> One thing that the folks in attendance got to see that didn't make it on tv
> was the truly brilliant video that was shown on the center ice screens just
> prior to the game.  ...
>           was a wonderful way to lead into the game, which lived up to
> expectations.
 
The pregame video was great!
 
> It also showed that while the FleetCenter does not have the history that
> the Garden had, it can still be a terrific venue for this event -- and a
> top notch event like this can create much the same kind of atmosphere that
> it did in the Garden.  The FleetCenter has been criticized as being a
> boring, sterile arena, but it was anything but on this night.
 
The fleet center (and the local organizing committee) did a wonderful
job on all the little details. The road/walkway that leads to the fleet
center had a street sign that said "NCAA WAY" with the hockey tournament
logo on it. Lots of the lightposts near the fleet center (including at
least a block away towards the brewpubs) had nice banners on them.
 
I had only two complaints: as others have noted, it looked like the ice
was soft and really wet at times, and the side glass was highly
polished, which distorted the view down the boards from our seats (but I
had great seats!)
 
Despite grumbling from some fans about the "T", riding it to a from the
games was not a problem -- we had fun, and no one in the crowd gave us
any problems. You would think that several thousand fans trying to get in a
small station and on small train cars after a hard-fought game would
lead to pushing and shoving -- I didn't see any.
 
> The awarding of the Hockey Humanitarian Award to Wisconsin's Erik Raygor
> (and special citation of merit to the North Dakota team for their work a
> year ago during the flood), along with the presentation of the Hobey Baker
> to Chris Drury, went very well too.  All were very deserving.  Faneuil Hall
> was as great of a setting for the Hobey presentation as there has ever
> been, and BU did a terrific job with it.
 
everything about the hobey presentation was very classy -- the hobey
committee, the speakers, and BU did an excellent job. The people in the
room -- media, ordinary fans (well, anyone who went to the hobey
ceremony is probably not an ordinary fan, but "just a fan" nonetheless),
as well as the VIPs -- everyone seemed to enjoy just being there to
salute a great player of a great sport (ok, there were a few bozos --
remarkably few -- and everyone ignored them).
 
        --david
 
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