This season, I'm going to keep the traveling light and simple. This year will be an adventure to New York City and the surrounding areas for some hockey in the Big Apple (and surrounding areas). I can tell you that this will be a fun experience after going to Madison Square Garden.
Keeping that in mind, let's look at the other places that I've traveled. In fact, we're going to do one better. Let's rank the places based on which places stood out and which places didn't.
Now, I'm going to exclude Las Vegas and T-Mobile Arena from my rankings here. It's easy to be impartial and biased in such rankings when you include the team that you literally cover. Therefore, let's shelf them for another day.
With that, it's time to dive into the rankings. I pull no punches for certain cities and admire the beauty of others. Heck, let's look at the arenas themselves and see what they bring to the table! That way, you can get a better idea of where you should go.
7.) Los Angeles
For some reason, bad stuff happens every time I go to Los Angeles for a hockey game. It's usually drunk, loud Gen Z girls who were never disciplined as children acting drunk and whipping their hair in my face. Other times, it's bad drivers with no accountability since that's apparently a thing in Los Angeles.
6.) Dallas
I will say that Dallas had an excellent entrance and a killer goal song. But American Airlines Center seemed... bland. Perhaps I'm not from Texas, so maybe my sense of style is different from other people's tastes. Maybe the new arena will be different?
5.) Detroit
I grew up with the concrete jungle known as Joe Louis Arena and was impressed by Little Caesars Arena. It represented the growth that Detroit has gone through as a city with slick modern amenities and a smooth style. Imagine if you could get public transportation to go with this.
4.) Montreal
To me, Montreal was a combination of a unique experience and a history lesson. Here, you'll see tambourine players in the stands, cheering on the Canadiens fans. You also see legends like Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur, bringing back incredible memories of Montreal's iconic past. Expensive, but worth it.
3.) Tampa Bay
Believe it or not, Tampa Bay is a good place for checking out a hockey game. Tesla coils are sprawled around the ring and go off every time the Lightning score. Plus, the overall setup outside of the arena is amazing.
2.) Anaheim
Now, Southern California isn't necessarily a bad place to watch a hockey game. I give you Anaheim, the perfect city for watching the Golden Knights take on the Ducks. Cool fans, cool arena, and a friendly city to be in.
1.) Vancouver
I can't tell you how much I loved traveling to Vancouver. Going to Whistler beforehand, going to Rogers Arena on game day, and checking out the arena itself was electric. Although the Canucks aren't going to be good, it'll be worth going to yet another Canucks game in a year or two.
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