I know everyone over the age of 5 has great stories about some of the road games the Komets have played in Kalamazoo, but what about those of you who have seen road games in Cincinnati and Toledo? If you've got any great stories about seeing those games, please include them here.
Comments
I've only been to Toledo and Cincinnati in the ECHL.
Toledo has a VERY nice arena. It's located downtown and very close to the river. Very rarely will you get a free parking spot but you'll end up paying $5-$10 for parking. They have a nice, large team store (I wish the Komets would get a large selection like them and other teams). And they have lots to choose from at the variety of concession stands. Every time I've been there the fans have been loud! I've always been there to root on Toledo (exception of one time) but their fans have always been real nice. They get decent crowds too. To be safe...I'd get tickets ahead of time since many Komets fans will travel. Sometimes they'll throw a walleye on the ice when the team scores. Nice, comfy seating area...large video board at one end of the arena. For the ones looking to stop and eat before the game, I'd suggest eating at Tony Packo's. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! There is one located near the arena (closer to the ballpark). And there is another one located a few miles away by the old arena, which actually isn't standing anymore unfortunately but it's in that general area.
Now, I went to Toledo's old arena a few times (again, in the ECHL). WOW! What a dump but at the same time a great place to watch some hockey. I've heard horror stories about what Toledo fans would do to Komets fans and their cars back in the old IHL. Some of their seating was card table chairs and I remember one game where a fan threw their chair onto the ice. I was wondering if Bobby Knight was in the stands! ;-) The concourse around the arena was SOOO tiny. Gives me nightmares if the Coliseum was like that! lol The players would literally have to walk across the (tiny) concourse to their locker room. I assume they were pretty small too because I remember the dryer for the players' gloves was out in the concourse.
Cincinnati's arena (U.S. Bank Arena) is right by Great America Ballpark and it seats just under 14,500, I believe. Komets fans shouldn't have a problem getting tickets. I've been there once when it was to capacity and that was when they won the Kelly Cup a few years ago. I believe parking close to the arena was between $7-$10. I have no complaints about the arena.
As you can tell...I'm pretty excited! :-D
Any older fan can tell of the crazy fans Toledo had in their old barn. Then again Komet fans where no angels when Toledo came to town. I was at their barn, with the team, when the fans where spitting and yelling at the Komet players. The only thing that separated the two was a rope. One drunk decided he had enough of, I believe Dave Norris, and took a swing at him. It was a two hit fight! Norris, hit the guy in the nose and the guy hit the cement floor. Altercation over. The players never stopped walking toward the dressing room.
Yes, I've seen folding chairs go flying on to the ice. Toledo's old barn was crazy!
I attended two or three games in Peoria back in the late 80s. I sat in the same spot everytime; right to the left of the Komet bench. The third game my roommate from the Air Force who was a tough, weight lifting Security Policeman decided to join me as my 'wing man'. My wing man decided to defect and decided to root and mock me during the eventual Komet's lost. That was the only game where Peoria fans had taken notice of me and decided to mock lone Komet fan all the way from the seats to the parking lot. My 'wing man' joined in on their fun....Great time! I remember some of the Komet players tapping the glass where I sat as they left the ice in appreciation of support.
We took a bus trip to Toledo, maybe late 70s/early 80s, five bus loads and lots of drinking on the bus.when we got to Toledo we found out it was 10cent beer night...oh boy! The fans starting fighting in the stands half way through the third period...Dale Baldwin & Wally Schreiber were both sitting in the stands with us with injuries in casts and they started trying to herd the Komets fans out of the area when some tough guys from Toledo came running over from the other side of the building...Baldy was swing his cast at anyone in the way and bodies were flying...what a riot! They pulled the buses into the basement to load us and we got a police escort out of town! At one point during the fighting in the stands, the players were just standing on the ice watching the show!! Always an adventure in Toledo!
Another story...first time we went to the old Cincinnati Gardens for a game (an even bigger dump than Dayton) we took a bus trip and when we approached the building we saw all these vendors selling snacks and souvineers and toilet paper! We just laughed and figured it was an inside joke...wrong!...there wasn't one speck of toilet paper in those disgusting bathrooms and I certainly wished I had made that purchase!