Canada

American Hockey League

Saturday 21st October 2017

Puck Drop 16.00

Toronto Marlies 4 Charlotte Checkers 0,  attendance 5,628

1-0 Mason Marchment

2-0 Mason Marchment

3-0 Dmytro Timashov

4-0 Colin Greening

@ Ricoh Coliseum

45 Manitoba Drive

Toronto

ON M6K 3C3

CAD $37 Admission

No Programme.

Ricoh Coliseum was opened in December 1921, undergoing renovation in 1963, 1997 and 2003. Capacity here, for ice hockey, is 7,851. It is situated at Exhibition Place, which is reached by Tram Number 509 from Union Station, for CAD $3 each way. This is the same stop as if going to B.M.O. Field, the home of Toronto F.C. some 300-400 yards to the west.

Toronto Marlies are the top affiliate of N.H.L. team Toronto Maple Leafs. They are named after the former Toronto Marlboros junior hockey team, known as the ‘Marlies’. Due to the name being the same as a well known cigarette brand, they use the abbreviated form as the official team nickname.

As with most American sports, the game never started on time, but just eight minutes late for this one. It was very dull until the first goal, which didn’t come until the second period, but was much more entertaining for the remainder of the game. The announced attendance also looked about right.

National Hockey League

Western Conference

Thursday 13th October 2016

Face Off 19.30 Actual 19.44

Dallas Stars 4 Anaheim Ducks 2,  attendance 18,532

03.40/1st 1-0 Stephen Johns

14.09/1st 1-1 Andrew Cogliano

02.43/2nd 2-1 Lauri Korpikoski

01.01/3rd 2-2 Andrew Cogliano

01.23/3rd 3-2 Antoine Roussel

14.09/3rd 4-2 Adam Cracknell

@ American Airlines Center

2500, Victory Avenue

Dallas, TX 75219

Admission $202* Parking $40*

Programme free, 100 pages.

* Face value of two tickets, plus parking , was $444. However, as the tickets were purchased in a corporate charity auction, including parking less than 100 yards from the arena, we picked them up for a total of just $105 !

The seats were just 6 rows from the front, just offset from the halfway line. I had only ever watched ice hockey on television up until now and found it much harder to follow the action here, especially when the puck was along the near side of the ice as there are huge blind spots due to the fences and player benches.

I had been to the American Airlines Center previously, having seen Dallas Mavericks versus Atlanta Hawks in the N.B.A. (9th December, see Basketball  Section) so knew what to expect. The main difference, due to the configuration of ice hockey, is that capacity is lower, being  18,532. Most, if not all, Stars games are played to a full house and tonight’s sell out for the season opener certainly backs that up.

The Dallas Stars moved to Dallas in 1993, having previously been the Minnesota North Stars franchise from 1967, based in Bloomington, MN, until the move. By the 1978-79 N.H.L. season the team had merged with the Cleveland Barons as they were both struggling financially. The move to Dallas saw them based at Reunion Arena, before moving less than 1.5 miles to the AAC in 2001.