My London report; better late than never.

Three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking a vacation to Europe with one of my destinations being the O2 arena for the Anaheim Ducks’ season opener against the Los Angeles Kings. Although I had hoped to have posted this while it was still fresh in my mind, getting back to reality and work after a week away took up the majority of my time lately. As they say, better late then never though I guess.

While I await my friend Steve to send me the photos and videos from our trip and the game to put up on the site, words will have to do for now.

We arrived in London after two days of hard partying in Amsterdam and little sleep. We hopped a train to Victoria station and discovered the wonderful (note: sarcasm) exchange rate of the USD to British Pound. Arriving at Victoria, we got some information on a decent hotel in the area and attempted to find it. Lugging our suitcases with us, we wandered in circles as people had never heard of it. Eventually, we found it a much further walk than anticipated and checked in.

We decided to head out right away to see the city. We quickly mastered the “Tubes” (subway system) to get around. There was a LOT of walking involved and by the time 3-4pm hit, we had probably walked all over London and back. We got ready to head to the O2 arena and the game. I had never seen the Ducks live before, despite being a long-time fan. I was excited.

Arriving at our destination, I was impressed at the O2 arena complex. A state-of-the-art structure, it housed many restaurants, clubs and shopping. We grabbed a few beers each and made the way to our seats. My first though was, despite being in the nose-bleed section, I could see the ice perfectly clear. No obstructions and the view was great. Better than quite a few North American arenas I have been in. The crowd was a giant mass of every hockey jersey every produced. From little-known European teams, to every NHL team’s vintage jerseys, fans seemed to be in attendance from everywhere. Not because they were Ducks or Kings fans, but because they were hockey fans.

The game got delayed a good 15 minutes due to lighting problems but eventually got underway. “God Save the Queen” and the American national anthem were played and the players were out and ready to go. The Ducks started off very slow, much to my disappointment. Perhaps they hit one pub too many during their week in London.

Every intermission brought more beer and the crowd riled up, begging for fights. We almost had a few Brits who were sitting beside us really get into it with some visiting Slovakians. The Ducks lost,4-1, as you know by now but it was still a great time and experience. I’d definitely say the NHL achieved their objective with the NHL Premiere initiative.

We headed downstairs to grab some food and drinks and pondered where might be the best bet to catch the players after-party. In the end though, we were so exhausted from our touring that we barely made it back to our hotel and passed out around 10pm. In retrospect, the rest was a good move as we flew the next morning out to Munich, Germany for the final nights of Octoberfest.

On a final note, I have been lagging with updating the blog but now that things are back on track following my vacation, I’ll try and be more on top of things.