Raise the Hammer

Well it's hard to argue with a comment that talks about a love for Hamilton and the Cats and someone who supported Balsillie's bid to bring hockey here.

I did not say that I felt Hamilton had a right though. I said there is this underlying persona that we deserve a team.

As for prices, $26 for an adult ticket and $20 for a student/senior ticket. Cheapest ticket for the Maple Leafs is $27 - all these prices assume you avoid Ticketmaster's outlandish 'service' charges. I imagine you are standing at Air Canada Centre near the roof for $27 - if you can even get a ticket.

$29.50 for a bronze level ticket if you go right to the Dogs office for the Outdoor Classic. They should possibly have sold endzone seats for $5 or $10 bucks just for the thrill of being there even if you can't see much of the on-ice action.

I know when I was at Fenway and yes, it was also my first time there, but I spent more time looking around at the whole setup and the nostalgia of it all than watching the game.

Would it be great if the AHL was more like the CFL where you didn't have players going up and down all the time and sometimes in the middle of a playoff series? Ya, a Canadian hockey league version of the CFL would be awesome. Or even if owners could find their own talent without an NHL affiliate maybe?

I have been to a Stanley Cup game and a Calder Cup game and I am here to tell you the Calder Cup was better in that it was OUR team vying for that title. I won't lie in saying I would have loved to see the Bruins last spring and seeing Ray Bourque score in game three of the Cup finals in Jersey was a highlight of my hockey loving career but when it's your team in the big show, those three letters suddenly don't mean much.

If I was to pick one thing I didn't like about the AHL - at least in Hamilton, it would be all the empty seats. Fill those, and how different an experience is it?

You can take a family of 4 to a game on Sunday I believe it is, for $60 which includes tickets and snacks. Where the heck are you going to see great hockey for that price?

If you and a buddy go to a family day game where you were hoping to enjoy a few beers over some hockey than ya, I can see your point in your experience but on a week night with a packed house, can you tell me you wouldn't enjoy that? Sure a pakced house right now is only 9,000 but if the demand was there, that would change and then how's that change the dynamic.

We start selling 13-17,000 tics a game and it possibly won't be long before Gary Bettman starts seeing dollar signs where once there were question marks behind blind folds.

I am no hockey analyst. Just a guy who loves hockey and this city. I just want hockey to be a huge thing here and for me, it could be college hockey if it became all the craze in Canada like 100,000+ thousand crazy college fans in Michigan attending an outdoor game. (Thanks Adrian at Town Halls Hamilton for that great link.)

Maybe the Dogs need to drop prices? Maybe it's a good question to pose to the masses, but I think quality is in numbers. Many NHL markets are proof that just because you have a 'professional' team, doesn't mean there is even a half-way decent product on the ice. Or field or diamond or court for that matter. Our teams can't always be good. Look at the Cats for way too long.

My feeling is that if you love something, it's about the experience. Not about who wins. Sometimes we even go to a bad concert or play and yes we may not go see 'that' play or band again, we might also encourage others not to attend, but we probably still had a nice evening out getting all dressed up and the time away from work or the kids and an overall nice adult evening out. Dinner might have still been good. Drinks and dancing afterwards the same.

I am rambling but if anything else, this outdoor classic is totally worth taking a 'chance' on. Even the Marlies are excited about this game as well as impressed with what they have seen and witnessed first hand, of our ice surface.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2012-01-20 13:53:33