What was your first NHL game attended? And favorite?

[God Bless Canada]

My first, and my favourite game, are the same. October 17, 1986, in Edmonton. My family was living in northeast B.C., so for my eighth birthday, we did the six-hour drive from Fort St. John to Edmonton, and my Dad and I went to the game between Detroit and Edmonton. It was the last year that Coffey and Moog were with the Oilers, too, so it was the last season that the core of the dynasty was together. I still have the program and the tickets from the game. Best birthday ever. (Okay the game was one day after my birthday, but you guys get the point). I think we were seated in the upper deck of Northlands behind the net, but still, nothing can top your first game, especially when that first game involves Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Anderson, Coffey, Fuhr and Yzerman.

Outside of my first game, my favourite game that I have attended would probably be Game 4 between the Canucks and the Leafs in the 1994 Western Conference final. The crowd at the ol' Pacific Coliseum was electric. It always was when Toronto or Montreal visited Vancouver, but for this game, the Leaf fans were a very vocal minority. If the Canucks win, we take a 3-1 series lead, and we're probably going to the Stanley Cup final. It was scoreless until late in the third, and by that point, every pass, every face-off, every save truly meant something. Canucks scored with a couple minutes left in the third, and added an empty net goal for the 2-0 win.

I was also at Game 4 of the 94 Stanley Cup final. An incredible experience, but the damn Rangers won, so it gets knocked down a peg or two.

(From a non-NHL perspective, the Saskatchewan Midget AA final in Estevan, Sask., in 2003, the incredible final from the 2005 Royal Bank Cup in Weyburn, Sask., and the New Year's Eve game between Canada and the U.S. at the WJC in Saskatoon this past year, would probably top my list. Canada-U.S. on New Year's Eve at the WJC was a second tier event on my sports bucket list. The crowd for that game was incredible).

 

[BlackDog13]

First game: Islanders vs Vancouver at the Coilseum Mar '73. Isles won 9-3.

Favorite: Lots of good ones, right now I've been thinking about game 4 of the '75 Quarter Finals against Pittsburgh.

 

[Peter9]

My first NHL game was in late 1955, the Montreal Canadiens vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs in the old Maple Leaf Gardens. It's also my favorite game because it's one of the few times I saw Maurice Richard play live in the flesh rather than on television. The Candiens won, 3-1, as I recall, but I'm too lazy to look up the game summary right now.

Going to a game then was an occasion--everyone dressed to the nines, the live band playing during intermission, the ceremonies at center ice before the opening faceoff. My seats were in the second-tier blues. The cost, I believe, was $3.50. The tiers then, in order, were red, blue, green and gray. I went to several later games with seats in the grays, costing $1.25. It was a lot of money for a kid in those days.

I have a co-favorite game, the Canadiens vs. the Kings in the Inglewood Forum in the 1969-70 season. Jean Beliveau, coming close to the end of his career, scored a hat-trick.

As a memorable game I would add the Candiens vs. the Bruins in the old Boston Garden somehwhere around 1967. Bobby Orr scored his first NHL goal, a slap shot from the left point that eluded Gump Worsley. I always had fantastic seats at the Garden, first row of the first balcony at the blueline of the end where the Canadiens attacked twice. Still so close to the players and yet able to see the pattern of play, unlike those fools who insist on seats very close to the ice. The ticket cost for that section was, if memory serves, about $4.00. I was lucky to spend my three law school years, 1965 to 1968, in the Boston area and got to see every game in which the Canadiens visited plus selected other games.

 

[pappyline]

Peter9's post prompted me to post. Peter beats me by a year or two. My first game was in 56-57 at MLG between the Leafs & the Blackhawks & my idol Ed litzenberger. My older brother took me which was pretty nice of him since he was a Detroit/Howe fan. At that time if you lived outside of Toronto you could actually get tickets via mail. We had blues which were very good seats.

What struck me the most was the colour. The redlines & bluelines, the uniforms, even the seat colours. I had only seen them on B&W TV prior to this. I was also mesmorized by all the old pictures of Leafs of the past. A great experience for a nine year old.

 

[Peter9]

Peter9's post prompted me to post. Peter beats me by a year or two. My first game was in 56-57 at MLG between the Leafs & the Blackhawks & my idol Ed litzenberger. My older brother took me which was pretty nice of him since he was a Detroit/Howe fan. At that time if you lived outside of Toronto you could actually get tickets via mail. We had blues which were very good seats.

What struck me the most was the colour. The redlines & bluelines, the uniforms, even the seat colours. I had only seen them on B&W TV prior to this. I was also mesmorized by all the old pictures of Leafs of the past. A great experience for a nine year old.

Yes, the colours, so vivid. For kids who only saw NHL hockey through the somewhat grainy black and white version of the old Hockey Night in Canada, it was an overwhelming experience to go to a live NHL game. I think that's why my first NHL game is also my favorite; the game itself was nothing exceptional, but the experience was.

The Boston Garden, smoky with a huge number of working class fans who were nowhere near dressed to the nines, was a completely different experience than Maple Leaf Gardens. It was a bit of a dump, crowded over the main downtown rail station, but I loved it.

My third co-favorite game was not a proper NHL game, but an old-timers game between the Bruins and the Canadiens circa 1966-67 at the old Boston Garden. The Bruins won by a single goal but they had many players who had played in the 1950s and early 1960s on their roster, while the Canadiens were made up mostly of players from the 1930s and 1940s. It's my co-favorite because it was the last time I saw Maurice Richard play, and he scored a fine goal, a powerful wrist shot from very near the blueline. How I loved the Rocket, and still do. That game also featured Aurel Joliat, Kenny Reardon and several other famous stars I never saw play live, but I don't remember exactly who now. I can't remember if Eddie Shore played. I had the game programme, but it seems to have disappeared somewhere along the line. I've moved a dozen times since then. The Boston newspapers covered the game, which drew quite a crowd.

 

[Derick*]

First: Not sure what season it was (91 or 92), but it was a Canucks vs. Whalers game at the old Pacific Coliseum. Bure scored two goals.

Best: Last game of the season, last season. Henrik scoring four points to solidify the Art Ross (and likely the Hart) in a blowout win vs. the Flames. The whole place was cheering for pretty much the entire game. Whenever the arena guy announced a point for Henrik, the roof blew off the rink.

Not to necessarily take a shot at Henrik in particular, but the fact that a couple points in a blowout reassured you he was going to get the Hart says something about how the Hart is awarded these days.

 

[JSmith81x]

First game: http://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/199504090CHI.html

My 14th birthday. Denis Savard's first game back after the trade. I don't really remember the game all that much; I do remember we were kind of high up, but I could read the names on the backs of the jerseys easily as long as they were on the close half. I should still have the tickets and programs (both the official one and The Blue Line sold outside).

 

[greatgazoo]

1st game: Hawks vs Habs at the Old Forum in 1987. Roy posts a shutout.
Fav. game: Hawks vs Leafs at the Gardens in 1989. Seated in the golds (2nd row from the ice) and a line brawl breaks out! When Manson came back after being escorted off the ice....I lost my voice!!

Here's the evidence of what was a wild Boxing Day match up at the Gardens with Leeman vs Savard as the centrepiece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvv22eWpyLY

 

[VMBM]

Still a virgin.

Favourite that I've seen on tape/dvd: 1979 semifinal Montreal vs. Boston ("not enough women on the ice" game, he he)

I also like both Philly vs. the Bruins 1974 SC final games that I've seen (and that are available via HoH); I mean, Clarke, Parent, MacLeish... Orr, Cashman, Esposito...

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

1st game: Hawks vs Habs at the Old Forum in 1987. Roy posts a shutout.
Fav. game: Hawks vs Leafs at the Gardens in 1989. Seated in the golds (2nd row from the ice) and a line brawl breaks out! When Manson came back after being escorted off the ice....I lost my voice!!

Here's the evidence of what was a wild Boxing Day match up at the Gardens with Leeman vs Savard as the centrepiece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvv22eWpyLY

Ah, the good old days, when hockey players fought because they were pissed off.

Unlike today, when fighters disguised as hockey players ask each other to go and then lean back so they won't get hit.

 

[DJ Man]

It must have been 1961-62, Maple Leafs visiting the Chicago Stadium. I was quite young, but haven't forgotten it. The Hawks won 2-1. (I didn't get to see too many games in person, but I did watch every game on television when I could throughout the 1960s.)

 

[RJ8812*]

Claude Giroux's NHL debut in Ottawa Feb. '08. Flyers lost in a SO

I've only been to one other game, and that was Feb '09 in Philly vs BUF. This would probably be my fav game since the Flyers won 5-2 and Richards had 4 points

 

[HullToSelanne]

Is it a crime to say I've never been to one, simply because the Jets moved before I could walk?

My fav to watch on tape: This isn't NHL, but the WHA Avco Cup Final 1979 Game 6. Jets beat the crap out of the Oilers, 7-3. Last game in WHA history, Dave Semenko with the last goal. Classic~

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

first game: late '90 or early '91, canucks vs. nordiques in the old pacific coliseum. i missed every goal because i was nine years old and therefore short, the coliseum wasn't as steep as today's stadiums, and everybody stood up when there was a scoring chance. joe sakic scored in overtime and we lost to the worst team in the league. i didn't see the goal, but walking out of the arena with my dad, i heard an awful lot about this kid from burnaby and how he was going to be the best lower mainland NHLer in a long time.

favourite game:

I've been meaning to write this entry for a long time now. I'm not a huge aficionado of hockey fights and I could generally care less about the latest heavyweight battle. I've seen all of the Coxe v. Probert, Probert v. Crowder, and Probert v. Domi fights and, while I enjoy them, it's far from my favourite thing in hockey. But certain fights have a way of galvanising an entire building, an entire fanbase and an entire city even, and Gino Odjick's scrap against Jason Strudwick at GM Place in the Spring of 1998 was one of them.

It was Trevor Linden's first game back in Vancouver after Mike Keenan and Mark Messier ran him out of town. The day before the fight -- one day after Gino was traded to the New York Islanders -- a local paper reported something about a particularly dehumanising incident during a game against St. Louis when Keenan questioned Linden's professionalism, heart, and manhood in front of the entire team while Messier sat back enjoying it. According to the article, the team had just sat down for the first intermission and Linden was going around the room tapping people on the knee and congratulating them on a good period when Keenan walks in and proceeds to tear into him. Finally, Odjick stood up and said, "There is no use slandering Trevor or embarrassing a guy who has devoted his heart and soul to his team. I know for a fact that Trevor goes all out every time he laces on his skates. In the eight years I've been here, there's no player I respect more than Trevor Linden." As we all know, Linden was traded to the Islanders for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and the third round pick that became Jarkko Ruutu and Gino soon followed. The guy the Canucks got back for Gino was a big young defenceman named Jason Strudwick. I was fortunate enough to attend that game and it was clear that everyone there hated Keenan and Messier. Our beloved Canucks team that went to the finals only to lose by one goal to Keenan and Messier's New York Rangers had either been run out of town (Kirk McLean, Martin Gelinas, Linden, Odjick) or left on their own (Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning, Jyrki Lumme). Pavel Bure was threatening that it was his last year in Vancouver and many thought that Keenan trading Odjick -- Bure's best friend -- made it official. Bure played out the season, finishing third in league scoring, and never played for the Canucks again. Nobody in the arena that night wanted anything to do with a Vancouver team led by Keenan and Messier and the team was going nowhere -- they wouldn't make the playoffs again until after Messier went back to the Rangers. Trevor got a huge standing ovation when his name was announced in the starting lineup and another long ovation after his first shift. When the Jumbotron's camera focused on Linden during that second ovation, you could see him crying on the bench. When Gino, in the first NHL shift he ever played not wearing a Canucks uniform, picked that fight with Strudwick and Strudwick (to his credit) accepted, it was as much a symbolic gesture as a hockey fight. It was as if Gino was taking out the entire city's frustration with the new Canucks on poor Jason Strudwick. The only thing more satisfying would have been Gino pummelling Mark Messier at center ice. The ovation for Gino after he beat Strudwick was as loud as I've ever heard in Vancouver -- I don't think even Pavel Bure's most dramatic breakaway goals ever got that kind of reception. Ask anyone who was there that night; nobody left GM Place that night not knowing what it meant to be a Canucks fan.

EDIT: that game was also the last time i got to see my favourite player, pavel bure, in person. he scored on a breakaway. this time, i was tall enough to see.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Ah, the good old days, when hockey players fought because they were pissed off.

Unlike today, when fighters disguised as hockey players ask each other to go and then lean back so they won't get hit.

while i agree with you and miss those days, i think this one was a case of manson fighting (or more accurately jumping someone and then throwing punches while the other guy was done) to protect his star, who was skating backward figure eights for a good long time so he wouldn't actually have to fight gary leeman.

 

[SniperWild]

First: 11/17/00 - Flyers @ Atlanta
http://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/200011170ATL.html

Wore a Flyers jersey at the game (Started watching hockey in the beginning of 2000, I was 13 at the time and I liked the logo so I got it.)



Best: Game 2, 2007 Playoffs vs NYR (experienced playoff hockey for the first time)

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

while i agree with you and miss those days, i think this one was a case of manson fighting (or more accurately jumping someone and then throwing punches while the other guy was done) to protect his star, who was skating backward figure eights for a good long time so he wouldn't actually have to fight gary leeman.

True, but everyone out there was pissed off. Even Savard.

Manson wasn't a goon by today's standards, but he was pretty close to commitable (if that's a word).

 

[RichNash61]

First game: 1990 Old Chicago Stadium versus The North Stars

Best game: 1992 Stanley Cup win over the Hawks by Pittsburgh. See Mario grab the cup was just awesome!

 

[greatgazoo]

True, but everyone out there was pissed off. Even Savard.

Manson wasn't a goon by today's standards, but he was pretty close to commitable (if that's a word).

It was an old Norris division rivalry game, when teams faced each other 8 times a season and yeah these teams hated one another.

In the video you can see Leafs being held back at the bench so that they wouldn't start a full-on bench clearing brawl, which would've led to a lengthy suspension for the player and a fine for the team.

 

[Shootmaster_44]

My first game was March 3, 1990. The Flyers were in Edmonton to take on the Oilers. I don't remember a lot about the game, but we had terrible seats. We were seated in the top row of the "oxygen" level (as my Dad called it, so high you need oxygen) and there was a bar that was above this. The floor of the bar was so low my Dad had to duck a little to get to our seats and seeing the scoreboard was out of the question.

My favorite game was the next September, 1991. It was the Jets playing the Oilers at Saskatchewan Place in Saskatoon. The game was nothing memorable, but as he was leaving after the 2nd period, lineman Swede Knox saw me sitting there near the exit and waved me over. He flipped the puck to me and I still have it to this day.

 

[JT Dutch*]

... First game for me was October 15, 1983 at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The Kings played the Detroit Red Wings that night, and tied them 3-3.

Marcel Dionne had two assists, and it looked like the Kings might record their first win of the season. But, the Wings pulled the goalie in the last minute and tied it up. The goal was scored by the ancient Yugoslavian Ivan Boldirev, who had two goals that night and was first star of the game.

The night was historic in Kings' history for an embarrassing reason, as it was the last game in a Kings' sweater for Larry Murphy. Three days later, he was traded to the Capitals for Brian Engblom and Ken Houston.

Mario Lessard had a great game in net for the Kings, stopping 35 shots. He would go on to play three more games that season, and the former All-Star would never be seen in the NHL again - finished at the age of 29.

Steve Christoff was one of the players on the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" United States Olympic team. And he had a good night for the Kings; got a goal and an assist and was (after Lessard) probably the team's best player in the game. It turned out to be Christoff's last season in the NHL.

 

[Crimsontidefan]

first game: March 5th 1977 Vancouver 4 Toronto 4

 

[Hammer Slammer]

Went to a few games when I lived in Calgary and they were alright. First game was in Edmonton in '98 or so when Messier was with the Canucks. They played in Edmonton twice in '98 and I was only 10 so I don't remember the score or anything. Still have an Oilers flag my parents bought me, but it hasn't been out of the closet for years.

Would have to say my favourite was when the Flames hosted the Leafs in the early 00's when I still lived out there (when I was still a Leaf fan).

 

[tarheelhockey]

My first game was an exhibition between Boston and Florida in 1997. It was in the old Charlotte Coliseum, now known as Bojangles Arena (!) and a great minor-league barn. Florida was in their Vanbiesbrouck years, and Boston was the parent club of the local team so it was a decent matchup.

The most interesting thing from that game was that it was the first professional appearance by recent draft picks Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov. I, an adolescent at the time, glove-tapped them as they came down the tunnel. Good memories there.

My favorite game was the first playoff game I ever saw live, a Carolina/Montreal matchup at the RBC Center. It's just unbelievably loud in that building during the playoffs, and the Habs bring a little extra magic to the table. I distinctly remember the mocking "Ole! Ole! Ole!" chant sung by thousands of elated Canes fans as they exited the building after the win.

 

[SealsFan]

Odds are it was LA - they made two of their three visits to Nassau before St. Louis played there.

It's a slow day at work

Good call, thanks!!