On Friday night, I sat with 10,000 screaming Habs fans at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City. It wasn’t what I’d call ideal.
Mostly because I’m a Hurricanes fan, and we were losing 6-0.
I scooped up tickets to the preseason game as fast as my little fingers would type. But as I looked around the arena that night, I was slightly dumbfounded.
Why was this preseason game so popular?
Being a Canes fan, I try to get to every game when they come near New Brunswick. Unfortunately, that leaves me to choose between Boston and Montreal. I’d rather splurge on a plane ticket to literally any other NHL city than visit either of those two teams, but with a small student budget comes big sacrifices.
So, as one of a whooping four Canes fans at the game, I get why we were there. We have almost no other options when it comes to seeing our guys play. But what about the other 9,996 people?
Depending on the market, preseason isn’t cheap. It certainly wasn’t for this game. I spent $300 on two first row tickets. That might seem like a sweet deal, but remember, this wasn’t a regular season game, nor was it against a popular team (sorry, Carolina).
To put it in perspective, equivalent seats at a Florida Panthers preseason game would cost you an extortionate grand total of $40. That would leave you with $260 to spend on tequila and jet-skiing. It’s all about location.
For the past two weeks, I’ve heard nothing but preseason jabber. Unfortunately for my friends, it’s all I’ve talked about. People are constantly talking, tweeting, and blogging about team updates. Preseason is the best indication of what’s to come during regular season, so it’s great to see how the teams are changing.
And that really excites me. It also excites the hockey fans around me, because we were certainly deprived last season.
With the lockout cutting the 2012-13 season in half, preseason was ripped away from NHL fans. My brother and I moped around for weeks until we found things to laugh at, like a tabloid claiming Tyler Seguin lived in filth while playing in Switzerland and literally everything about Sean Avery.
St. Thomas isn’t typically huge on hockey, although we certainly love our school teams. But I can feel that many people are glad we’re getting a preseason this year. I know I am.
I’m also glad that our 6-0 loss doesn’t count.
Thank God for preseason.
