Brad Marsh: Favourite Arenas

I'll agree about the blandness of the new "improved" arenas. My first handful of Flyers games were at the Spectrum. The steps were steep, the upper deck was guarded from falls by cast iron 2" pipes. It was dirty and smelled. But it was about just hockey. Not money, not promotions for sponsors, just the game at hand.

The new Wells Fargo Center (it's had 4 different bank names since it came into existence in 1996) is a lot cleaner. It's got better lighting, it's fresher, they have better vendors, and the upper deck is guarded by clear plexiglass. But it's more about luxury and getting every penny out of you possible than it is about winning. The seats are nicer and there are more premium seats (which they push at every stoppage), it creates a relaxed feeling as opposed to one of crazy anticipation. At the Wells Fargo Center, a lot of people are too busy texting each other about what they're doing after the game. At The Spectrum, we just cheered.

I would give anything to hear an organ play at a game again instead of that loud modern day music that blasts at arenas at deafening volumes. Seriously, you can't even hear or talk to the person right next to you during a stoppage in play. I guess I am sounding old now.
- Brad Marsh

You're not sounding old at all, I couldn't agree more. I get that they have to keep up with the times and make the experience exciting for everybody, but it's way too much. Our teams need to trust us to make noise sometimes, and without blasting Motley Crue/Guns N Roses and putting a "loud-o-meter" on the TV.

I grew up playing hockey in Colorado Springs in the old Broadmoor Arena. In those days, we were lucky to see one or two NHL games televised. When that occurred, my brothers and I were glued to the TV. I still remember how it felt to take the first step on the ice whether it was practice or a game...the world changed and life was terrific. This 62 year old really appreciates your blog and the insight it provides.

The lighting scheme at the Spectrum helped make it an intimidating place to place. They only lit the ice during game action, making the three tiers look like a dark wall of people and noise. The WFC is brightly lit all around. I don't like it. The lighting reminds me of Maple Leaf Gardens, Boston Gardens and the Montreal Forum of the 70s' and 80's. Too antiseptic looking for my tastes. I prefer the lighting schemes used at Air Canada and Washington.

I have not been to MSG this year to see the full renovation, but I have to say that the feel of electricity there is almost unrivaled.

Thanks, Brad for the blog and also the one last week, along with your son's, on Pelle Lindbergh. Thanks for the memories. My freshman year at Penn was the last year the team practiced at the Class of 23 rink. One of my friends and I would go down as often as possible. Pelle loved his orangy red Porsche and letting Morganti take breakaways against him after practice. Sudsy sold me Pelle's first home jersey from that season. Thanks again.

The lighting scheme at the Spectrum helped make it an intimidating place to place. They only lit the ice during game action, making the three tiers look like a dark wall of people and noise. The WFC is brightly lit all around. I don't like it. The lighting reminds me of Maple Leaf Gardens, Boston Gardens and the Montreal Forum of the 70s' and 80's. Too antiseptic looking for my tastes. I prefer the lighting schemes used at Air Canada and Washington.

I have not been to MSG this year to see the full renovation, but I have to say that the feel of electricity there is almost unrivaled.

Thanks, Brad for the blog and also the one last week, along with your son's, on Pelle Lindbergh. Thanks for the memories. My freshman year at Penn was the last year the team practiced at the Class of 23 rink. One of my friends and I would go down as often as possible. Pelle loved his orangy red Porsche and letting Morganti take breakaways against him after practice. Sudsy sold me Pelle's first home jersey from that season. Thanks again.
- GeorgeBailey

I think the Penn hockey team -- for which Paul Stewart played -- had already been disbanded by that time, correct?

I am jealous you got a Pelle jersey from Sudsy.

I think the Penn hockey team -- for which Paul Stewart played -- had already been disbanded by that time, correct?

I am jealous you got a Pelle jersey from Sudsy.
- bmeltzer

Yes, I think they still had a club team, though. I almost posted on Paul's blog but it didn't seem as though he did not particularly enjoy his college experience. Hur-rah for the Red and the Blue.

I think I've sent or posted a photo of the jersey before. I am trying to photo match it but can't find an early enough game from that season. From photos on the internet, I know they switched out by home game 14 (12/9/82 Nordiques) as that jersey had the piping on the back side going straight below the collar, rather than hitting the collar, which is what I have. On YouTube, I found the Calgary opening, with Gary Dornhoefer for the 11/18/82 game, which goes into the Flyers' lockerroom and shows the first jerseys. Unfortunately, Pelle's and Rick St. Croix's are hanging sideways, so you can't see them. I have also seen the matching away jersey auction photos which show the same handwritten "52 Goalie" notation on the tag that is on mine.
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edited to add: 'did not' regarding Paul Stewart's Penn experience.

Marshy, Chien Chaud were grilled with really yellow mustard and really green relish:My morning pre practice breakfast in Quebec.

Chicago Stadium..22 steps from below to the ice....dark and narrow...then the organ and here come the Hawks..I tell DARE kids, it was a greater rush than anything you could smoke.

Dallas and Minn: The most blondes per square inch.. a barbie look alike contest every night in the first row..

Best brats, Milwaukee or St. Louis.

I still like MSG. Just always felt right at home there. I was destined for Broadway anyway...hahaha.

STEWY

Can't forget about the old Checkerdome (what a perfect name)in St. Louis. The place was a dump but man was it fun, they don't make em like that anymore, sorry my son never got to enjoy it.

No recollection of the intimidating aura of the Spectrum for visiting teams is complete without mentioning the "Paul Holmgren/Wayne Cashman Memorial Gate" that stood for 32 years in the hallway between the Flyers and visiting team's locker rooms. It was installed there shortly after a preseason game between the Fred Shero's Flyers and Don Cherry's visiting Boston Bruins in October, 1977, in which Flyer right winger (and current GM) Paul Holmgren and hard nosed veteran Bruins' winger Wayne Cashman were tossed from the game early in the second period by referee Wally Harris after being involved in a stick fight in front of the Flyers' goal.

Both players (along with Flyer defenseman Jimmy Watson who Holmgren had been coming to the aid of) disappeared down their respective tunnels to the locker rooms but when they arrived at the doors they continued to taunt each other down the hallway that connected them. It didn't take long for Holmgren to cover the less than a hundred foot distance and engage Cashman in round two without the benefit of any officials or anybody else to separate them. The Bruin players, however, could see what was happening and quickly left the ice and bench and ran up their tunnel to come to Cashman's aid. Seeing this the Flyers quickly ran up their tunnel and within a few seconds there were forty hockey players in engaged in a full fledged brawl in the concrete hallway under the stands.

I (and a number of others) ran down the stairs from the Spectrum press box located immediately above to witness the melee which was eventually broken up by a number of Spectrum security people. Not long after order was "restored" and the game resumed, however, another bench clearer broke out on the ice which resulted in referee Harris throwing out every player on the ice at the time it started (plus a few others who left the bench) which left each team with just ten players and one goalie each to finish the more than thirty minutes left. (And remember this was just a preseason game!!!)

For every game at the Spectrum after that until the building was closed 32 years later in 2009, the Holmgren/Cashman was closed, locked, and guarded whenever the teams or any players were entering and leaving the ice to prevent such a confrontation from happening again. And that is what was meant by the "Spectrum flu".

The "Paul Holmgren/Wayne Cashman Memorial Gate"

Brad hit the nail right on the head. The new stadiums seem to only exist to blast crappy music and make their owners a boatload of $$

I really miss the old Spectrum. You felt like you were almost right on the ice and the vibe in that building was amazing!