NHL Arena #35

We have been on a mission to declutter for the past several months, so we decided that for Valentine's Day, we would DO something together instead of buying stuff. And if you know us at all, "doing something" meant going somewhere!

We still had two cities with new NHL arenas since we'd last seen a game there: Edmonton and Detroit. Since we did not have much interest in visiting Edmonton in February, we decided to see if the Red Wings were in town either the weekend before or the weekend following Valentine's Day. What a fortunate turn of events to find that they were hosting the Maple Leafs on Sunday, February 18! We could not have chosen two better teams to see! Toronto is definitely our home team, but I have also been a long-time Red Wings fan, since ninth grade when I had a major crush on Steve Yzerman.

You may recall that back in 2014, we went to the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, which was a completely amazing experience, so watching these two Original Six teams play each once again was the perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day! We were also looking forward to seeing the new arena in Detroit because we'd heard very good things about it. Their previous home, Joe Louis Arena, was historic, but very old and frankly, rather shabby, so it's great that they've now got a new place to play. And it was NHL arena #35 for us!

I was also excited about seeing one of my two favorite players in the league, who happens to be the captain of the Red Wings – Henrik Zetterberg. He is one of the most underrated players around and he is absolutely fabulous! I have had his jersey for over ten years and I wear it whenever we watch Red Wings games.

Just that would have been an awesome weekend. But there's more. Because a few days before the trip, C, travel planner extraordinaire, was figuring out the details for our drive and discovered something incredible…the Leafs were playing in Pittsburgh the night before the Detroit game! Pittsburgh! Crosby! What were the chances?!? We found tickets to the game in Pittsburgh on StubHub and suddenly we had two Leafs games to look forward to! And I would be seeing both Zetterberg and Crosby in one weekend!

packing for the trip

We drove to Pittsburgh on Saturday, February 17, and we had a pretty easy drive, although the weather turned colder and more wintry the closer we got to Pittsburgh, where there were snow flurries. We stayed in Cranberry, just outside of Pittsburgh, and before we even checked in to our hotel, we went straight to Primanti Bros. for lunch. Their sandwiches are beyond delicious and we never pass up an opportunity to eat there!

After lunch, we checked in to the hotel and rested for a little while before driving into Pittsburgh for the game. While we had already seen a game in this arena back in 2016, it was called the Consol Energy Center and now the arena is called PPG Paints Arena. It was just a beautiful a building as we remembered and it was a pretty fun game! There were many more Leafs fan in attendance than we predicted, so that made for a fun fan experience with the crowd alternately chanting, "Let's Go, Penguins!" and "Go, Leafs, Go!" C wore his Mats Sundin Leafs jersey while I wore my Crosby Penguins jersey, and many Leafs fans high-fived C as we walked around the arena and while we were in our seats. I had been hoping that the Leafs would win, but that I would see Crosby score a goal, and neither of those things actually happened. Pittsburgh ended up beating the Leafs 5-3, and Crosby didn't score, but we had such a fabulous time that the score didn't really matter!

GOAT <3

this photo was taken in October 2015
when the Leafs and the Pens were playing...
the dogs chose sides...
Maddy chose the Pens and sat with me,
while Ginny chose the Leafs and sat with C
<3

I wore my yellow Chucks for Crosby!

After the game, we drove back to Cranberry and went to Primanti Bros. again before calling it a night. What a great day!

The next morning, we woke up to beautiful snow on the ground, which I absolutely loved…it looked so pretty outside with the sun shining on the snow and everything looking sparkly! We checked out of the hotel and went to Eat'n Park for breakfast, a restaurant probably best known for its smiley cookies, which we hadn't had in at least ten years! After breakfast, we drove to Detroit, with a quick stop at our beloved Tim Hortons on the way.

We also passed a highway sign that I found hysterical, because I am obsessed with The Office. As in, I am sure there is some kind of data being kept at Netflix about what gets watched and I have no doubt my constant re-watching is messing up their numbers because I watch the show ALL THE TIME. It is on most nights at our house while I am writing and reading and I can usually insert an Office reference into most situations. So when I saw this sign...

...all I could think of was Dwight saying, "If a vampire bat was in the U.S., it would make sense for it to come to a 'Sylvania.'" Honestly, I chuckle to myself about the sign whenever I think about it.

We found another Primanti Bros. in Detroit, so we stopped there before going to our hotel, which was downtown. Let me say this about Detroit: it seems like it should be the type of city I wouldn't like, but the truth is, I've never had anything but positive experiences there! Honestly, it is a pretty great city and every time we've been there, we've encountered such friendly people! Its nickname is "Hockeytown" for a reason – the Red Wings are always the dominant sports team in the area, which is not true where we currently live, which is most decidedly a football city.

This made us miss our four-legged gal!

Little Caesars Arena was only a short walk from our hotel, and it was fun to wander around before the game and take it all in. C and I both agree that this arena is the new gold standard for us in terms of the NHL. It is a gorgeous, modern, technological marvel that somehow still captures the rich and impressive history of the team. From this point on, when anyone asks what our favorite arena is – a question we get all the time – our answer will be LCA. No contest! In fact, we were chatting with the lovely people sitting next to us at the game and once we told them this was our 35^th NHL arena, the question about our favorite arena was inevitably asked, and we both immediately responded, "This one!"

As for the game, it was easily a 50-50 split of Wings fans and Leafs fans. Because of the long history, rivalry, and geographic proximity of these two teams, we knew it would be an amazing night. There was more back and forth chanting from the fans – "Let's Go, Red Wings!" and "Go, Leafs, Go!" which just added to the excitement of the game. C wore his Auston Matthews Leafs jersey and I wore my aforementioned Zetterberg jersey, and I was THRILLED because Zetterberg played a great game and scored a goal, while the Leafs won the game. Exactly the outcome I'd been hoping for!

Good name for a house full of Dachshunds! ;-)

Yzerman <3

Z <3

My Favorite Leaf

A very somber moment of silence

TB <3

He is SO amazing!

I found that huge Zetterberg face hilarious because
the fan kept moving around to get it on camera!

Just typical Zetterberg <3

<3

Oh, Captain, My Captain <3

I wore my red Chucks for Zetterberg!

After the game, we grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby place called The Detroit Beer Company. Our server was awesome and we had some great conversation about hockey. It really is fun to be in a place where hockey is so revered!

A cool theater near the arena

The next morning, we got up early because we had a fairly long drive ahead of us to get home and the weather was less than ideal. There's nothing particularly interesting to report about our drive home, other than we ate our fourth meal in three days at Primanti Bros., and the fact that our Honda Pilot passed 200,000 miles! That's a lot of driving adventures! We've had it just over ten years and it has been the most amazing car ever!

I love bridges! #geometry

While a driving trip and two hockey games may not be everyone's idea of a perfect Valentine's celebration, it was for us! As of now, there's only one new NHL arena for us to visit…Edmonton. While that's definitely not happening this season, we may try to take a trip up there next season!

Happy Tails to you!