Road Trips with the Hankster! By Hank Indictor
I love going to Madison Square Garden as much as the average Rangers fan, so much so that those who know me might consider it an addiction. However, if I’m being honest, watching the Rangers on the road is just as fun because when you go to different arenas, it becomes an entirely different experience in different cities. Some places where I have seen the Rangers include Boston, Philadelphia, three different Islanders arenas (Nassau, Barclays and now UBS) and, of course, Tampa Bay (which in and of itself should be a separate storytelling blog as it's the only place where I saw a playoff game on the road and the only city where I the Rangers and Yankees play on the same day!).
This past week I went to see the Rangers play two road games in four days with the first being a semi-home game at the Prudential Center and the latter marking my first-ever trip to the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.! Which was the better experience? Let’s just say it was the game in which I saw the Rangers win.
Ok, I think I need to be blunt here. Prudential Center (or should I say Midential Center) blows! And no, I’m not saying this because it's the home of a team I’ve hated ever since I was a kid. It legitimately isn’t that great of an arena. The concourse has the weird kind of feeling like some a hotel. Walking in there was this weird M&M’s banner. In that tower where you take the escalator and walk around the lower bowl, it seemed like everywhere people were trying to sell me raffle tickets and you don't see the cool team history and memorabilia until you reach the second level. The food here is awful, so much so that if Gordon Ramsay tried eating the hot dogs or tenders, he’d probably get sicker from that than he did when trying to eat Matt’s signature dish back in season four of Hell’s Kitchen.
You also know it's bad when I’d rather eat Burger King and/or cafeteria food than whatever they serve here! Oh and if you think I’m that biased just watch Frank “The Tank” Fleming’s food reviews at that place.
But the worst part about the stadium is you can't even bring a backpack into this place. I’m sorry….WHAT?!
Yes, this rant may have a personal side to it in that when my girlfriend joined me for the game, she had her backpack rejected by security. But let's look past it for a second because, for one thing, what if someone needed to bring medication? Then where else are they gonna put it in a pocket where it can easily fall out? And wouldn’t it be easier to have a backpack to keep a souvenir as opposed to the ones in the team store? Not to mention: imagine a mother bringing a newborn baby in there. Anyone with a brain can see how the no-bag rule can hurt in this case!
Oh, and it gets worse. As punishment for having a bag, you get to pay $10 for a locker that's right outside the stadium! Hard to believe this is a team that's owned by a billionaire here, but then again it seems as if they have the cheapness of Mr. Krabs while running the place that's the equivalent of the Chum Bucket!
The only thing I’ll give the place credit for is that at least the sightlines are good and there isn't a bad seat in the house. I certainly couldn't say that about Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but that's a story for another day.
As for the game itself, the Rangers didn't look like themselves, and the only reason it was even a close game is that Igor Shesterkin essentially stood on his head after giving up two goals in the first period. Suffice it to say, we couldn't get out of that building fast enough after that final buzzer, and with the way that fanbase was celebrating, you'd think they'd have won the Stanley Cup. It was so nauseating!
Ok, now that that's out of the way let's talk about the better arena!
Unlike with Midential Center, I hadn’t made any prior visit to Capital One Arena in D.C., so I didn’t know what to expect when I decided to make what pretty much felt like a day trip there. I found a somewhat cheap ticket behind where Shesterkin was in the net for two periods. With that, I took a late train into D.C. where I spent the night and woke up the next morning ready to take in another Rangers road game! As soon as I walked in, I immediately had better vibes.
One of the cool parts about Capital One is that it seems like they had a lot of different team stores on the main concourse and the food was pretty solid too (particularly the Chicken Sandwich from Swizzle!). But what I liked the most is that it had all the memorabilia of both the Wizards and the Capitals lining the walls, especially that exhibit with all the hats that were collected from all the recent Hat Tricks that occurred in the building (many of which by the great 8 himself Alexander Ovechkin).
Not to mention, I didn't have a bad experience with the Caps fans there, so that's a plus. And of course, it should come as a surprise to nobody that there was plenty of blue mixed in with the red in the stands!
As for the game itself, this time the Rangers dominated right from the start. They jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and never really looked back as they dominated by a score of 5-2. Defensively the Rangers were pretty tight all game, and I think what stood out most was the play of the Kid Line as Kakko and Lafreniere each had goals (with the latter having an awesome highlight reel goal).
Needless to say, there was never a doubt in my mind that the Rangers were winning this game. A good time was had by yours truly, and I took the Greyhound home happy!