Tag: Frozen Four

A Fan’s Guide to the Frozen Four – Part 1: Getting Around Detroit

6 April, 2010 / Kat

Last year at this time, I was packing and preparing to jump on a plane and attend the Frozen Four in Washington, DC with a whole host of BU hockey fans. The trip was an experience I’ll be telling my grandchildren about when I’m serving them turkey and Miracle Whip sandwiches with a side helping of ginger ale in 50 years. (You mean to tell me your grandmother didn’t do the same?)

One thing I learned at the Frozen Four is that there is an art to traveling to the Frozen Four. There are definitely pieces of knowledge I wish some more experienced college hockey fan had passed on to me before I jumped on the plane to DC. Thus, RIT, BC, Miami and Wisconsin fans, this is Part 1 of my advice to you before you head off to Detroit Wednesday or Thursday morning.

For Part 1, I present to you an Insider’s Guide to Detroit. I contacted one of the first folks I ever followed on Twitter, Jamie Favreau, PR and Marketing Goddess and Uber Hockey Fan. She resides in Detroit, and I knew I could turn to her for the insiders view of the city.

Kat: What is the best means of transport from the airport to Ford Field or main hotel area? (Bus, subway, taxi)

Jamie: I would call the hotels to find out if they are having a shuttle service. This is a big event so they might be offering something. Rental car or taxi is the best way if shuttles are NOT offered. (Kat’s note: In DC we took public transportation and a taxi to and from the airport, completely ignoring the hotel shuttle services that existed. Looking back, I wish we would have either taken our hotel’s shuttle or the SuperShuttle. Thus, definitely take Jamie’s advice here – taxi’s can jack up their prices if they are heading to the airport.)

The People Mover is best for getting around downtown Detroit.

K: Friday afternoon is when most Frozen Four attendees go site-seeing – besides team practices, the day is relatively quiet until the skills competition and Hobey Baker presentation at night. For those who have never been to Detroit, what three places are must-sees?

J: Slows BBQ and Lafeyette Coney Island are the best places and a must when in Detroit. I have a few ideas as far as what you can do. Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Mare great places if you have a car and can get to Dearborn which is outside of Detroit. If you are staying in the City, there is a Wheelhouse Bike Rentals and DTours. You can also go to the Detroit Institute of Arts which is in Midtown. If you want to find out some more events you can visit the Downtown Detroit Partnership or for a short list visit Detroit Moxie. The NCAA has a list of what is going on this weekend as well.

If you have a passport, you can always bring it with you so you can go to Windsor, Ontario.

K: Are there any good sports bars either downtown or near Ford Field?

J: If you are looking for cheap drinks you can visit the Anchor Bar. $2 Blue and Blue Light Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Free shuttle to and from the games. Door prizes, giveaways, fun. The Anchor is located at Fort/Cass stop of the People Mover.

Alumni associations are hosting viewing parties at the following bars. Miami is having a VIP party at Hockeytown Cafe, but I am sure you can get in even if you aren’t a VIP. Wisconsin is holding a viewing party at Cheli’s. RIT home base is Angelina’s, but you need to register to attend. Boston College will be holding its viewing party at Bookies. Please contact your alumni association to find out if there will be a VIP event as part of the viewing parties. (Kat’s note: Definitely contact your school’s alumni association before attending any of those parties, even if you are a student. There may be special deals for registering and/or a cover charge. Plus, Alumni Associations always appreciate the heads up on what they can expect for attendance.)

K: Your team has just won the Frozen Four – where are you celebrating that evening?

J: I would be at one of those bars listed above or the Old Shillelagh in Greektown, Hard Rock Cafe at Campus Martius or Foran’s Irish Pub off of Woodward.

********

A big thanks to Jamie for her help! This definitely makes me want to hop over to Detroit this weekend, even without my team being in this year’s Frozen Four! Stay tuned for Part 2 Tuesday night.

Jamie Favreau is a freelance interactive marketing specialist. With a passion for hockey and technology, her passion is to help sports clients get noticed. Being active in the social media community in Detroit has helped her understand and get excited about the start up community. You can reach her at her blog, @jfavreau on Twitter or on Linked IN.

Fourteen Years Later, I Experience My Super Bowl XXIX

21 April, 2009 / Kat

The bracket banner outside the Verizon Center. (Photo by me.)

When I was thirteen, I read Peter King and Rick Telander’s coverage of Super Bowl XXIX for Sports Illustrated and decided right then and there that I wanted to be a sportswriter. I wanted to be there to watch someone reach a pinnacle in their sport and then encapsulate the entire emotional experience for those who couldn’t be there in words. I can not pin point a single paragraph or passage of the lead article by Telander that inspired me the most, because there are just too many – from the passage about Jerry Rice, to Eddie DeBartalo and Carmen Policy trying to fathom ways their team could actually lose, to the end passage about Steve Young being so emotionally and physically spent that paramedics had to be sent to his hotel room (which also mentioned his girlfriend of the moment, which slowly broke teenaged crushed me’s heart). At that moment, I knew one of my life goals was to watch an championship sporting event – be it a Super Bowl, winning game of a World Series or Stanley Cup, or even a Calder Cup. I wanted to be there, and I wanted to write about it.

Fast forward fourteen years, to April 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C. In the most unlikely of sports to 13 year old me, college hockey, I finally saw a championship in person. And a week and a half removed from said event, I am finding that encapsulating that moment of victory into words is the most difficult thing I have ever had to write.

You see, there are no words that I can find that describe what it was like to be in the arena when Boston University won the National Championship in overtime. And there is no single story that encapsulates the spirit of the event. And yes, I have stories upon stories upon stories that I could tell surrounding the game and during it – of the pre-game gathering with hundreds of BU fans young and old who had traveled from literally around the world, to when I paced the concourse with mothers when they went down 3-1 in the third, to the priceless interactions between players and their families at the post-game gathering – but I don’t know if they would ever do justice to seeing a team win a championship, a pinnacle in their particular sport.

I have struggled for days about what to write about the Frozen Four, the trip, the games and the overall experience, and the only conclusions I have come to, after about fifty drafts, have been 1) it was the single best thing I have ever done in my twenty-seven years and 2) how difficult it had to have been for the Telander to write that piece in 1995, to envelope what the 49ers Super Bowl XXIX win meant to them and those players, Young in particular, because that piece made me feel like I was there, and there are no words that I can find that describe that well what it is like to be there for something of that magnitude.

It was just about the neatest thing ever.

The celebration after BU won the National Championship in OT. (Photo by me.)

The Saugus versus The Swedish: The Frozen Four Battle No One Is Talking About

9 April, 2009 / Kat

Of all the storylines heading into tonight’s Boston University versus University of Vermont Frozen Four semifinal matchup, one has been overwhelmingly ignored: the fact that UVM’s Viktor Stalberg and BU’s Jason Lawrence are currently tied for fourth in the country in goals at 24 a piece, and are the last two players still playing this season from the top five in that list.

Whoever wins the battle tonight will have the opportunity to move into either second or third on that list, seeing that both MacGregor Sharp (26 goals) and Brock Bradford (25 goals) and their teams are no longer in the tournament. (Air Force powerhouse Jacques Lamoureux’s 33 goals might be a tough target to hit for either Stalberg or Lawrence, but hey, stranger things have happened in two games.)

So who’s going to win the battle tonight, come out ahead on the goal statistics and have the opportunity to add more goals to their stats on Saturday? To figure this out, I consulted with Cameron Frye, fellow hockey blogger, and professed fan of “The Swedish”, and we each took our own positions on the topic. I will let Ms. Frye go first:

The Grand Frozen Four TweetUp

6 April, 2009 / Kat

Because I always must take charge and plan things, I took it upon myself (after a Twitter discussion with my fave Bemidji State fan @kellyschultz) to plan an informal Frozen Four TweetUp (a meeting of Twitter users.)

Hockey Twitterers who will be at the Frozen Four this week, let’s all meet up at the Penn Quarter Sports Tavern at 5pm on Friday afternoon. The tavern is in close proximity to the arena, so if you are attending Friday Night at the Frozen Four, you will be able to get there quickly after meeting up with us. As I think is the plan with most TweetUps, food and drink are on your own.

If you will be joining us, if you could Direct Message or reply to me (@sportsgirlkat) just so I know how many to make room for at the Tavern, that would be mucho grande appreciated.

See you in the Nation’s Capital!

Tag: Frozen Four

A Fan’s Guide to the Frozen Four – Part 1: Getting Around Detroit

Fourteen Years Later, I Experience My Super Bowl XXIX

The Saugus versus The Swedish: The Frozen Four Battle No One Is Talking About

The Grand Frozen Four TweetUp

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