So I have started grieving my vacation now that I am back. And I figure the best way to get out my feelings is to write about it. So here we are. At this point, if you have been following me, you know that I am a huge hockey and Rangers fan. I also have always wanted to visit Canada… So I did both in this past 10 days… Which may have been too much because now that I am home… I am exhausted… but let’s recap….
When it was announced back in October last year that the Rangers were going to be playing in the Stadium Series at Metlife Stadium… I knew that was going to be some money that I spent. I deserved a good time after not being able to go on vacation for about 2 years. For those of you that may not know, the NHL has a series of outdoor games… The Heritage Classic, The Winter Classic and The Stadium Series. The National Hockey League (NHL) first held a regular season outdoor ice hockey game in 2003, and since 2008 the league has scheduled at least one per year. The 2003 Heritage Classic between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens was the first outdoor regular season game in NHL history. The Heritage Classic has since been held infrequently, featuring match-ups solely between Canadian teams, until the Buffalo Sabres make their appearance in the 2022 Heritage Classic. The annual Winter Classic, held on New Year’s Day in the United States, began with the 2008 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres. The NHL then started the Stadium Series in 2014 for additional outdoor games. The number of Stadium Series games has varied per season (four in 2014, only one in 2015, two in 2016, and one per season since 2017). Both the Winter Classic and the Stadium series featured match-ups solely between American teams until the Toronto Maple Leafs’ appearances in both the 2014 Winter Classic and the 2018 Stadium Series.
It was an interesting thing to try and get tickets because season ticket holders get first crack at them… Which I did not know but it does make sense. I signed up for the Rangers Fan First and luckily I was picked the Rangers presale. I am not sure that I would have been able to get tickets otherwise. And Thank God my sister was able to come with me. She usually doesn’t need a reason to head to NYC/NJ… There is a lot to be done there. Thank God this game was going to be played over President’s day weekend which also helped in talking my sister into coming with me. Her only request was to see a show in New York and she settled on Little Shop of Horrors.
So my sister and I arrived in New York on 2/16 and the party began… Once we got settled in our hotel… we decided to head out to a place called Houlighan’s. Good food and fun times catching up with my sister.
I moved from up north more than 25 years ago… and my sister was born in the south so the cold was an interesting thing to try and get used to… It is not for me anymore. LOL. I know that I over packed because I planned to use a lot of layers this trip… But I was unprepared for the snow that fell overnight as well as when it started snowing while we were out. We bundled up but that did not stop us from being out. It really didn’t stop anyone from being out. You can always tell out of towners especially those from the south from the way they react to snow. I think we had too much of a good time.
We headed out and braved the mass transit to head into Manhattan. Not that I have anything against transit but we aren’t great at reading maps. Hell we could have ended up anywhere. But we got where we needed to be. Nothing entertains me and my sister more than buying gifts for friends in NYC. We got to walk through Times Square… I will tell you though… The wind almost took me out.
But now onto the show… We headed to The Westside Theater. It was a nice place. We managed to have brunch beforehand and the theatre was warm and it had nice clean bathrooms, which is always a plus. We go great seats and I was glad to be able to do something with my sister.
I was not ready for the story. I had avoided it all my life because as a kid I was creeped out by the man eating flower. But I was not prepared for the manipulation that the flower employs over Seymour… I will say though… if I found out that a plant needed human blood to survive… That would be a red flag. But the singing was fabulous… the set was great… The acting was superb. I almost forgot that I was at a show. I was especially taken with the women who played Urchins… Those girls could really sing. Also shoutout to the voice of Audrey II. Because even the plant could sing.
The fact that Audrey II ate Audrey and then even Seymour… I was not prepared for. I was sad that Seymour could even talked into murdering someone because he was in a relationship with Audrey. We are led to believe that he does this for Audrey’s sake… but he does it for himself. He enjoys the notoriety that Audrey II brings him. But his mistake was that he thought he could control it. Seymour learns that botanical executive Patrick Martin plans to propagate and sell Audrey II’s with or without Seymour’s consent, and, realizing that Audrey II is planning global conquest, resolves to destroy the plant. Audrey II eats him alive. The plant spits out Seymour’s glasses and laughs victoriously. ( I was clutching my pearls… ) You mean the “Good Guy” didn’t win? Like WTF man. (But also there were no good guys.) The three Urchins explain, Audrey II buds became a worldwide craze. Fueled by the greed of their owners who provided them with blood, the Audrey II buds grew into an army of monstrous plants that began to take over the Earth. Giant Audrey II plants are toppling buildings, destroying cities, and eating people. I was blown away… but also it shows what greed can do to people and how the plant knew just what to exploit.
2/18 was game day. And I was ready for it. I watched the game between the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers the night before. And the people looked like they were having a blast but cold as ice. I had figured that my game was scheduled for 3 pm so we could get out of there at a decent time. And it may be a bit less cold. But then again… Nothing goes according to plan.
My sister and I headed out to the American Dream mall… Which by the way is freaking huge. Check out the website (https://youtu.be/_qgJTPUhcQs?si=GVh0CayuZzsVrDIk). This thing has the Nickelodeon water park… which would have been fine during the summer time. On the other hand, the winter park was also open. Who knew there could be a place to ice skate or snowboard in a mall… But again that may be the norm up north… I wouldn’t know. The people seemed they were having a good time. It was odd to see so many stores closed even though the mall was open. No biggie… We wandered around waiting for the game to start. Sure enough the game got delayed. (Shoutout to the NHL for not making a formal announcement or letting people know when the puck was going to drop.)
If we hadn’t been able to find gifts for people at home… then I would have been shocked. The only issue was trying to get to the stadium after the fact… We tried getting an uber but that was not successful… There was too much going on in the area. Luckily I saw the bridge leading across the highway to the stadium. Again the NHL never did tell us when the puck dropped but the game had started by the time we go in and to our seats…
So of course I arrived late… Like 8 minutes into period one and already 4 goals had been scored. So I am a bit annoyed about that still. I can’t believe I didn’t plan better. But to my chagrin.. We were down 3 to 1. Islanders were dominating and we were taking penalties… the power plays were working against us. Of course, I got to my seat… and my sister and I were what seemed like in the mix of Islanders fans… There were a lot of Rangers fans on the same row as us. I would say though that even with being down… none of the them seemed all that down. Once the sun went down, it got drastically cold… And we got to see how the layers held up… but there was lot going on the ice…
It was the most riveting game I have ever been to and I am glad that I didn’t leave early as I originally planned. So as I said, we sat down with about 12 minutes left in the first period. I really thought our boys were going to knuckle under especially when Anders Lee scored on us again making the score 4-1. I should have known there was more game to play and nothing is ever decided so early. But as the wind picked up and I had to use the my face mask… I wondered if the end would justify the means. Trocheck scores… giving us a 4 -2 score. (Everyone knows that a two goal lead is the worst lead in Hockey history.) We managed to get another puck on goal before the end of the period to bring the score even closer. (Shoutout to Trocheck again.) 4-3 we go… And now it is really a game.
That is how the second period ended. Good lord… It was so close… and there was 20 minutes left. But my sister was looking close to the edge. But the decision was almost made for me with trying to get out of the stadium early before the crowds hit, when Romanov scored for the Islanders putting them almost out of our reach again. 5-3. Now remember when I said we were sitting with Islander fans… who were talking shit. Because who doesn’t? This was an expensive game… We made the decision to come and their team is up and has been all game. But it was really getting annoying listening to them talk like it was all in the bag. Like it was already over. I almost let them get to me.
I was just telling my sister that we need to start heading back to the hotel because I can see how this was going to end. Scott Mayfield goes to the penalty box for tripping. We get a power play. I said… “If we don’t score here… we can go…” She just nodded her head. I was gathering my stuff. But leave it to the Rangers. No Quit in New York. Let Hockey’s greatest bromance take over…. I will say… I have never seen us pull the goalie on a power play and then use the extra attacker to score. That was a risky move to do and to especially twice. But hell it worked.
Mika Zibanejad shows up in a big way. We are all tied up… with the regulation ending… We are going into OT. Good Lord… The Rangers know how to draw everything out. Overtime is never fun for me. There is a lot of adrenaline. And my Apple Watch always issues a warning for high heart rates. Then they made the announcement that there would be no intermission. They are going right into Overtime. SN: Now Islanders fans are worried. They were talking all that shit… Now they are Silent. That is the shit I live for.
New York Rangers dominate in OT. Especially since I started watching religiously a few years ago. And this was no different. There was dead silence as the teams took the ice again for the 3 on 3. I was worried because the Islanders won the face off and had possession of the puck. But Panarin had other plans.
He managed to intercept the puck as a pass was made and take it to the net. Because the net was dislodged there was some discrepancy as to whether his goal was going to count but that didn’t stop the rangers from flying off the bench and celebrating. I knew it would count but we had to wait for the review. When the ref skated out the center, you could hear a pint drop… There were at least 80,000 people there but there was dead silence as the results were announced. And then Rangers fans erupted. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people jump up and storm out of a place like Islanders fans were. But I mean… if you can’t dish it out. There is nothing like watching the team waiting on the final call though.
In the end… I am glad I stuck it out in the bitter cold. I am glad that I didn’t let people talk me out of spending the money for the tickets. It was the first real vacation that I have had in years… I was due for one… And any time that I can fit hockey into it… That is always a plus. Shoutout to my sister for taking the weekend to hang out with me in the cold. I think for me it was a once in a lifetime thing… Because I am not sure I would brave the cold to do it again. And luckily, it may be a few years before the Rangers get chosen to do another outdoor game. I may warm up to the idea again at a later date. But that is all for now. Stay tuned for my commentary on the second part of my trip… when I head to Vancouver to meet up with Leah. In the meantime, here is a photo dump.
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