BFC's horrible, no good, bad game experience.
First off, OW.
Secondly. I made the trip to Buffalo from my tundra estate in south central NY with the hope of watching a great game and relaxing my cabin fever. You see, where I am. I have icicles that go from the roof to the frozen snow covered ground. My rage towards winter is causing facial twitches.
After a rather pleasant 2 hr drive to Buffalo. I got free parking! FREE! That's when it fell off a cliff. I walked around the First Niagara Center and explored the new Harbourcenter. Lovely attachment to the FN center. Multiple rinks, restaurant bar, Tim's. I watched a little girl's hockey. Not bad. The building is something I wish the Preds could do to the old convention center. Only thing I had to do was walk the half a mile to the public library. It's a half a mile, no problem. But this is Buffalo.... In the winter. The first problem is me. I don't really have ankles per se but fused rocks. My genetic weakness. But when cold and wet they caused numbness and pain. A sensation which can be caused when you step into a slush puddle because the constant lake effect snow. Hobbling to the library, I walked between the Cleveland like city canyons. With a 40 MPH gust cutting through me like a scalpel. I gleefully enter the library and warm my frozen bones in front of the public computers and paid my fee for the printings.
Walking back to the arena, downhill, sliding almost a block at a time because constant lake effect snow is impossible to defeat, I ate lunch at the 716 restaurant and then desert at Tim's. Now this Tim's is special. This Tim's is dedicated to former Buffalo Sabres' defenseman, Tim Horton. So, this is Tim Horton's Tim Horton. One, Hot chocolate and a box of assorted Timbit's later I went back to my car where I slipped on my Preds colors and walked around the arena. Lot's of Preds fans 80% Canadian, a pair of PA residents who were stalking Shea Weber, and me. Funny story, I saw a group of Preds jersey clad fans who were fiddling with their Tim's cups. I walked over thinking they were TNeseans trying to figure out roll up the rim, but they were Canadians who did it already. As for all the Canadians rooting for the Preds? 'I got sick of the Leafs losing and I wanted to root for a winner.'
Game time. Buffalo has a classy game time presentation. Modern but with an aire of original 6. I sat down and watched....and that glee of the game turned into horror. The team looked like ****. Not just a regular triangular pile of fresh doo-doo, steaming with the body heat of a doberman, but a pile that was run over by a car. The team looked tired. I mean like the team was bag skated an hour before the game tired. Especially the forwards. Let's face it, the game was a late end of a back to back. The body language was telling. Players weren't hopping over the boards to change shifts, they had a look on their face of 'Really? Do I have to coach?' This team looked like they needed a week off and a couple of practice sessions. The Preds took a lot of shots....none of which looked like quality shots. I couldn't take any more. I walked out at the 8 minute mark.
Am I a bad fan? Yup. The game had the stink of a loss and I hate losing. I get into the car and was directed all over the place away from the highway I wanted to go to. After a half an hour of redirection and listening to Rick Jennerette scream about Ribeiro scoring...****! I watched as the roads began to glisten, then start to pile snow. ****! I worked around to find a hotel. My cell phone was down to 3% and I need to make my own pile. Get my hotel room, I run to my room.....only to slip and fall on my face. Luckily I managed to keep my tighty whities white while bruising my quads. I'll go into further detail after a night's rest and recovery.
