NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Tampa Bay Lightning

Last night I chose to attend the Tampa Bay Lightning game. St. Pete Times Forum is a 90 minute drive from where we are staying in The Villages, FL.

Parking
Parking around St. Pete Times Forum is cheap. Most lots are $5 and if you bring change you can park at the meters for 75 cents per hour.

Obtaining Tickets
I always park at a lot with some distance from the stadium so I can pass scalpers on the way to the stadium. My goal last night was to pay $5 or receive a free ticket. The first scalpers I passed had between 10 and 20 tickets each. I’m not sure why they had such a supply but that was definitely to my benefit. I decided rather than spend time looking for a free ticket I would offer the next scalper $5 for a ticket. I did and he accepted the offer. In my mind, $5 is equal to free when I do not spend any energy searching for tickets.

The Game
Before the game, IKEA sponsored a $5 all-you-can-eat buffet with Swedish meatballs, hot dogs, chips and non-alcoholic beverages.

The arena was pretty empty last night. Even though the announced crowd was 12,214, only the first 8,000 fans were supposed to receive the night’s promotion of thunder sticks and gate attendants were still handing them out when I entered the arena.

The Avalanche scored a goal in each period to win 3-0. Matt Duchene had two goals as Craig Anderson made 33 saves to lead the Avalanche.

NHL: Los Angeles Kings at Colorado Avalanche

With one of the Ultimate Sports Wife’s good friends just moving to Denver, CO a few months ago and a visit to see her long overdue, we decided to fly to Denver Wednesday afternoon for a weekend of skiing and Winter X Games in Aspen, CO.

Nicole’s friend Nicole Neuschler (who I will call “the Neusch” from now on in order to avoid confusion with the Ultimate Sports Wife’s first name) lives in Denver, so we had the option to fly to Denver or Aspen. We decided to fly to Denver ($175 each) instead of Aspen, CO ($500+ each at the time) and join her for the four hour drive from Denver to Aspen on Thursday morning.

Since we were flying to Denver (and knowing “the Neusch’s” apartment was only a 10 minute walk to the Pepsi Center), I looked at the Pepsi Center schedule. The Colorado Avalanche was home Wednesday night, January 21, and the Denver Nuggets were home Sunday night, January 25. Knowing that I would be “pushing it” to attend both games in Denver (mixed in with a weekend at Winter X Games); I had to choose one event. With Nicole’s birthday being Monday, January 26, I knew waking her up early and flying to Chicago Monday morning would not give me any “bonus points,” so I chose to fly to Denver Wednesday afternoon and fly back to Chicago Sunday evening.

“The Neusch” picked us up from Denver International Airport (DIA) Wednesday afternoon and drove us back to her place. With only a 10 minute walk from the Pepsi Center and a 70 degree day in Denver, we decided to sit on her deck with a bottle of wine rather than frequent any bars in the neighborhood before the game. At 6:15 pm, I decided to walk over to the arena.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived in front of the Pepsi Center and noticed that a few scalpers were selling tickets. With the weather so nice, I thought I would search for my own ticket. Rather than wait in front of the stadium, I took the walkway into the southern parking lot. I looked for single fans and groups of three that may have an extra ticket and asked “Do you have an extra single?” Ticket Buying Tip: Don’t waste time asking couples or foursomes if they have extra tickets. Most fans buy two or four tickets for an event. Thus, look for single fans or threesomes since they will most likely have an extra.

After asking a few threesomes if they had an extra ticket, one group finally said they did. They handed me the ticket and did want anything for it. Face value = $111. For me = $0. When I arrived in the arena, I was 12 rows from center ice.

The Game
In the highest scoring game I have attended this season, the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-5. The Kings had a 6-2 lead before the Avalanche scored three unanswered goals to make the score 6-5. The Kings were able to hold off the Avalanche for the remaining 12.5 minutes for the win.

The section next to mine won Chipotle Burritos, in which staff came out and actually threw burritos into the crowd. Although a few burritos came into my section, I did not catch one.