I am just going to say, I had a blast this year. I attended all but 3 home games, and I
attended 5 away games (Guelph, London, Plymouth, London again, and Erie). I was also at
the Meet the Players Fan Club event, and at the Team Awards ceremony.
The best part was that I managed to accomplish this without season tickets, and
furthermore, I only ended up paying for tickets to a handful of games. I sat in seats
all over the arena, seeing the game from all different angles, from as close as the
second row behind the bench to as far away as the last row above the zamboni entrance.
There is no bad seat in Wendler Arena, but there are some close-up seats that have blind
spots in the corners out on the ice.
Disco Stu's tips on how to go to most of the Spirit home games for free: Know people who
have season tickets and who are willing to dish them out. I would like to thank ASI,
Citizens Bank, Standard Electric, Acme Block and Supply, and the Horizon's Confrence
Center for sponsoring my first OHL season (haha).
My season began like everyone else's, up in section 5, seven rows from the top in the
corner, somewhere inside a packed Wendler on Opening Night. Boy were our boys freaked,
I bet outside of a road trip to Ottawa or Kitchener, they had never played in front of a
crowd that big (5500) before. Peter Flache demolished Sarnia's Nick Thomas in a fight
and our season had begun. When I returned home, I did it with 10 extra pom pons, which
some people had not taken home with them. I figured I could make a few bucks on eBay
with them but they are still somewhere in my house. I also returned home to discover
that my VCR had screwed up and did not tape the game. OH WELL. Also....dude from Quebec City with the trumpet was crazy and annoying.
I knew like everyone else that our team was not going to be all that great this season.
They had won a play-in game to finish 8th in the East and this year they were going to
move to a stacked Western Division. But I was wondering at the start of the year
exactly when we would get a win, especially after an OT loss to the Spits and a close
one with the Knights. Then, we went up to the Soo and got one. I bet I wasn't the only
person glued to the radio for that broadcast. After our next game, an OT loss in
Sarnia, people started wondering if we would have a decent year, if we can hang with the
big boys (Sarnia, London, Windsor, etc.) and beat the lower teams (Soo).
At this point I decided I would post on this message forum. I think my first post had
something to do with trying to see if there was interest in bidding on my opening night
pom pons on eBay or something stupid like that. After some long winded-ness and a
hundred or two posts later, I have become one of the more infamous members of this
forum, I guess. Using a nickname from a character from "The Simpsons" that I picked up
while attending Nouvel Catholic Central HS, and have used as my "internet name" ever
since, I'd like to think that at times I have provided some sort of entertainment and
enjoyment to the folks that waste their time reading my drivel.
The team went on a nice little run in October. During Geoff Platt's suspension, and
just before and after we traded Colt King, the team went 5-4-2-1 from Oct 2 to Nov 2,
accounting for nearly half of the team's wins all season. This was when I decided to
throw up my "fear the Spirit" post on the NOOF. At this point they had outperformed
beyond most people's expectations. The stretch included a big win over Brampton (at the
time ranked #10 in the CHL) and a tie at home against Plymouth, during which fans saw
Stu's pick for Fight of the Year, Flache/Kiser at the 8:28 mark of the 3rd period.
Brampton NOOFer Simon the Sign Guy and another fan of the Battalion came to Saginaw for
that game. They were quite impressed with our arena, and had their picture taken with
our mascot Regal the Buick....uhh...Eagle. If you don't remember them, they were
wearing camoflauge helmets, Battalion jerseys, and carried around a sign that said
"Troops Invade Saginaw." They hilariously decided to hole up for the weekend at the
Knights Inn on M-46 and I-75. Not my first choice. The next day, they went to Fashion
Square Mall, and had their pictures taken with Spongebob Squarepants. You can't make
this stuff up.
October 26 was the last home game before Halloween. Of course, this meant that costumes
were worn to the game. Zamboni Bob of course dressed in drag to the delight and
amusement of the Spirit faithful. A kid dressed as Elvis won the contest. He was
playing the crap out of that fake guitar. This was the first game where I wore my
"Disco Stu wig." During one of the intermissions, and during the song "YMCA," not only
did a camera catch me dancing, but the arena people put a SPOTLIGHT on me. Holy crap, I
wasn't really expecting that. My take on the wig is this. I haven't received a single
negative remark from anyone while wearing it. I mostly get "nice hair" or my personal
favorite..."is that your real hair??!" People smile when they see me act like a fool,
and I personally don't care if I look like an idiot, if people enjoy the game that much
more because I am acting like a wig-wearing freak, then so be it.
After that Nov 2 victory against Barrie, injuries and suspensions took their toll as we
flounded into our worst winless streak of the year, one that did not end until Dec 28
against Erie. But there were plenty of memorable moments during this period as well.
I went to my first away game in Guelph on Nov 8. The arena is very nice, similar to
Wendler but with a few more modern features (a restaurant where you can sit down and
watch the game while eating, luxury boxes, etc.) Jamey Hicks' family lives somewhere in
the area, perhaps Kitchener, so his whole family was at the game, sitting in our
section. I brought along the extra pom pons (the ones I didn't ever sell on eBay)
thinking that if I saw other Spirit fans that we could get a cheering section going. I
ended up sitting next to Jamey Hicks' parents, who were the nicest folks. Jamey's two
daughters were also sitting nearby. I gave them both pom pons to wave during the game.
At some point, they decided to give them back to me politely. One of Jamey's daughters
had the quote of the night. I told them that they could keep the pom pons. Jamey's
daughter replied with "We already have 8 at home." I mean come on, that's funny stuff.
The folks in Guelph treated us like kings and were more than happy to talk with us,
wanting directions on how to get to our arena, wanting to know if we liked junior
hockey, etc. We spent a long time during the second intermission (after I had bought my
Guelph Storm puck) talking to the ushers at the Guelph Sports and Entertainment Centre.
One of them decided to take us (myself and BPFox) up to the upper level VIP area, where
George Armstrong, the Hall of Fame former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was hanging
out. There were also NHL Scouts (I saw someone jotting things down in a New York
Rangers notepad). Our team came back to tie it late in the 3rd period. Tyson Kellerman
had kept it a one goal game with some fantastic saves. Then, a marginal penalty call on
us in OT and then a kicked in goal on the power play that happened literally under our
noses up in the VIP area. Even the Guelph folks were telling us we were robbed.
Washkurak and Beer were the refs that night and from that point on my faith in a 2
referee system in the OHL has been decimated.
Nov. 21, a 5-0 victory for the Plymouth Whalers on Thanksgiving, had two moments. First
of all, frustration had led to the Spirit bench door being slammed shut on several
occasions. On this night, the bench door gave up. There was a long delay while Bob
fixed the door, which had literally fallen off its hinges. The second moment was
brought to us by the Spirit Superfan, the kid that sits (sometimes) in Section 11 and
then walks around leading the crowd in the "lets go Spirit" cheers. By the end of the
season, the kid had discovered moderation and now has become quite good at leading the
crowd in the cheer when the time is right. But, for the first few weeks leading up to
this game on Nov 21 he seemed to be aimlessly circling the arena inner concourse all
game long like a NASCAR stock car going around in circles howling "let's go Spirit"
without taking a breath or stopping. Late in the game, down by five and hopelessly out
of the game, the kid was still going, "LEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTSSSSSS GOOOOO SPIRIT!" and
wandering the arena. No one was chanting with him. At some point, while walking near
Section 18 (where I was seated at that game), he bellowed out the cheer one more time
and was met with "Go shut up and sit down kid" from somewhere in the cheap seats. Not a
single peep out of the kid for the rest of the game. I think that was the moment when
he discovered moderation. Since then, I think he has found his niche, and I find his
cheerleading a welcome sight at games.
Dec 6 was the night of the infamous Teddy Bear Toss. In preparation for this game, I
went out to Meijer and bought a fairly big teddy bear. This inspired my parents to go
out and buy two REALLY big bears. Of course, we really, really wanted to throw these
bears after a Spirit goal. All we needed was one. Honesty Elliott (I love her) even
held a bear as she sung the anthems. We could have lost 15-1 and I would have gone home
happy having thrown one of these huge bears onto the ice. As Jeff Weber marched onto
what became a 4-0 shutout, the fans became restless. Many threw their bears after a
goal scored during the atom game that happened during the second intermission. In the
third period, restlessness turned into civil disobedience. Many fans got up to leave,
and with no respect to the rules decided to pitch their bears onto the ice while play
was still going on. Eventually, the arena announcer said "toss em" and we proceeded to
chuck the bears onto the ice. My family threw the two big bears but I held onto my
bear, still hoping for that Spirit goal late in the game. When it didn't happen, I took
my bear home, exclaiming "Screw Toys for Tots, they didn't score!" I eventually dropped
it into a Toys for Tots drop off bin at work.
Tongue in cheek, I thought about buying a small bear to throw onto the ice after our
next home goal, which was against Plymouth, the Fox Sports Net TV game on Dec 27.
Someone else threw a walleye instead. I think it is a cool tradition. If the "Walleye
tosser" wants to reserve the walleye tradition for TV games and for playoff games, that
is cool. It is something special and it should only be brought out for special
occasions. Speaking of TV, I ended up on TV during this game. I am the idiot who got
on TV during a stoppage in the 1st period and did not wave. I was too focused on the
ice to realize I was on TV, until my sister punched me in the arm and said "DORK, you're
on TV!" Maybe you saw me. hahaha The game got a nice rating (higher than average
CCHA games) so I think it means that we will have more TV games next year. Maybe then
my VCR will work.
January was a nice month for the team, the long break seemed to give us some jump. We
went 6-9-0-5 from Dec 28 until Feb 5 (hey there is the rest of our wins). This season
was really the story of two different seasons. Two months out of the year we went
11-13-2-4, and the rest of the year we went 0-32-3-3. From Feb 7 until Mar 15, we sadly
hit another stretch without a win. I really think our major problem is depth. When we
are able to roll four consistent lines, we give our top players more time to rest, which
makes our power play and penalty killing sharper. When our bench is shortened due to
suspension, injury (we had two season-ending injuries to players this year), and
penalties (misconducts), we are forced to roll only three lines and wear out players.
This has an effect, especially during those winless stretches, of taking away our
players' jump. We responded well both early in the season and after the Christmas
break. I really think our team's problem is personnel more than anything, and the best
way to get that personnel is by stocking up on as many skilled young players and draft
picks as possible, which we are doing. Our plan is to have in two to three years better
depth than any other team in the OHL. I really don't want to get too far into this, I
really would like to leave such topics for my other upcoming posts (season ending player
report, fantasy GM post).
During the second half, we had plenty of memorable moments. A fan from London came to
Saginaw to watch the Knights/Spirit game on Jan 15. His mistake, was calling the
Wendler Arena box office instead of the team's office. According to him, the
conversation went something like this:
London fan: Hello, are there any tickets for tonight's game?
Event Center Person: Yes, it is a Wednesday night so we aren't expecting a big crowd.
LF: I'm a Knights fan, how long would it take me to get there?
ECP: Where are you coming here from?
LF: Uh......London.
ECP: I don't think you can make it here, I mean its already 1 PM here now.
LF: What?
ECP: Are you flying here?
LF: What?
ECP: From London, England?
LF: I'm from London, Ontario!
ECP: Really?
You get the picture. I told him that you should never call our arena's box office.
Those poor souls don't know what league the team is in. They should always call the
team's headquarters. The poor SMG people don't have a clue, they actually thought the
team playing us was from London, England? Oh well. Later on, during the game, this
fellow from London, sitting in Section 1, managed to make it on HugCam (on the
Spiritron). He hugged and kissed his girlfriend which drew applause from the crowd,
which soon turned to boos when he stood up and waved his Canadian flag. I told him
later that the crowd wasn't booing Canada per se, they were booing the fact that a fan
of the other team found their way onto our video scoreboard. He didn't seem to mind, in
fact, he found it pretty funny and overall had a great time in Saginaw.
The next game was the Spirit Fan Club's bus trip to London. They gave us clappers which
we put to very good use during that game at at subsequent home games. Perhaps you've
seen me and BPFox with our clappers making annoying clapping noises at Spirit home games
this season. We lost that game in London but overall had a very nice time. London has
a very new state of the art 10,000 seat arena. I met NOOFers ErskineFan and KnightHawk
during the game. KH also swapped me a Saginaw Spirit puck for a quality recording of
the All-Star game (starring Tyson Kellerman) straight from Canadian TV.
The second best fight of the season game during the Kingston/Saginaw game on Jan 18.
James Edgar fights Scott Maher of the Frontenacs. Edgar not only wins the fight but
manages to break Maher's helmet in the process. His visor was literally in two pieces
afterward and it needed to be replaced. Happened right in front of me as I was sitting
in Citizens Bank's swank 4th row seats in Section 19 next to the penalty box. After the game, a couple of Kingston fans partied all night in the hotel bar across from Wendler singing Motown songs with the hotel owner and a couple "local gems" until about 3 AM. Who says you can't have a good time in downtown Saginaw.
The fan club's second bus trip was to Plymouth on Feb 14. Compuware is surprisingly a
larger capacity version of the Saginaw Bay Ice Arena, with seats all around but a very
low ceiling. Didn't get to meet Plymouth NOOFer DangerGirl, she was not there that
night. The club made plenty of noise even though there wasn't a lot to cheer about. Scored my Whalers puck, there's three teams down and 17 to go (I'm collecting OHL pucks from the arenas I visit, hint hint.)
After a tie with Belleville on Feb 15, the Spirit Fan Club convened on Wendler Arena to
take a tour of the Spirit Locker Room and meet the players. Oh yes, and eat pizza. And
get stuff autographed. I was mostly interested in seeing the locker room. Adam
Sturgeon and Steve Dix were my group's tour guides. The players have nice digs. We
also saw the trainer's room, the laundry room, the coaches' office, and the exercize
room. The exercize room is next to the Desrosiers' office and has a big window so Coach
can see if a guy is working out or not. They have tons of weights and a fleet of
exercize bikes. Sturge had two things he had to show us. He keeps a poster of an
American Indian warrior (he's part native) in his locker for inspiration. He also had
to show off Josh Tataryn's Bauer top of the line model skates. (I believe the newest
most expensive skates in their current line.) Checking out the stick rack, some players
have their name stamped on their own sticks. Some players choose to use pro sticks like
Chris Drury's Easton model. I had a great conversation with D.J. Jelitto during the
event. We talked about transitioning from the NCAA league he was in to the OHL, and he
said it seemed like moving 4 levels up. I really wanted him to get a goal this season.
Best quote of the afternoon? After asking the players what the strangest thing they've
ever autographed was, it didn't take Steve Dix very long to chime in with "body parts."
At the end of the event, I picked up my first assist of the season when I helped a young
lady give a Spirit player her phone number (I let her borrow my pen so she could write
it down). As my hero Eek the Cat is fond of saying, "It never hurts to help."
Well I think I have it all covered until the last couple of weeks in the season. On Mar 1 the Ottawa 67s went on their western road swing. I met the fans from Ottawa, they are a hardcore bunch to go on a 4 game, 3 night bus trip. Maybe next year we will get some combination of St. Mike's/Brampton/Guelph/Mississauga/Kitchener/London on a 3 game weekend and go on a 3 game/2 night bus trip to the Greater Toronto Area. Met NOOFer Shamrock67 as well. A fun bunch and also delighted to hear about our 5 area Tim Horton's locations. Every away fan club that has visited has asked us if the arena is brand new. They are shocked to discover that it is 30 years old. That is just how good the renovations are. This was the night when I brought out the wig. I wanted to save it for a special game or the playoffs. With no playoffs this year, I brought it out for the last few home games and the bus trip. I just might decide to wear it at every game I go to next year.
On Mar 7 Windsor came to Saginaw along with their fan club and we met the infamous NOOFer Sports Nut. He's younger than me! Great discussion with all these NOOFers, by the way. It is kind of fun to meet them in person. Windsor waxed us that night, but I still had a good time. Note to self: Miss Michigan likes the wig. OK, she's not the real Miss Michigan but you know what I mean. Also note to self: wig gets me on the Spiritron nearly every game.
Mar 11, final home game. I scored my tickets cheap thanks once again to Citizens Bank. Also...crazy dude with the drum was annoying. Nice send-off for the guys. Only problem was...playing those last two games on the road was an emotional let down after the send-off they got in Saginaw.
The bus trip was fun. First stop..London. We got there just in time for the game. Mike Bossy was signing crap but the line seemed too long for me. I finally got my Knights puck, they were all out the last time I went to London. Met NOOFer Sec17 and once again chilled with KnightHawk. Also, on this bus trip, I met many of you who post here on the Saginaw board (had never met any of you before...except BPFox, who I have the unfortunate distinction of introducing this message board to, hahaha). So, in no particular order....HockeyQueen, Trina, Trina's kid. I guess Griffin was on the bus too but they never really walked up and said hello. After the game, Spirit fans descended onto the town's nightlife. Most of the team's part-time gameday operations staff, including the infamous Regal, went on the bus trip. They had been to every single home game yet most of them hadn't seen a game all year, because they had been too busy working the souvenir stands, or the promotional events, or selling season ticket packages on the concourse, or manning the puck toss table.
The bus trip was in fact for them as much as it was for us fan club members who had seen many games over the course of the year. Most of this staff are college-aged, so it was party time after the game. All I wanted was something to eat, so we headed off to a local establishment, the Honest Lawyer, where I had a burger and some fries. During the course of the meal, a London "local gem" sauntered up to the table. She must have been a bit tipsy, since young women do not just randomly walk up to me like that. After some rather interesting conversation, I got a completely unexpected smooch on the cheek. Another note to self: Move to Canada. The women there don't hate me.
While walking along the streets of London from the restaurant to the hotel we ran into a couple of local hooligans who were cursing, stumbling around, and throwing apples at everything. Buses, buildings, people, you name it. Funny stuff. I'm not sure how late some of the Spirit "youngins" were out having fun, but I'm sure it was late, there were a lot of sleepy faces on the bus when we departed the hotel at 11 AM.
We spent Saturday afternoon in Niagara Falls. I have been there a bunch of times before, so it wasn't anything too special, other than being there while there was still snow and ice around the falls. That was neat to see. BPFox bought a disposable camera to take some pictures. More on that later. While walking down the streets of the falls, we ran into a couple who spotted our jerseys. They turned out to be Phil Kozak's parents, who have been to nearly every game their son has played this season. At some point, our conversation turned to the message board. At some point, Mr. Kozak was told that I was Disco Stu. His response: "YOU'RE DISCO STU!?!?!" I nearly jumped out into the street. Apparently....I am fricken famous, baby. He apparently enjoyed reading my mid-season report. That was kind of a cool moment.
Now, the real fun begins. The bus departs Niagara Falls, headed for the New York side of the Niagara River. We attempt to get onto the Rainbow Bridge (the bridge near the falls) but an on-ramp was closed. We took a detour which led us north to the less-glamorous Whirlpool Bridge. It was low clearance and said "no trucks" but our bus driver said he could make it. So we crossed. No problem. Until we reached the other side where the US Border Patrol guard was waiting. At first, he had a facial expression that said "what is a bus doing here?" Picture a much less comical and friendly Steve Dix wearing a border patrol uniform. He steps on the bus, and says "Who said you could cross that bridge?" We attempted to explain with tales of detours and hockey games. Let's face it. Canadian border guards understand when you tell them you are hockey fans headed to a game. It is their national sport. US border guards aren't as lenient. It wasn't like there was a man on the Canadian side of the bridge pointing at cars as they passed, saying "You can go.....You can go....Woah-ho-ho ho! Wait just a minute there Mr. Bus!"
Everyone on the bus was temporarily detained as we filed out into a small room in the building nearby. I can almost understand their grumpyness. After all, they work at a border crossing, but not just any border crossing, the one in Niagara Falls. That means they have to deal with tourists. And not only that, but they work at the Whirlpool Bridge, not the Rainbow Bridge. At least the Rainbow Bridge has a nice view. These guards have to work every day at the least glamorous border crossing in the entire 5500 miles that is the US-Canada border. As soon as our group showed our paperwork, one-by-one, we were allowed to continue on our way. Ian Ellis, the Director of Gameday Operations, had a bit of an extra problem...he's Canadian. He has a work visa and a passport, but had to explain to a couple of non-hockey fans exactly why he was with us. I guess Canadians aren't allowed to just hang out with Americans when they cross a border. Oh well. We got through there, and headed on to Erie.
Erie's arena (Tullio) is a lot older, and a bit weird-looking. It is truly a big barn, its hard to explain. One whole end of the rink has no seats, just a wall. Another thing, they do not allow cameras inside their arena (I sent an Email to the Otters' version of Cameron Knowles for further explanation of why this is). So we took pictures anyway. And when a fairly angry arena usher came up to us and was quite belligerent with us, we had to deal with that. The other thing we had to deal with was a super-drunk Erie fan who kept calling me "Surfer Dude." (I'm wearing a crazy wig, remember?) He kept trying to get the Wave started. Except, the wave consisted of me, Ian, and about 5 other Spirit fans. We told him to run down to the front so he can do a better job of getting the fans to do the wave (they have to see the guy trying to start it). So he runs down, drunkenly, to the front row, where he runs into the glass. Great stuff. He tries to get them to do the wave. Then, he pulls up his shirt instead a few times. I think he wanted the crowd to do the "naked wave." Erie's crowd seemed very Flint IMA, they were hot and wanted fights all night long. The Otters' chief goon Lagace did not disappoint, and kept it going until he was ejected for hitting Peter Flache in the face with a helmet. I, of course, was in the bathroom while all this was going on. I took one for the team. The exciting stuff always happens when I'm in the bathroom. Picked up an Erie Otters puck. Five down, 15 to go. Maybe next year, I'll go to Kitchener, Windsor, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie, Owen Sound, St. Mike's, and Missy to make it 12 down, 8 to go.
So, as you can see, I really did have a blast this year. At least there is Red Wings Hockey and the NCAA Hockey Tournament to keep me from withdrawl. I guess I will pull for Ferris State...I have a friend who is getting a pharmacy degree from there. When that is over, I have baseball, sweet baseball, my first love, to keep me going until hockey season kicks back in again. Of course until then there will be tons to talk about. OHL Draft, NHL Draft, Training Camp, Draft picks reporting, etc. Two more big posts from me also...my end of the season report where I will dish my opinion on each player one by one, the coach, GM, etc. and my "fantasy GM" post. Those posts, like this one, will take a long time to put together so look out for them during the next two to three weeks. So long and good night Saginaw.
oh and just wanted to give a shout out to my partner in crime Doug the Thug. Holler if you hear me...
AAAAAAAAY!
