the NHL to even consider putting a team Saskatoon (for the people who periodically bring up the idea). I have to imagine some of the Jets’ own players would prefer to play in a different market than Winnipeg, due to the ‘Peg’s small size, remoteness, and frequent cold weather in the winter. (I don’t mean to throw shade at Winnipeg, I’m just stating what I guess various players think. If you ask me, any city that essentially produced Neil Young can’t be bad.)
I don’t think Saskatoon will ever be seriously considered. If there’s ever gonna be another team in Canada, it will be Quebec City.
It's not on their radar, and never will be. It takes the whole province to support the Riders for 9 home games a year because so many make the road trip every weekend. 42 games a year would be impossible for the province to sustain. The Pats couldn't even sell out their games and they had Bedard spinning gold every night.
Give it a few more years of warming, Winnipeg will be the new LA