NCHC Frozen Faceoff - Xcel Energy Center

[jk]

Tough call for me.   If you could put the x in mpls, it would be ideal.  It's so much easier to get to,  to park near,  with many more eating options. 

[Wilbur]

If the tournament moves to the X they'll still play chingy and fiddy cent between whistles right?  You know, real hockey music?

[ringneck28]

5 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

If the tournament moves to the X they'll still play chingy and fiddy cent between whistles right?  You know, real hockey music?

No they are more high brow over at the X, it will be more Celine Dion and Bette Midler. I hear they have the states best Mimosa's too.

[MafiaMan]

7 minutes ago, ringneck28 said:

No they are more high brow over at the X, it will be more Celine Dion and Bette Midler. I hear they have the states best Mimosa's too.

 There are probably more of those Saturday morning other thingies going on in Minneapolis though...

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, southpaw said:

So you took a post from one random person saying the NCHC doesn't care about the fan and just assumed it was fact?  Josh Fenton has been actively asking for fan input about Target Center and a possible move to the X. This week, you'll see Brad Schlossman post a twitter poll about the TC/X.  That is a direct result of the NCHC Commissioner having a discussion with Brad about which way UND fans may lean.

The conference does care about what the fans have to say and takes it into account.  The NCHC was never going to leave the Target Center during the contract so to assume that fan's voices haven't been heard is ridiculous.  Will the future site of the Frozen Faceoff be decided by the fans?  Definitely not, but it will play a role in where the tournament goes.

With the final upgrades to the Target Center happening this summer, I fully expect the FF to be back at TC next year.  After that it really comes down to the numbers both from a business and fan experience aspect.

I said IF they don't care. Apparently, you skipped over that word, which takes my post entirely out of context.

I agree with you that the NCHC is seeking our opinions and will use them as best they can.

[runaroundsioux]

I think Target Center has improved alot since the first couple of years. This was our fourth year attending. We had no problems with the ushers. On the contrary, I thought they were all friendly and helpful. The usher in our section 138 spent alot of  time chatting with us and anyone who stopped by. He asked us about the Ralph,how many it seated,what we had for concessions etc. He was actually a character. We moved about the arena and would change ends during intermission to be on the end we were shooting. Sat in the padded chairs in handicapped on Saturday night, both ends, and nobody bothered us. My biggest complaint was and always has been the smell. They don't have adequate exhaust ventilation for their fryers and the smell of burnt grease is nauseating. Face it, it's a 30 some year old arena built for basketball. It was the NCHC's only option as the X was locked up by the WCHA at the time the new league was formed. During the Friday night game v. Denver the last thing on my mind was the arena I was watching it in. As someone stated earlier it could have been in an old cow barn and I would have been glad I didn't miss it. Besides ,where else can you get to pee in a trough anymore?

[fightingsioux4life]

1 hour ago, MafiaMan said:

WHICH WAY FANS MIGHT LEAN?    An Xcel Energy Center vs Target Center Twitter poll for fans is going to wind up so lopsided that it'll make the 1984 presidential election between Reagan vs Mondale appear to be "too close to call" by comparison.  

To be "fair and balanced" here, the same could be said for the 1964 election between Goldwater and LBJ.

[MafiaMan]

Just now, fightingsioux4life said:

To be "fair and balanced" here, the same could be said for the 1964 election between Goldwater and LBJ.

Nicely done.  

[Sioux>Bison]

Anyone experience some especially big dick head bulldog fans at the game? I'm under the conspiracy that they were closet gopher fans. Some of them also complained about stealing THEIR beer song. I didnt realize D2 schools were the only ones that could play certain songs...

[Siouxman]

1 hour ago, runaroundsioux said:

I think Target Center has improved alot since the first couple of years. This was our fourth year attending. We had no problems with the ushers. On the contrary, I thought they were all friendly and helpful. The usher in our section 138 spent alot of  time chatting with us and anyone who stopped by. He asked us about the Ralph,how many it seated,what we had for concessions etc. He was actually a character. We moved about the arena and would change ends during intermission to be on the end we were shooting. Sat in the padded chairs in handicapped on Saturday night, both ends, and nobody bothered us. My biggest complaint was and always has been the smell. They don't have adequate exhaust ventilation for their fryers and the smell of burnt grease is nauseating. Face it, it's a 30 some year old arena built for basketball. It was the NCHC's only option as the X was locked up by the WCHA at the time the new league was formed. During the Friday night game v. Denver the last thing on my mind was the arena I was watching it in. As someone stated earlier it could have been in an old cow barn and I would have been glad I didn't miss it. Besides ,where else can you get to pee in a trough anymore?

Clearly it must have been built prior to the concept of hot water in rest rooms hit Minneapolis.

I will give them credit, they have made improvements.  The new video screen was impressive.  The ushers were much more friendly than experienced in early years of the tournament.  The food quality has improved since year 1, but it is still very greatly overpriced and not much of it is worth eating.  I was getting tired of watching skaters falling down all by themselves every time they tried to skate near the end boards.  The ice conditions were not good on the ends.  The middle seemed fine, but hockey uses the whole sheet of ice.  They have lowered the building temperature significantly to help fix the ice, but only sell coffee at one concession stand and no hot chocolate at any of them.  They will get my input again, not that it will help.

[ArchyAlum11]

40 minutes ago, Sioux>Bison said:

Anyone experience some especially big dick head bulldog fans at the game? I'm under the conspiracy that they were closet gopher fans. Some of them also complained about stealing THEIR beer song. I didnt realize D2 schools were the only ones that could play certain songs...

Yeah I have had the displeasure of having to sit behind my share of bulldog homers at more than one event for both UND and MNSU. Unforntunately every team has its share of annoying homers that give there team's fans a bad name. I have also met a lot great fans too how have given me good advice on hotels and resaurunts to stay at when traveling to there town. But it seems like Duluth and Minnesota have their fair share of obnoxious homers.

[LeftyZL]

47 minutes ago, Siouxman said:

Clearly it must have been built prior to the concept of hot water in rest rooms hit Minneapolis.

I will give them credit, they have made improvements.  The new video screen was impressive.  The ushers were much more friendly than experienced in early years of the tournament.  The food quality has improved since year 1, but it is still very greatly overpriced and not much of it is worth eating.  I was getting tired of watching skaters falling down all by themselves every time they tried to skate near the end boards.  The ice conditions were not good on the ends.  The middle seemed fine, but hockey uses the whole sheet of ice.  They have lowered the building temperature significantly to help fix the ice, but only sell coffee at one concession stand and no hot chocolate at any of them.  They will get my input again, not that it will help.

I've been there all the years, never been bothered by an usher yet.

On a side note, they're redoing all of the coolant piping underneath the concrete this summer, so hopefully that will improve the ice conditions.

[snova4]

11 hours ago, runaroundsioux said:

I think Target Center has improved alot since the first couple of years. This was our fourth year attending. We had no problems with the ushers. On the contrary, I thought they were all friendly and helpful. The usher in our section 138 spent alot of  time chatting with us and anyone who stopped by. He asked us about the Ralph,how many it seated,what we had for concessions etc. He was actually a character. We moved about the arena and would change ends during intermission to be on the end we were shooting. Sat in the padded chairs in handicapped on Saturday night, both ends, and nobody bothered us. My biggest complaint was and always has been the smell. They don't have adequate exhaust ventilation for their fryers and the smell of burnt grease is nauseating. Face it, it's a 30 some year old arena built for basketball. It was the NCHC's only option as the X was locked up by the WCHA at the time the new league was formed. During the Friday night game v. Denver the last thing on my mind was the arena I was watching it in. As someone stated earlier it could have been in an old cow barn and I would have been glad I didn't miss it. Besides ,where else can you get to pee in a trough anymore?

I would recommend attending the street dance in Frazee, MN for Turkey Days if you want a one of a kind tough peeing experience.

[Walsh Hall]

I've gone other years, missed this year.  Never an issue with the ushers.  Food is overpriced at every sporting event.  If you don't want to pay the high prices that's up to you.  The convenience of being downtown and getting around through the skyways it great.

I much prefer the X as a facility, but can live with the TC.

[MafiaMan]

13 minutes ago, Walsh Hall said:

I've gone other years, missed this year.  Never an issue with the ushers.  Food is overpriced at every sporting event.  If you don't want to pay the high prices that's up to you.  The convenience of being downtown and getting around through the skyways it great.

I much prefer the X as a facility, but can live with the TC.

Well, if you lived in Walsh Hall as your moniker would indicate, it's obvious modern amenities like hot water and good food weren't a real concern for you - then or now.    

[dagies]

11 hours ago, Siouxman said:

Clearly it must have been built prior to the concept of hot water in rest rooms hit Minneapolis.

 

Must be a water saving initiative but day-ummmmm that water was cold.  Anyone who doesn't know what we're taking about needs to step up on the hygiene...

From a venue perspective, I strongly prefer the X.  From a personal perspective I prefer TC as I live in Mpls but that's not a huge deal.  I actually kind of miss the walk down 7th street from where we used to park to the X and seeing all the fans, etc.   

Some people are luckier to see a lot more hockey games live than I.   The venue could be improved but I saw 2 damn good hockey games in person this weekend and I was really happy I could, rather than just on tv.

[bigskyvikes]

TC was a little better, still want the X. Screen was cool, our usher named Tom in section 132 was great! 

Some complain on here about "usher Nazi's", I for one would love they kept doing this! I cannot stand when I pay $120 per seat and a group of dumbass dog fans just walked in and grabbed the 5 empty seats behind us, bragging how "this is not bad for spending $20" Everything would have been fine if they just cheered for their team. I was with my wife, two teenage daughters and my 70+ year old parents, (boy these trips have changed) and when Cam got plowed into I stood up and yelled "come on throw him out"! This tough guy behind me said "quit your f**king whining" I turned around and looked at him he then turned his head away. I then looked back at the ice and he then said "yea I was talking to you, shut the f**k up". Turned around again and said you're a real hero back there. He turned his head again. My daughter was texting her friend saying these guys are dicks behind us, they asked her why she wrote that! They were reading her phone behind her! When the dogs scored they would lean forward into my old man's ear and cheer even after he politely asked them to not do it in his ear! Their comment was "you can't cheer when your team scores then". If they were obnoxious and loud but did NOT target us I would have had no problems with it. If this was 5+ years ago when I went with a group of buddies, this would have been a row on row brawl, Guaranteed! 

The point of my story is, I would not have had to deal with it if they were asked to show their ticket before entering the section! 

Talk about want to be goofer fans! God I hate the UMD hockey EVERYTHING now!

So happy they are going to Fargo, hope this game happens!

Go Sioux!

[dagies]

that actually sounds like a horrible game experience

[cberkas]

14 hours ago, southpaw said:

So you took a post from one random person saying the NCHC doesn't care about the fan and just assumed it was fact?  Josh Fenton has been actively asking for fan input about Target Center and a possible move to the X. This week, you'll see Brad Schlossman post a twitter poll about the TC/X.  That is a direct result of the NCHC Commissioner having a discussion with Brad about which way UND fans may lean.

The conference does care about what the fans have to say and takes it into account.  The NCHC was never going to leave the Target Center during the contract so to assume that fan's voices haven't been heard is ridiculous.  Will the future site of the Frozen Faceoff be decided by the fans?  Definitely not, but it will play a role in where the tournament goes.

With the final upgrades to the Target Center happening this summer, I fully expect the FF to be back at TC next year.  After that it really comes down to the numbers both from a business and fan experience aspect.

And Brad asks the question today.

The updates have more of a effect on the Tmiberwolves games then the NCHC being there. 

Not sure if you are someone else said it, the cooling system that is getting replaced has to be replaced according to (I want to say) a law or something else in Minnesota. 

[ericpnelson]

7 minutes ago, bigskyvikes said:

TC was a little better, still want the X. Screen was cool, our usher named Tom in section 132 was great! 

Some complain on here about "usher Nazi's", I for one would love they kept doing this! I cannot stand when I pay $120 per seat and a group of dumbass dog fans just walked in and grabbed the 5 empty seats behind us, bragging how "this is not bad for spending $20" Everything would have been fine if they just cheered for their team. I was with my wife, two teenage daughters and my 70+ year old parents, (boy these trips have changed) and when Cam got plowed into I stood up and yelled "come on throw him out"! This tough guy behind me said "quit your f**king whining" I turned around and looked at him he then turned his head away. I then looked back at the ice and he then said "yea I was talking to you, shut the f**k up". Turned around again and said you're a real hero back there. He turned his head again. My daughter was texting her friend saying these guys are dicks behind us, they asked her why she wrote that! They were reading her phone behind her! When the dogs scored they would lean forward into my old man's ear and cheer even after he politely asked them to not do it in his ear! Their comment was "you can't cheer when your team scores then". If they were obnoxious and loud but did NOT target us I would have had no problems with it. If this was 5+ years ago when I went with a group of buddies, this would have been a row on row brawl, Guaranteed! 

The point of my story is, I would not have had to deal with it if they were asked to show their ticket before entering the section! 

Talk about want to be goofer fans! God I hate the UMD hockey EVERYTHING now!

So happy they are going to Fargo, hope this game happens!

Go Sioux!

That really sucks to hear that. I know I can get rowdy, but I make a concerted effort to reign it in around particular crowds. Did they have an in game number to text for complaints?

[bigskyvikes]

2 minutes ago, ericpnelson said:

That really sucks to hear that. I know I can get rowdy, but I make a concerted effort to reign it in around particular crowds. Did they have an in game number to text for complaints?

They did, we didn't text them. I did talk to the usher about it and he waited till they started up again and came down to tell them if they used profanity one more time they were going to be ushered out. But they were never asked to verify their seats!

[bigskyvikes]

5 minutes ago, ericpnelson said:

That really sucks to hear that. I know I can get rowdy, but I make a concerted effort to reign it in around particular crowds. Did they have an in game number to text for complaints?

Also being rowdy is fine, even from the enemy fan base. But why ever do people Target someone, one guy sitting with females and old people? Real tough guys like that would never cock off to a row of Sioux fans equally as rowdy! The bad thing is they weren't even student age, 30+ for sure!

[Hardcore Hawk]

14 hours ago, southpaw said:

This week, you'll see Brad Schlossman post a twitter poll about the TC/X.  That is a direct result of the NCHC Commissioner having a discussion with Brad about which way UND fans may lean

If you'd like to vote.

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

1 hour ago, MafiaMan said:

Well, if you lived in Walsh Hall as your moniker would indicate, it's obvious modern amenities like hot water and good food weren't a real concern for you - then or now.    

Hay, don't give Walsh Hall a bad wrap, a lot of UND alumni had great meals at Squires Hall and studies were at the top of the priorites with our Walsh Hall RA's, till the game was on.

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

1 hour ago, Walsh Hall said:

I've gone other years, missed this year.  Never an issue with the ushers.  Food is overpriced at every sporting event.  If you don't want to pay the high prices that's up to you.  The convenience of being downtown and getting around through the skyways it great.

I much prefer the X as a facility, but can live with the TC.

I guessing you spent a night in Walsh Hall, I was there in '70-71. Remember back then the ladies had to be in at 10:00 and Midnight on weekends. Also any fresh had to live in the dorm, unless your folks lived in or near GF.