2007 March 23 | Amateur Geek

Archive for March 23rd, 2007

Mar

Filed Under (Canucks, Vancouver, outings, ramblings) by Flash on 23-03-2007

My dad and I attended the Canucks game Wednesday night, and probably saw the best game we have ever seen live. We do not get to go that often, living in Abbotsford and being working class being the primary reasons. When I was young, we would go about once a year when my dad, a bar manager at the time, would get tickets from the beer reps. While my family is better off now, the price of a night of hockey has risen enough to limit us to a game every year or two.

For St. Patrick’s Day, my father went to his local Eagle Aeire for a Irish stew dinner. Apparently it was nothing special, but it only cost $8 and it included the chance to win two Canucks tickets. I think most of the other Eagles were upset when my dad won, as their plan should they have won was to sell the tickets. I therefore think random chance did choose the right person to win, as he knew the proper thing to do with the tickets, which was to take me to the game!

We left early so that we could enjoy dinner in Vancouver, and were glad we did when it took us over 2 hours to get downtown. There was no particular problem, this was just heavy traffic; but it makes me glad I don’t work in Vancouver anymore if this was the the counter commute!

After some food and drinks at the Library Square pub, we headed down to GM Place. Our seats were in the top row of the lower level on the end that would be Nashville’s net for two thirds of the game. The Canucks came out skating hard and fast, and an initial shot that the Predators got on Roberto Luongo began to fade into memory as shot after shot was racked up by the Canucks. Nashville goalie Tomas Vokoun played well, but once the shots were 10 to 1 in favour of Vancouver, you knew that he would not be able to block every one of them. Sure enough, the 11th shot gave Jan Bulis the first goal of the game, and the crowd roared their appreciation.

The first period continued at the same pace, with the Canucks easily dominating the team with the best record in the league. The Predators took several penalties, and the Canucks continued to take shot after shot on the net. At the end of the period the Canucks lead 2 to 0, with Tommi Santala scoring the second goal.

The Predators must have been yelled at between periods, because they did skate harder in the second period and out shot the Canucks, but they were still slightly outplayed and the score held. In the third period the Canucks once again dominated the period as they had the first, though the shots were more even this time as they protected their lead and Luongo’s shutout.

The first period score of 2-0 held to the end of the game, but it did not lack excitement throughout. Vokoun did play a good game, but simply could not withstand the barrage of shots that the Canucks were able to direct at him. Vancouver’s mediocre power play was evident, but so was their stellar penalty kill. The first star of the game was given to Luongo, I believe both due to the shutout and because he is the fan favorite; but in reality, while he did play well, a lot of the credit belongs to the rest of the team as they kept him from having to face very many shots at all.

Overall, this counts as the best game I have attended with or without my father as we got to see a Canucks team on top of their game dominate against a top team. I’ve always been proud to be a Canucks fan, as I support them through the highs and lows, and thus perhaps feel a bit more justified to call them “my” team when they are doing well as opposed to the bandwagon jumpers. However, there are obviously becoming a lot more like me, as they announced that this was the 184th consecutive sellout. We all got what we came for Wednesday night.

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Mar

Review - Library Square Public House

Filed Under (Vancouver, food, outings, ramblings, restaurant, review) by Flash on 23-03-2007

When my dad, Karin and I had been in Vancouver for the Barenaked Ladies concert last month, we did not have much choice for food and drinks near the concert. When attending events at GM Place or BC Place, we normally park at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library, as it is close, covered, patrolled and not too expensive. We did have an excellent dinner that night at the Kingston Taphouse, but then wanted to stop elsewhere for a drink on the way to the concert. We ended up stopping at Moxie’s Bar next to the Shark Club, and were unimpressed with both the bar and the three lagers we ordered that certainly seemed to be ales. It seemed the few choices in the area were all largely poor choices.

Last week Karin and I were in town for my dental implants color matching and we had noticed when driving by that the restaurant on the ground floor level of the tower beside the library seemed to have been replaced with a pub. So Wednesday night, when my dad and I had parked under the new pub on our way to the Canucks vs Predators game, it did not take too much arm twisting to convince my dad to try it.

The Library Square Public House is in the ground floor of the small tower in the northeast corner of the block, directly across the street from the main post office. It is a large bar that is simply decorated but comfortable. It was quite packed, both with people on their way to the game, those planning to watch it at the bar, and “suits” having an after work drink before heading home. Because of the crowd, we could not get a seat, but rather ended up standing at the DJ’s area between the bar and kitchen. Despite the crowd, the beer was nice and cold and a waitress was attentive of us throughout our stay. This was pleasant, as I am used to establishments with half the crowd not being able to keep the beer cold due to the pace they are pouring it and not being able to get timely service.

Due to traffic on the way to the game, we did not have the time to find a meal elsewhere as we had originally planned, and so we took up the waitresses offer of menus. We did not have anywhere to place proper meals, so we ordered a plate of chicken wings (it was Wings Wednesday, and a plate of about 20 or more was $5.00) and a order of popcorn shrimp. From our vantage point we could see that the kitchen was very busy, but our food arrived quickly. They set our food out right on top of the plywood cover over the DJ’s sound board, and we ate our fill. The food was quite good, and I will definitely return for a proper meal.

After the Canuck’s win, we stopped again for one beer on our way back to the car. The bar was now less crowded and the DJ was playing tunes. We were able to appreciate the good sound system that pumped out the music, but still allowed you to talk to the person beside you.

I was quite impressed with the Library Square Pub, and now have a new favorite place for the area. An excellent route to a game or concert if one had time would be a stop at both the Kingston Taphouse and Library Square.