Buffalo: what a dump
Hockey: fabulous
Atmosphere: great

Buffalo is old and rundown -- I left feeling sorry for the people who live there. However, the downtown bar scene (Pearl Street and Chippewa) is exciting. We went to Toronto for the NHL Hall of Fame on Friday, and sat in a pub full of Maple Leaf fans to see their game against Philadelphia.

Left Wednesday afternoon from St. Cloud to drive to Buffalo (15.5 hours). Saw the semifinal games through sleep deprived eyes. Naturally there was an overtime game. Each semifinal winning team won by one goal and had a goal by the loser disallowed. Both of those games had huge momentum changes and flip-flops in the shots on goal. The final was so one-sided that it became boring. New Hampshire kept three men back on defense, and attacked with only two. The result was being outshot 2-1. Ayers was tremendous (40 saves), but New Hampshire tried to win the game 1-0 or 2-1, and in abandoning their offense, they put too much pressure on their defense. Unlike last year, the better team won  -- without any interference by the referee.

Other thoughts: (1) The HSBC (HonkKong Shanghai Banking Corporation) Arena is nice. Even upper deck seats had great views of the ice. (2) The Pearl Street Brewery had " Smoked Gouda and Spaatz Special" Soup (or something like that), which was just beercheeze soup! (3) Saw Doug Woog at Niagara Falls and didn't push him over (I'm getting soft in my old age). (4) And as always it was great to see the Hockey-L faces that go with such knowledgeable and entertaining contributions. 

Can't wait for Boston, 
Nathan Hampton