HOSTILE TERRITORY: PPG Paints Arena + BONUS Pre-Game Pics

Friend of the pod Corey Michael recently joined me in Pittsburgh to search for Flyers autographs and take in the Flyers/Penguins game that same day. If you haven't already, you can listen to both podcasts here. The first was an interview with Corey about the experience:

The second was my more detailed review of PPG Paints Arena:

Thanks to Corey's help, we were able to track down the team a few hours before the game to get some autographs and meet-and-greet time. Here's a gritty but nice guy Nic Deslauriers:

Former Ohio State Buckeye Tanner Laczynski:

James Van Riemsdyk:

The guy I hope is the future team captain, Scott Laughton:

We saw head coach John Tortorella walking down the street but he didn't want to come over. I got a pic anyway:

The highlight of my morning was meeting longtime Flyers radio broadcaster Tim Saunders:

He did a quick interview of sorts with us, asking about being in Pittsburgh, how much tickets cost for the game (too much), and so on. I have to think a couple of those tidbits made it into the broadcast, but I guess I'll never know.

One guy you can't miss is Owen Tippett. His hair is as red in real life as it is on TV:

Rasmus Ristolainen:

And finally, it's tough to see but I'm pretty sure this is Kiefer Bellows, who would end up scoring the Flyers lone goal of the afternoon:

We had some time to kill after that, so we headed closer to the arena and stopped in a bar across the street called Souper Bowl:

We got a couple jeers for our choice of teams, but nothing too severe to start the pre-game. There were a few other Flyers fans spread throughout the bar as well. Once we knew gates were opened, we walked across the street to the arena:

I neglected to take pics of the escalators inside, but you can kinda get the idea from this pic. We entered the arena well below ice level and went all the way to the top of the glass window area to get to our seats. I snapped a pic from the main concourse where you can see the lack of entry portals in between the seating areas that I mentioned on the podcast:

I saw a few random things while we were walking around during pre-game. There was some sort of Hall-of-Fame exhibit or auction, and not too much caught my eye, but this Grant Fuhr Flames jersey did:

I know exactly one Calgary Flames fan who might appreciate this if he happens to see it.

I also mentioned on the pod that the soda (NOT POP!) available at the concessions was interesting. If you've never had RC Cola, I'd recommend giving it a try if you find it. It was all they had here from a cola perspective:

Other than that, the concourse was pretty standard. There was an area sponsored by the casino that had a ton of TVs dedicated to other sports for the diehard gamblers in attendance:

Regardless of the team, it's a violation to wear or purchase a St. Patrick's Day jersey. Sorry not sorry. Those things are always ridiculous. I might make an exception if it was a pre-game worn jersey auctioned off for charity. Whatever the case, there's one thing I do wish was up for sale:

Corey and I had a little fun with that during pre-game warmups:

Speaking of, as it was very close to St. Patrick's Day, the in-arena entertainment included an Irish-inspired rock band. They were pretty decent:

Some snaps from pre-game warmups. The Penguins opted to wear their Winter Classic jerseys from this season, which are white, so the Flyers were oddly dressed in orange on the road. Also, the aforementioned St. Patrick's Day warmup jerseys were on display:

We didn't get any pucks or other loose memorabilia, but I'm always glad to see warmups up close. We headed up to our seats, which actually had a great view. Did I mention that I enjoy being up high behind the goal?

During a stoppage, the scoreboard showed a lot of ones:

I headed to one of the very few upper level restrooms during intermission. In case you fall in love with the color you see in the line for the toilet, PPG Paints has provided the paint color code for your convenience:

As someone who is passionate about speaking into a microphone, I can almost always appreciate a tribute to an announcer, even if they were famous for the opposing team. To that end, here's a Mike Lange commemorative Labatt Blue can:

In regards to the game, result, this about sums it up:

Losing sucks, even when you kinda expected it. I still had a good day. Any day with live hockey is better than a day without it, and meeting Tim Saunders is something I won't soon forget. I wouldn't go crazy trying to knock PPG Paints Arena off your bucket list, but if your team happens to be playing, there are certainly worse places you could go to see a hockey game.