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Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

K

KnowItAll

Banned
Ok, so who can tell the rest of the world:

1. Who the players are to look out for on each of the 4 participating teams

2. Where are the places to eat around town? Barbeque, Noodled Catfish or ???

For Maine, Joey Diamond, #39, is a feisty sniper and WILL get under the skin of opponents and who should score.
Nemec, #3, is a big D man who should throw some weight around, along with Rutt, #4, who might possibly throw weight around.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

bump...
not a single fan can tell people who to watch out for on the 4 teams playing?
or where a single GREAT barbeque spot is?... or other entertainment venues?
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

As for Notre Dame, it's the usual suspects. I won't think of match up breakdown details until the week of the tourney, but briefly, look for Anders Lee to try to repeat his performance from his first Ice Breaker: he had a hat trick. Look for T.J. Tynan to be fairly dynamic, and maybe try his patented I-wish-he-wouldn't-do-that-move. Jeff Costello has some things to prove this year (as he is my pick for this season's ND break out player). Robbie Russo and Stephen Johns are pretty studly on the blue line, although for slightly different reasons. I'll be curious to see how the freshmen perform. I expect Steven Fogarty and Thomas DiPauli to dress. Not sure about the other 2. Mario Lucia is on the DL. Steven Summerhays will get the chance to reassure Coach Jackson (and the rest of us) that he is, indeed, the #1 goalie...at least he better seize that opportunity.

Am finalizing my plans for the trip this week.

Completely off-topic...Is Missouri really the driest state in the Union? :eek: And I don't mean lack of precipitation...
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

KnowItAll said:
bump...
not a single fan can tell people who to watch out for on the 4 teams playing?
or where a single GREAT barbeque spot is?... or other entertainment venues?
Click to expand...

Even though I have lived in Omaha for 22 years now, I grew up in Kansas City and spent 27 years of my life there. What's left of my family is there and I get back there--a lot--since I also work for a business located there.

My wife and I are UNO season ticket holders and have been since the 2001-2002 season. We'll obviously be at the Sprint Center this upcoming weekend.

If you want barbeque, the question becomes, do you want to go to the mainstream places that everybody whose watched shows that have featured Kansas City barbeque on the Food Network or the Travel Channel, et al, have showcased, or, are you interested in places locals might know about or frequent beyond that?

The mainstream places are pretty obvious ones. Arthur Bryants, Gates, Oklahoma Joes, K.C. Masterpiece, Jacks Stack, etc. If you're one of the people that values going to a landmark kind of place, then I suppose a trip to Bryants would be in order, even though I personally don't really care for it. Every President since Truman (including him) has eaten there. I believe my list is, I am sure, far from all inclusive since I have been gone for a long time, now.

Oklahoma Joes, K.C. Masterpiece, and Jacks Stack have all opened since I moved away, or were very new when I did, so I don't have much experience there other than having tried them all on for size at least once. You won't go wrong with any of them.

However, my personal favorites are Quicks 7th Street Barbeque in Kansas City Kansas and Rosedale Barbeque, which is also in Kansas City, KS and is very close to Quick's. I have friends I've turned on to both places that tell me that Quick's ribs are as good or better than any of the "big name" barbeques. Both are well known to locals. I first ate at Quicks with my dad in 1964, when I was 5 years old, the year they opened. His office at the time was in the neighborhood and he'd take me down to the office on Saturday afternoons with him sometimes and we'd eat there before or after.

For entertainment,The Sprint Center is right across the street from the Power and Light District (many bars and restaurants), and both Westport and the Plaza aren't terribly far south of the arena (< 5 miles). Probably all are must dos, particularly the Plaza. I know it's hockey, but, if you are looking for an upscale dining experience while you're there, go to the Savoy Grill, which is the oldest restaurant in Kansas City, another place that Presidents clear back to Harding have frequented. Take your wallet for this worthwhile experience in a historical restaurant. Another place that is one of my absolute favorites, is Stroud's, which is north of the river (the original location) but is not an awful jaunt from downtown. It's a place that Adam Richman visited on Man Vs. Food and is in a historical building, the oldest in Clay County. The structure dates to 1829. Be sure and go on an empty stomach. You'll get fed within an inch of your life. You'll be leaving with food, trust me. Best shrimp (and the biggest) I have eaten, ANYWHERE, (and I used to travel for a living) even though fried chicken is the signature dish. I try to eat there every time I am in town if I can.

As far as UNO is concerned, we go into the season with a few questions marks. My thoughts are this. The writers are taking a pretty big risk selling a Dean Blais coached team so short and voting them a preseason 8th. They did it season before last, too, and UNO made the NCAA tournament, after being voted 8th or 9th preseason then. UNO will go as far as the incoming freshman and existing underclassmen take them since there are only 3 seniors on this team. And, John Faulkner, one of those 3 seniors, needs to have his best season in goal as well for UNO to make any hay. Blais is the intangible on this team and my gut tells me they will do better than 8th. maybe even quite a bit better, like two seasons ago. We'll find out starting this week just how good the incoming class is, or, is not.

UNO fan will be much in evidence in Kansas City this upcoming weekend. I'd be shocked if we don't greatly outnumber the fans of the other 3 teams combined.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

Jeff_Jackson_for_Pres. said:
Completely off-topic...Is Missouri really the driest state in the Union? :eek: And I don't mean lack of precipitation...
Click to expand...

Nope, don't know where you heard this. The bars are open in Kansas City until 3:00 A.M. In fact, open containers are even legal there as long as you aren't behind the wheel and are in a specially designated entertainment district (of which there are several--including the Power & Light District right across from the Sprint Center):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoho..._for_open_containers_in_public_in_Kansas_City

Here's more on Missouri/Kansas City liquor laws:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_laws_of_Missouri#Liquor_sales

Liquor availability is not going to be ANY sort of issue if you are coming.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

Red Cows said:
UNO fan will be much in evidence in Kansas City this upcoming weekend. I'd be shocked if we don't greatly outnumber the fans of the other 3 teams combined.
Click to expand...

Went to get tickets at Sprint center's box office today with the refund money from the cancelled NHL game - staff there said ticket sales are slow. Does the UNO crowd avoid buying online through Ticketmaster and just show up on game day?
 
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Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

That's very interesting.

I personally went to the Sprint Center and bought my tickets while in Kansas City on business about a month ago and was told entirely the opposite--that ticket sales were very good for the Icebreaker.

I asked for seats in a very specific location, Section 105, and on the aisle, towards the rink center side of the section and, I got them.

The gal in the ticket office who told me this also told me she was "fixing us up" since I had driven all the way from Omaha (uh, sorta) and that all the tickets in that section technically weren't available except for some that were being held back, ostensibly, I suppose, because of where they are (center of lower level, opposite the benches, 18th row). She said she had to "get permission" before selling me what I wanted and she ran off for almost 5 minutes, came back, and sold me what I asked for. She acted pretty cryptically about the whole thing, frankly. I'm just happy I got what I wanted. All this cloak and dagger stuff is what prompted me to ask her about ticket sales, to-date, since her actions and words seemed to imply some level of ticket scarcity.

Maybe she was just full of it.

As far as UNO's presence is concerned this weekend, the UNO Alumni Association is having a large event at Johnny's Tavern:

http://www.johnnystavern.com/locations/power-light-district/

............right across the street for the Sprint Center in the Power & Light District:

http://unoalumni.org/icebreaker

In answer to your last question, hard to say. I bought my tickets actually in Kansas City because I could not buy tickets online that were anywhere near as good as what I got at the box office at the Sprint Center. And, I am in Kansas City quite a bit. I would have preferred to buy them online. I could not get anything better than ends of the rink seats online--not acceptable.

Season before last, my wife and I went to Duluth to see UNO play the Bulldogs in the season ending series for both teams (just before UMD won the NCAA title). We bought those tickets online. The night of the Saturday game, I would guess that there were well over 500 UNO fans there that night, and with the exception of the two other people we went to that game with us in the hotel's courtesy bus, every other UNO fan I spoke to (half dozen?) told me they had driven up sort of last minute for that game on Saturday and bought tickets at the arena.

I've never bought tickets in advance when UNO has played in Mankato because there isn't any danger there of not getting tickets at that arena. My guess is that will be the case here, to some degree, since I don't think there is any way these games come close to selling out. If you don't need to buy them online, in advance, and pay outrageous fees along side the tickets, why bother?

I've been told that this college hockey exercise in Kansas City is something of an "audition" for the City and the University of Missouri at Kansas City (who is a member of the Summit League with UNO in every sport except hockey) since the city has no tenant for the Sprint Center and none, really, in the offing. I have had friends tell me that the possibility of UMKC launching a D-1 hockey program has been discussed down there (I am a UMKC alum) in this context. I wonder how many fans not affiliated with these 4 teams might actually show up? I don't know how "they" would know, even after the fact.
 
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Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

Had a feeling, Red Cows. Too many other events going on in KC this weekend - Northwest vs. Pitt at Arrowhead, all kinds of high school sports, and whatever was happening on the Kansas side of the border.

The KC youth hockey crowd could've been a big draw, but found out from a few of the parents of the pee wee teams that got to play that the youth leagues hosted their own tournament at the 3 local rinks in the area - apparently about 30 teams. Not sure if the hope was for all the kids to come after they played, or what but thats where the KC hockey community was this weekend. The kids sure had a blast getting to skate though - got to high five all the players by the locker rooms, couldn't stop talking about it when they got back to their seats.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament Tour Guide Advice??? and Hockey Discussion

kcsports said:
Had a feeling, Red Cows. Too many other events going on in KC this weekend - Northwest vs. Pitt at Arrowhead, all kinds of high school sports, and whatever was happening on the Kansas side of the border.

The KC youth hockey crowd could've been a big draw, but found out from a few of the parents of the pee wee teams that got to play that the youth leagues hosted their own tournament at the 3 local rinks in the area - apparently about 30 teams. Not sure if the hope was for all the kids to come after they played, or what but that's where the KC hockey community was this weekend. The kids sure had a blast getting to skate though - got to high five all the players by the locker rooms, couldn't stop talking about it when they got back to their seats.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but there were a ton of pee wee team kids there anyway, though, who almost universally rooted for UNO (a bunch of whom sat next to us and made my wife crazy). I wonder what the UNO players thought coming out of that tunnel and seeing all those kinds there waiting to greet them, the first time it happened.

That said, outside of the actual hockey, the entire event was a complete farce. The P.A. announcer mispronounced names like nobody's business. Starting play and them stopping it again on a couple occasions because they weren't back from TV timeouts? I could go on and on. The whole thing was very bush league. If they wanted to do something like this (have the event not back east or in non-college hockey town) they should have done it someplace like Des Moines, where it would have been much better received. There is no hockey legacy in Kansas City and nobody cares about it. Trust me, I know, I grew up there, lived 27 years of my life there, and saw for myself first hand.
 
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