What if you were told there is a place where 4,102 equals
15,004. On Friday March 27, my friend and I travelled to Brandon, Manitoba to
watch the Brandon Wheat Kings game at the Keystone Centre. It was the second
game of the Western Hockey League playoffs, and the Wheat Kings won 8 – 1.
The arena’s seating is set up in a single level horseshoe
with a concourse that allows patrons to view the action from anywhere. Taking a
walk around the rink, which took me about ten minutes, you pass beer stands
offering cold Coors Light and Canadian draught beer, vendors selling normal
rink food; hot dogs, burgers, and popcorn, and families.
Attending a Wheat Kings playoff game costs $22 per person,
which is roughly 11 times cheaper than what it will cost a fan to sit in a seat
that touches the back wall of the MTS Centre, $250.50 according to jets.nhl.com,
if they make the playoffs. The food is
cheaper and more importantly, for many hockey fans, so is the beer.
The atmosphere of the Keystone Centre was as loud and
enthusiastic as you would expect attending a Jets game. Having attending both
arenas for hockey games, the crowd on hand, which was a quarter of the size of MTS
Centre, was on par with a sold-out Jets home game in terms of how loud it felt.
The Wheat Kings fans cheer their team on with a “Go Wheaties
Go” chant when they feel their team needs a little boost or to add extra
pressure when the home team has the visiting team on the ropes at their end.
The excited crowd cheered as loud when the home team made the score 6 – 0 as
they did when they opened up the scoring 36 seconds into the game.
A word of caution though, standing at the top of the
stairway is not allowed, and you will be, politely, asked to move, even if you
are cheering for the home squad.
The crowd ranged from party going twentysomethings pounding back
several pints in the concourse, to families sitting in their seats with sodas
and popcorn, to old timers, both seated and standing, who have been attending
games since they were, “just a little kid” that by my observations was probably
70 years ago. It was a wide assortment of people, all of whom you could spark
up a conversation with, given a break in play.
However, if you feel the urge to step away from the large
crowds, the Coors Light Hockey House, located in the 880 CKLQ Hall, offers
fans, of legal age, a chance to watch the game on a large projector screen
while sitting in comfy chairs and being served by Coors Light girls. There were
probably 30 people taking advantage of this amenity when we briefly popped in
to see what it had to offer, we chose to watch the game live.
No matter who takes in a game at the Keystone Centre,
whether you are with a couple of your buddies, a family, or someone who has
been going for the past 70 years, the experience is affordable, friendly, and
fun.
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