OT: March 14th in Tampa

[SI90]

:

LOL.."don't worry honey, you have nothing to worry about.. we won't leave the hotel room"

My wifes best friend is one of the most quiet and shy chics you will ever meet...She would never leave her with me....

No matter what a women says they dont trust any other chic with thier guy....


Just sleep in separate beds, and dont drink too much....

Congrats and enjoy

 

[RafterRat]

You fly in yet?

Not yet... Flight is tomorrow, should be around the arena area by 1pm, find a decent drinking spot until about 5pm then head over to the arena. i will be flying back out on Friday around noon.

Checking things out, it looks like they put on an awesome show at that arena. A lot of things to check out as well as the hockey. Their Ice Girls look way hotter than ours also!!

Should be a blast.

 

[LAIslanderFan]

Not yet... Flight is tomorrow, should be around the arena area by 1pm, find a decent drinking spot until about 5pm then head over to the arena. i will be flying back out on Friday around noon.

Checking things out, it looks like they put on an awesome show at that arena. A lot of things to check out as well as the hockey. Their Ice Girls look way hotter than ours also!!

Should be a blast.

Just got back from Tampa from a job. I caught the Montreal - Tampa Bay game. The scoreboard in that arena is amazing.

2 restaurants I would recommend:
- Columbia in Ybor. Great atmosphere and good food.
- Donatatello, good italian food. It's on Dale Mabry Hwy.

By the way, if you're a Yankee fan, you can catch a Yankees exhibition game. George Steinbrenner Field is off Dale Mabry Hwy, across from the TB Bucs football stadium.

 

[The Underboss]

Not yet... Flight is tomorrow, should be around the arena area by 1pm, find a decent drinking spot until about 5pm then head over to the arena. i will be flying back out on Friday around noon.

Checking things out, it looks like they put on an awesome show at that arena. A lot of things to check out as well as the hockey. Their Ice Girls look way hotter than ours also!!

Should be a blast.

Trust me. You'll love it. The Arena is beautiful and makes the Coliseum look like even more of a dump.

I hope we win, but wait till you see those Telsa Coils go off. Oh yeah, in building lightning.

 

[Bones45]

Just sleep in separate beds, and don't drink too much....

Congrats and enjoy

...should be around the arena area by 1pm, find a decent drinking spot until about 5pm then head over to the arena.

Looks like you are doing the prudent thing..

 

[Islesin93*]

Trust me. You'll love it. The Arena is beautiful and makes the Coliseum look like even more of a dump.

I hope we win, but wait till you see those Telsa Coils go off. Oh yeah, in building lightning.

ill take a dump with awesome sightlines and history then any of these modern "nice" arenas any day

 

[The Underboss]

ill take a dump with awesome sightlines and history then any of these modern "nice" arenas any day

You've never been to the Tampa Bay Times Forum?? Let me tell you the sight lines are just a good as NVMC and here you can see the scoreboard from everywhere. The building is modern, clean and beautiful. Try not to show too much of your bitterness because the Isles are moving.

 

[Islesin93*]

You've never been to the Tampa Bay Times Forum?? Let me tell you the sight lines are just a good as NVMC and here you can see the scoreboard from everywhere. The building is modern, clean and beautiful. Try not to show too much of your bitterness because the Isles are moving.

I have been there, I went to a concert there in 2010(though my seat was on the floor)

and like I said, I like the Isles because of the history(sight lines are an added bonus) most of the new arenas around the league don't hold a candle to the sight lines at the Coliseum, mainly because they try and cram as many of the luxury boxes as possible in between the really good seats and the crappy seats, and the crappy seats are just as much crappier

I have been to many of these "new modern" arenas around the league

and I will take the Coliseum any day of the week

the awesome history at the Coliseum, the old time hockey feel, and the awesome sight lines are a bonus

 

[OlTimeHockey]

If the SEATS were better, no better bowl out there and old school feel.

You fix the concourse and spruce up the decor, no arena beats it unless you count the product the owner puts out. None. I've been in nicer arenas and lemme tell you, NOTHING better than sitting in a 1 seat three rows from the glass where the seat arms pinch because they tried to fit more in {Honda Center} or the view of the ISS from Staples.

Nassau, Wang and SMG screwed up. The arena with a serious overhaul would have been the pride of the league, but......someone bought an NHL team to make money. Not to win and make money, but just make money.

In five or ten years, NY will be foreclosed upon, anyway, after Cuomo and all the other pols, so we'll just have to let it go. Brooklyn probably saved the team from having to make a choice to do something intelligent or die. Nassau (and Suffolk}now has the luxury of just death.

But as Homeland states, Tampa GOT NICE! And just look at the COST of renovating it to make it NICE. Under $100M to make it just a spectacle and with SMART management, it's apparently one of the best sites to see a game.

 

[LAIslanderFan]

If the SEATS were better, no better bowl out there and old school feel.

You fix the concourse and spruce up the decor, no arena beats it unless you count the product the owner puts out. None. I've been in nicer arenas and lemme tell you, NOTHING better than sitting in a 1 seat three rows from the glass where the seat arms pinch because they tried to fit more in {Honda Center} or the view of the ISS from Staples.

Nassau, Wang and SMG screwed up. The arena with a serious overhaul would have been the pride of the league, but......someone bought an NHL team to make money. Not to win and make money, but just make money.

In five or ten years, NY will be foreclosed upon, anyway, after Cuomo and all the other pols, so we'll just have to let it go. Brooklyn probably saved the team from having to make a choice to do something intelligent or die. Nassau (and Suffolk}now has the luxury of just death.

But as Homeland states, Tampa GOT NICE! And just look at the COST of renovating it to make it NICE. Under $100M to make it just a spectacle and with SMART management, it's apparently one of the best sites to see a game.

I agree with everything in your thread.

I was just at the Tampa arena. It's definitely one of the nicest buildings I've been in, and the seats all seem to have great site lines (I was 1st row in the upper deck, blue line). Having said that, the NVMC still has the best site lines for hockey and that has always been the most important aspect of going to a hockey game for me. I could care less about the snackbar or the luxuary suites. I'm definitely going to miss the Coliseum and I take offence to anyone that is critical of the building.

For all the critics out there, wait to you see the prices for the Barclay's and the seat you get for those prices. But don't worry, they'll be sushi and foie gras.

 

[The Underboss]

Don't get me wrong NVMC has great sight lines, but modern buildings do too and the Forum is proof of that.


So RafterRat what did you think of your trip?


Good Islander contingent was at the Forum last night.

 

[OlTimeHockey]

Don't get me wrong NVMC has great sight lines, but modern buildings do too and the Forum is proof of that.


So RafterRat what did you think of your trip?


Good Islander contingent was at the Forum last night.

And the low budget improvements they made....what'd you {rafter}think?

 

[RafterRat]

Don't get me wrong NVMC has great sight lines, but modern buildings do too and the Forum is proof of that.


So RafterRat what did you think of your trip?


Good Islander contingent was at the Forum last night.

Folks.. al I have to say is...WOW!!!!!!

What an awesome experience. For a change, I can say nothing bad about the Islanders organization and how they treated us. Beautiful hotel, we were treated like VIP's, the Lightning fans were awesome to hang wih and party. The pre-game festivities were outstanding, we spent more times chatting with Lightning fans than Islander fans. Met a ton of people and made some good new friends in the hockey circle for future trips. Once again....WOW!!!

We get to the hotel and the gentleman at the desk checked us in and asked us to wait there for a minute. Someone took us up to our room to put down our stuff and they asked if we were ready to go. Go where I asked? Oh we have tpo get over to the arena for practice...... WHAT!!! Someone else came and got us and we walked over to the arena and watched the practice with the organization. Then we walked back over to the hotel with Travis, Andy Mac, and Poulin. Chatted with Nielsen (who is shy), Kyle and Matt Moulson in the lobby with the other guys for a bit and they went up for a team meeting (naptime before game LOL).

We went out to get lunch and walk around for a bit. Beautiful area around the arena.

Met up and talke with a few Isles fans in the afternoon when we were walking around. I was amazed at how many times I heard an Let's Go Islanders chant or someone beeping their car horn as we walked around.

Was impressed with the interior of the arena when we got in for the game. I only had to stop walking once for a crowded area...not herded like cattle in our NVMC!! LOL At one point I was just walking up to people and telling them how they had an amazing arena and that as fans they were all awesome.

Sat right on the aisle, 6 rows back from the middle of the Isles bench!!! So they got to hear all my yellin' during the game. I pre-warned them when we met in the afternoon and they looked backed a few times and laughed at some of my crap.

We also had passes to wait after the game and meet players. Definatley something I was not used to seeing from the club. Once again we met Andy Mac. Hickey looked like a high school kid, matt Martin was cool as well as JT, and I hd a nice talk with Brent Thompson about his suspension and he signed my jersey (not too many people are able to sign my jersey)!!

Overall a GREAT game experience!!!!

Hit Hattricks after the game, another cool place but ran into some drunken idiot that was a Blues fan and kept douchin' off to us. I got his ass back in line quick and h backed off. Lightning fans kept coming up and talking with us there too. It was awesome... I think we may have paid for one beer there...everybody kept buying us rounds. I staggered my way back to the Hotel and that was about it... we had a midday flight the next morning.

Overall.....WOW!!!! That was definately a once in a lifetime experience!!!

 

[LAIslanderFan]

As I mentioned, I just went to the Canadian - Lightening game last saturday. I should give a shout out to the Lightening fans, they're a very respectful group and definitely have class. That brings me to their opponant that night, the Montreal Canadian's fans. Total jerks. There were a group of girls, I'd say 7 or 8 screaming "Go Habs Go" getting right up in Lightening fans faces. I understand cheering your team, but they obviously were doing eveything they could to rub it in the faces of the Lightening faithful.

There's a difference between enjoying your teams victory and celebrating, and trying to denigrate the other team. The Canadian's fans were clearly the latter, and they weren't the only ones doing it.

 

[The Underboss]

Glad you enjoyed Tampa! How about those Tesla Coils? Cool stuff! Lightning fans are great people and very diverse!! That's cool you got to see them after the game.

Folks.. al I have to say is...WOW!!!!!!

What an awesome experience. For a change, I can say nothing bad about the Islanders organization and how they treated us. Beautiful hotel, we were treated like VIP's, the Lightning fans were awesome to hang wih and party. The pre-game festivities were outstanding, we spent more times chatting with Lightning fans than Islander fans. Met a ton of people and made some good new friends in the hockey circle for future trips. Once again....WOW!!!

We get to the hotel and the gentleman at the desk checked us in and asked us to wait there for a minute. Someone took us up to our room to put down our stuff and they asked if we were ready to go. Go where I asked? Oh we have tpo get over to the arena for practice...... WHAT!!! Someone else came and got us and we walked over to the arena and watched the practice with the organization. Then we walked back over to the hotel with Travis, Andy Mac, and Poulin. Chatted with Nielsen (who is shy), Kyle and Matt Moulson in the lobby with the other guys for a bit and they went up for a team meeting (naptime before game LOL).

We went out to get lunch and walk around for a bit. Beautiful area around the arena.

Met up and talke with a few Isles fans in the afternoon when we were walking around. I was amazed at how many times I heard an Let's Go Islanders chant or someone beeping their car horn as we walked around.

Was impressed with the interior of the arena when we got in for the game. I only had to stop walking once for a crowded area...not herded like cattle in our NVMC!! LOL At one point I was just walking up to people and telling them how they had an amazing arena and that as fans they were all awesome.

Sat right on the aisle, 6 rows back from the middle of the Isles bench!!! So they got to hear all my yellin' during the game. I pre-warned them when we met in the afternoon and they looked backed a few times and laughed at some of my crap.

We also had passes to wait after the game and meet players. Definatley something I was not used to seeing from the club. Once again we met Andy Mac. Hickey looked like a high school kid, matt Martin was cool as well as JT, and I hd a nice talk with Brent Thompson about his suspension and he signed my jersey (not too many people are able to sign my jersey)!!

Overall a GREAT game experience!!!!

Hit Hattricks after the game, another cool place but ran into some drunken idiot that was a Blues fan and kept douchin' off to us. I got his ass back in line quick and h backed off. Lightning fans kept coming up and talking with us there too. It was awesome... I think we may have paid for one beer there...everybody kept buying us rounds. I staggered my way back to the Hotel and that was about it... we had a midday flight the next morning.

Overall.....WOW!!!! That was definately a once in a lifetime experience!!!