Carolina Thunderbirds: We Do Hockey Here

So, I entered "Carolina Thunderbirds" into my phone's map program and followed its directions. It took me further and further off the beaten path and I was getting nervous that I was going to end up at a factory with the same name or a head office for the administrators tucked in somewhere (don't laugh both have happened to me). Then I see a football stadium and the next thought was "Aw crud, the local college might be Thunderbirds or something, 'cuz it looks like that's where I'm heading." But, I drive past the football stadium and the directions app tells me to park across the street in an almost abandoned lot next to a big building. I'm early, but not that early so I check the map again. I look up the actual address, punch it in, and confirm I'm in the right place. I look around again. There are about twenty cars in the lot and I can't even see a door. Finally, a group of kids and parents come from behind the building and they are hauling sticks and gear to their cars. I get out of my car and backtrack their trail to the back of the building and, sho enuf (the Shogun of Harlem), there was the entrance with pics of the Thunderbird players on the doors. It's an annex to the fairground and the entrance doesn't face the parking lot; it faces the fairgrounds. And everything got better from there.

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And so it begins . . .

Wants the pitch high and outside

Wants the pitch in the middle of the zone

The reason you might not want to buy a ticket next to the players' bench.

Eyes on the puck.

The Carolina Thunderbirds are the newest team in the FHL (unaffiliated hockey) and well on their way to becoming the gem of the league. Attendance at the rink averages 2,224 which is about 1,300 more than the next team in the FHL averages (Danville). In comparison, the Norfolk Admirals, an ECHL team (affiliated hockey AA), only averages 2,390. The fact that the Thunderbirds only have about 3,500 seats as opposed to the Admirals 8,000+ further tells you who is doing well in this comparison.

The game was a lot of fun. Carolina put the puck in the net twice in the first period and seemed to have the game well in hand, outplaying the Cornwall Nationals all over the ice. In the second period, Carolina continued to be dominant in its time of control and number of shots, but the Nationals made their shots count and evened it up. The third was hard fought from both sides with both scoring to make it 3-3. Then, with about seven minutes left Carolina took the lead 4-3. However, the Nationals didn't go away quietly. The rest of the period seemed to consist entirely of the Thunderbirds' goal being under siege. In the end Carolina held out and won 4-3, which meant it won the rubber match of a three day series against the second ranked team in the league.

The "arena" is not exactly what you'd call professional level, but that's part of the charm. I'm pretty sure the kids I saw leaving as I came in were from a kid's league and I can see the local beer league playing here too. They had decent concession stands which had nothing fancy, but served coffee and hot chocolate which were both vitally important because the temperature inside the arena was twenty degrees colder than it was outside. To be fair, it was 65 outside because North Carolina was going through a February heat wave, but I didn't know it going in and left my coat out in the car. The souvenir stand was a couple folding tables and they were wiped out. This was the third day of a series and they'd been hit hard by the crowds from the last two days. I grabbed one of the last few hats and a puck and would have bought the $50 jersey except they were completely sold out. Then I got bushwacked by Girl Scouts and ended up buying a box of thin mints because every time they ambush me I end up buying cookies (if you can say no to them you are a heartless monster).

Inside, the seat I was on was a cushioned folding chair right up on the glass and it was great except the benches were to my left and hockey players are big. It was hard to see around them to watch what was going on at the other end, but it was awesome for the end I was on. There is no big screen playback here or announcements from the refs. You actually have to pay attention to the game. For a shoestring budget hockey operation, they did a pretty good job of keeping it fun. They did the ubiquitous chuck-a-puck with a greater number of prizes than I've seen at many places, played some music, had their mascot running around beating a drum, and kept yelling "What's the word?" to which the crowd would yell back "Thunderbird!" Personally, I was waiting for "Thunderbirds are go!", but maybe that's just my inner geek yearning to be free. I had to look up the phrase they were yelling and it turns out to be a way people have started songs since at least the 60's (apparently first in reference to the car and later, jokingly, as a reference to the terrible wine).

It's fun, dirt cheap, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. Buy a ticket if you can (they've had sell outs) and go watch some hockey in the Winston-Salem area.

Carolina Hurricanes: Great Crowd, Great Game

You know, I can almost always find something to complain about at any stadium-field-pitch-rink, but I have to say it's a little hard to do with the Carolina Hurricanes. Great crowd. Great game. Lots of fun. Lots of seating on the bottom area with adequate size seats. The only thing that I can gripe about is the fact that in order to get so many seats in the lower area it has really old fashioned steep stadium seating. More modern setups would have that broken up entry to the seats some rather than requiring people to rappel down a couple hundred feet to get to their seats closer to the glass. Other than that, I'm coming up short on my complaining and  it's annoying.

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Outside

The Mascot is a dog?

And so it begins . . .

If you screen the goalie too much he might thump you on the back of the head.

I guess if you are a cheerleader for hockey you have to be kept in a glass cage.

Final Hurricanes 3 - Avalanche 1

The game started with the refs showing a distinct disinterest in calling many penalties and the first period was hard fought. Finally, the Colorado Avalanche scored a goal, but within seconds the Hurricanes tied it again. The second period was equally hard fought, but the refs showed more interest in keeping the skaters from killing each other and there was a fair amount of penalty time all around. The Hurricanes even had to kill a 4 minute penalty at one point. It turns out that the refs frown upon you hitting another player in the face with your stick. Who knew? There were no goals in the second, but the Hurricanes were getting the upper hand thru much of the period. Then, the third began and the Canes scored at about the 35 second mark. The Avalanche seemed to gear up a bit after that and the play evened out for a bit, but then the Hurricanes scored again and had some breathing room. They went on to win 3-1 and passed the Columbus Blue Jackets to move into a wildcard slot.

Comments: I went down to my seat once and then climbed back up to get some supper. In so doing, I realized two things. First, if I stood at the top I'd have just as good, or better view than at my seat in row F. Second, I was going to need an anchor rope and pitons if I had to make that climb again. If I'd actually spent a month's salary to be on the glass I'd probably have gone back down. However, I left that climb to the young and skinny and stood at the top to watch the game. It was my choice so I can't complain too much. However, I do have a suggestion for the Hurricanes' organization. Go to a minor league baseball park and look at the stand up bars they are putting behind the last row of seats where people can eat, drink, or just hang out while watching the game. Those would be a great addition to your areas at the top of the seating cliff.

The crowd was larger than I expected, having heard derogatory comments about attendance in Carolina and jeez were they enthusiastic. They had certain unique things like starting periods with a hurricane warning (woulda been cool if they used it after goals too) and yelling out when the word "red" was sung during the star spangled banner, although that was messed up a little because the girl singing it stepped on them. She thought she was in an operetta and as the song went on the last word at every comma and end of every line got loonger and looooooonger. People who sing it that way are funny and I'm never quite sure they realize that all these people are here for a reason other than to listen to them (there's a reason people start clapping half way thru the last line).  Prices were reasonable and I got out with a hat and puck for about the same price as I did yesterday at an ECHL (AA hockey) game which says really good things about the Hurricanes. I've already said my peace about what it says about the ECHL team.

Anyway, I'm sold. Where I live, I's about equidistant from the Hurricanes and the Predators. The Predators have a kind of frantic energy about them that screams "hot new team", "young fans." On the other hand, the Hurricanes feel like a team that's been kicking around for a while. There were even some people wearing Whalers gear and we all remember how cool that logo was:

So, I choose the Whalers err . . . Hurricanes. I'll be back. Not sure when I'll be able to budget the time and money again, but I'll be back. I probably shouldn't warn 'em tho. They might lock the doors.

Norfolk Admirals: Good Game, Poor Fan Service

Yesterday was spent traveling across the width of Virginia so that I could watch the Norfolk Admirals. It was a fun game and the rink is well set up for the crowd to watch. The people working were friendly and helpful, but the crowd was small. It was a shame.

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Adironack Thunder stops a puck.

Get that puck.

The reason it's great to have a seat on the glass.

The game was a lot of fun. The Thunder took the early lead and the Admirals came back to tie a couple times. Then the Admirals caught fire and the third period was almost entirely theirs. Darik Angeli got a hat trick and, yes a few people threw their hats out onto the ice. No, I did not throw the hat I'd just bought.  All in all, it was a great game to watch and exactly the kind of thing that should be bringing in the fans.

They weren't there.

By the time everybody was seated it looked like about maybe 1,000 people and a whole bunch of empty seats. There was a screw-up with my seat. My ticket was for A1 in my section and the first seat that actually existed was A2.  As the couple who were there moved to the left both they and the usher joked about how it wasn't like the row was going to fill up anyway - the front row - on the glass. After the usher left, the couple explained how the Admirals used to be an AHL team - a really good AHL team - and locals aren't happy to have an ECHL substitute foisted upon them (not really the entire story they went from being a big deal ECHL team to the AHL and now they're back again).  They also weren't happy that the team had been abandoned by the Nashville Predators leaving them unaffiliated (the owners fired the president who negotiated the deal and it went away). The couple was right. Nobody else showed up and sat in our row. In fact, there were a lot of on the glass seats that were empty.

It was the worst attended game I've been to in a while and about a month back I drove to a Wheeling Nailers game in almost white out conditions, with inches of snow already on the ground, and temperatures near 0 fahrenheit.  And it's a shame. There is so much potential here.

Suggestions:

First, get people in. Heck, give away a few thousand tickets per game. Give all the kids at the local high schools two tickets each. Give out tickets to ships in harbor or units at JEB Little Creek - Fort Story. Better yet, give tickets out to locals who work the shipyards and will be around to buy some in the future. Make your money up on the backside thru concessions and/or souvenirs.

Second, lower prices. YOUR PRICES ARE HIGHER THAN NHL PRICES and you are an unaffiliated ECHL (hockey AA) team. A beer and sausage was $15+. There might have been a reason that nobody was buying concessions other than my stupid self. Worse, your prices for souvenirs were high to ridiculous. I can buy a puck from the Wheeling Nailers for $5 (and they sell yours for that price too), the Cincinnati Cyclones for $6, and the Toledo Walleye for $6.53. Yours? $7.  As best I can tell a puck costs less than $2 and let's assume the sticker is an additional $1. There's no reason for your price point as an ECHL team. Even worse than that, I really, really like your jerseys, but that price point is beyond ridiculous. Let's compare your prices to NHL prices:

Notice which jersey costs the most? Sure, your jersey is cool, but it's not better-than-the-NHL cool.  And just so you can't blame it on economy of scale, here are your ECHL competitors' jerseys:

Your price point is not only unrealistic, it is actively harmful to your brand. There were lots of people wearing jerseys in attendance, but I only saw three wearing your jersey. When you bring the price down to a reasonable level ($120) email me and I will snap one up. Until then, good luck with your excess inventory.

Third, raise the level of enthusiasm. Just playing music loudly and doing the normal kiss-cam, dance-cam stuff really doesn't cut it anymore. Have people go into the crowd more and work it with prizes. Your announcer needs to hype things up more and you need to make energy between periods. That may have been the most lackadaisical chuck-a-puck I've ever seen. I know this is harder to do when the crowd is smaller and really, you did most of the things a little. You just need to up the pace and frequency. And it would help if you had bigger crowds to feed the enthusiasm (see First above).

You have so much potential here. Please turn it around.