Visited On: March 13, 2010
Teams Seen: Otters vs. London Knights
Game Result: Erie 8, London 2
Section 19, Row GG, Seat 3
So, this past Saturday (March 13th), my dad & I went down to Erie, PA for an OHL game!
First, the back story… aside from my plan to see an NHL game at all 30 arenas, I also want to see a game at each level (NHL, AHL, OHL, WHL, ECHL, QMJHL, etc.) I had done my research & found the Erie Otters, an OHL team in Erie (about 1 hour & 40 minutes from Buffalo). Although there are Canadian teams close-ish, Erie isn’t far, and they are one of only three American teams in the league. So I had casually mentioned it to my father, we decided on the date (last game of the regular season, and against the London Knights – a very well-known team!) and I bought the tickets ($12.50 each) and we decided to go for it.
So finally, Saturday came. We left Buffalo shortly after 4, to allow us time in case traffic was bad or anything (it wasn’t, though it did rain a little bit here and there.) No misadventures, and we got to Tullio Arena just before 6 – before they let people in their seats.
It’s a different setup, the arena itself. Sort of old looking on the outside, but neat. There’s not much room once you walk in the doors – you just sort of have to wait there before they let you through the turnstiles. But 6 pm came, they scanned our tickets (didn’t check our bags/coats, which I thought was strange), and in we were. We bought programs, raffle tickets (50/50), and scurried off to find our seats (section 19, row GG). Before we went, I also stopped at a kiosk and bought an OHL yearbook and an Erie Otters puck :)
Turns out? Our seats were center ice SECOND ROW from the glass, right behind the Otters bench. They were beautiful seats, and just $12.50 per ticket? Amazing. No one sat in front of us – I guess they don’t usually sell that row for some reason. The boys came out for warm-ups (keep in mind, most of them are MY AGE or even younger) and it was great. I took a ton of pictures and looked around the arena (lots of playoff/championship banners!) and, yeah. Warm-ups came and went, they played an introduction video which was really neat, and the game played out!
Erie ended up winning 8-3…. Yeah. It was crazy, especially since London is usually really good. I guess they had an off night? Haha. Fans really got into it, and they played good music. They even had a local HS band there to play during intermissions, and they played a lot of good stuff too. Lots of cheering (for both teams – I was sort of neutral, haha.)
During one of the intermissions, I bought tickets for the “Jersey off Your Back” promotion (which I didn’t win, but it’s okay.) We had pretzels (nom nom nom) which were super good. The food there was extremely cheap – WAY different than at an NHL game, for sure.
Since it was their last regular season game, there were a lot of really cool promotions. They colored the ice green! For St. Patrick’s Day and the Otters wore special green jerseys. The Knights had these cream-colored jerseys which were super nice. They gave out a TON of Frisbees, and jerseys and tickets and all sorts of things.
They even have a promotion called “Chuck a Puck”, where fans buy numbered pucks before the game, and during the 2nd intermission, come down to the lower level and try to get them into one of the barrels they put on the ice. Each barrel is designated for a prize. So that’s pretty awesome too! Also, they had the green jerseys on sale, and I guess if you bought one, you could meet the team after and have them sign it! Awesome, even though I didn’t do it, haha.
We stayed out for the three stars – including one guy who had a hat trick – and then left. Good drive back home and yay, first OHL game is complete!! :D
