Yesterday the puck-rakers team of Aaron Portzline, Tom Reed and Michael Arace and myself rolled into Detroit for the first two games of Jackets/Wings series. Walking into the Joe for the first talk was unreal, the first thing you look at at are all the banners hanging down from the top. I had to count all 65 banners they had hanging. So after the Jackets practice we checked into the hotel and tried to find a place to eat and watch hockey around 8 in the evening. The task was a lot harder then one would think. Arace wrote it best last night while drinking a few beers, I can't write like him so enjoy.
" OK. But our problem with Hockeytown was exacerbated after we left the arena. The sun was going down and we were looking forward to a good sports bar with large-screen televisions and a night of watching playoff hockey. This is the stuff that sustains a pilgrim on the road during the NHL playoffs. We ventured out, on foot, and walked five blocks. Our destination was the Hockeytown Café, which ESPN2 describes as “the No. 2 sports bar in America.” When we got there, at 8:20 p.m., it was closed. We tried Cheli’s Chili Bar, owned by current Wing Chris Chelios. It was dark. So was another sports bar a block away. Finally, we stumbled on a Cuban restaurant, Vincente’s Cuban Cuisine. It was a life saver. An absolute life saver.
It’s not right to crack on Hockeytown. But I can say this from experience: On the first night of the NHL playoffs, we couldn’t find a hockey game. The sports bars in the vicinity of our hotel were all closed, well before 9 p.m. on Wednesday. This had something to do with the bars handling a heavy volume of baseball fans, and then shutting down early, after an afternoon Tigers game. But I know this: You can find a bite to eat, and a cold lemonade, at hundreds of establishments in Columbus, Ohio, up until 2:30 or 3 a.m., no matter what events are in town. I guarantee you could watch all the hockey games you could want, somewhere, somehow, on Wednesday night in Columbus."
