A View From The O2

Our very own Leafy and Ricky Blayney give their take on the NHL's visit to London's O2 Arena last weekend:

Thanks for coming, Gary

On the weekend of 29th and 30th September, Gary Bettman the NHL Commissioner brought his long awaited razzmatazz of “The Show” to the O2 Arena in London, in the shape of the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks and their local rivals the Los Angeles Kings for the 2 game regular season “NHL Premiere”.

Our very own Belfast Giants were well represented in numbers of fans and in press mentions and mugshots on the scoreboard screens and international TV coverage! The Belfast fans were joined by a vast array of different UK and European fans, with a very large Slovakian contingent cheering on their countrymen every time they touched the puck, which combined with a very impressive showing of US based Kings and Ducks fans, travelling the long and expensive journey from Southern California.

So, what is the O2 like? Think of the arena twice the size of the Odyssey, put the O Pavilion round the outside of it, and then cover it with the big tent we all recognise the Dome from. Impressive? Yeah. Until you walk inside it and it takes your breath away. Awesome is the word. It’s an NHL arena in all but location - it was very easy to forget this was London.

Sit down and have a beer, play spot the Giants jerseys, point and talk loudly about Gary Bettman, watch the hockey, have a beer, etc. The game itself, a 4-1 win for the Kings which was a slight upset - you guys know about that already. Read the game reports! The highlight of the game off ice has to be Bailey, the Kings mascot. His taunting of the penalized Ducks players and their fans was quality, 2nd only to Carlton in the NHL mascot league. Go Bailey Go!

So to the Pilot Bar on Saturday night, where Hitchy amused us all with his Yagamesh routine to 'Borat the Barman' – “Are you taaiiking the peeze outta me?” “Sexy time!” So, a few lubricants later it’s a tipsy trip back to the hotels for everyone, with Sunday still to come!

A few sore heads in the morning later, game 2 is upon us in no time. And my moment of truth, with the front row of the top deck. It’s high. Very high. If you’re terrified of heights, just don’t bother, pay for the dearer seats! An increased pee rate through nerves was me keeping it under control. That’s my excuse anyways. The game was a 4-1 win for the Ducks, revenge for the previous night. Highlights of this, apart from the play, has to be the plexi-licking antics of a pair of “clique” KOTGers, caught for posterity on HNIC several times! Wave to the goalie, boys!

And, that’s it. Hockey over, where’s the drinks? The Slug and Lettuce got the majority vote, eventually! A bit of good natured banter and singing between the Giants/Steelers fans and the London Knights fans kicked off. “Where’s your arena gone?” Quite! Could we dream of EIHL hockey back in London? Playoffs even? After a raucous rendition of the “Rick Brebant Song” brought us to the amused and bemused attention of some of the Kings entourage outside the bar, and the not so amused attention of the bar manager, people started to hear the call of the Jubilee Line.

To round it up in one word - “Amazing”. Great hockey, great arena, great craic seeing so many old faces from around UK Hockey renewing friendships. Again, EIHL Playoffs anyone? Make it so!

In the meantime, with the very strong possibility of another NHL foray into Europe soon, with Berlin and Prague also mentioned as venues, it would be better to start saving the pennies now, folks!

Gary, thanks for coming. If you bring the Leafs with you the next time, I might even buy you a drink! Cheers, Leafy!

A Taste of Southern Californian Hockey in London.

I was somewhere under the streets of London on the Piccadilly line from when it really sank in where we were headed. Don’t get me wrong, I knew where I was going, my tolerance levels slightly extend the single pint of beer I had that morning in the airport. I had felt obliged to have the first one early, after all it would be the last cheep pint I would be having this weekend.

Still, it was the hockey that I was here for, right? It was the group sitting on the train, one in an Anaheim jersey, one in an L.A. jersey, representing the most heated hockey rivalry in Southern California right here in London England that got the excitement levels rising.

After a quick stop at the Maple Leaf bar in Covent Garden for a pint of Labatt Blue and plate of wings (it was after all necessary to get into the North American spirit before this NHL action), it was off to the Dome. The tube was packed and it took longer than expected... London land marks are not quite right beside each other as the post card in the newsagents I had just left made out!!

We got there in the end and stepped out under the shadow of the Dome. The first thing I noticed after the Dome was the vast number of hockey jerseys. I don’t think I've been to a sporting event before where so many different teams jerseys were represented. Jerseys from all over Europe, North America and the Elite League including our own Giants top.

Inside the arena was as impressive as I had hoped it would be, in fact it was better. Very much what you would come to expect from a top class NHL arena. I spent the pre-game warm-up discussing with friends how much one of them tables up above the stand behind one of the goals might cost for a three course meal. Whatever the predictions, enquiring about one was definitely out of the question.

As for the game itself, there was little doubt it was NHL hockey you were watching. You will have noticed the differences between this and what they normally watched back in the Odyssey arena; the four lines of forwards that limited the enforcers in both teams to handful of shifts all night, the added size of most players, the speed of play (you didn't need to look to hard to see this), combined with the smaller ice surface all added up to a more physical game.

Even away from the play itself there was a vast number of differences. The between period entertainment on the jumbotron hanging above the ice was especially excellent. The only down side for me was the breaks in play throughout each period in order to scrape the ice while television went on commercial breaks. Saying that it did allow the opportunity for a quick run to the bar and back without missing any action.

Upon the final buzzer those new to the NHL may have been shocked to see them skate right off without a handshake and also this whole three star things opposed to our man of the match system. Personally I liked it; it wasted no time and got us onto the main concourse for grub. There was certainly no shortage of restaurants, the 'tent' was lined with them and although the 18,500 at the game meant up to an hours wait at any given restaurant, nobody minded as the bars were only to happy to compensate until feeding time, and we certainly made the most of that.

Here's hoping it happens again soon. The only change for the better would be brining along the Philadelphia Flyers of course!!!

Ricky Blayney

Thanks to Paul0123 on Flickr for the use of his photo.

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