Someone post the picture of the Target Center Ice on Gopher Puck Live. The Gophers and Badger will be playing in the Target Center this weekend. A screw up of epic proportions has moved the game to downtown Minneapolis, while there have been a few reports of bad ice, that could play into the Gophers favor against the speedy Badgers, I don’t think all is lost nor is this a complete buzz kill. In the past when attending the Final Five when it was at the Target Center I still have very fond memories of the Target Center. The Sioux winning the Final Five against the Badgers in 2000 was a blast.
While it’s defiantly not the Xcel Energy Center, there were a lot off good bars and restaurants with in walking distance of the Target Center. My favorite was Gluek’s restaurant and bar, Gluek’s also has one of the best beers, the Gluek’s Dark was my favorite.
If you don't mind spending an arm and a leg the Hard Rock Café right across the street from the Target Center and is a good place to eat and enjoy a beer. I ate there two years ago during the Final Five and it cost me about 25.00 for a beer and supper.
Forgive the Minnesota Gophers for feeling like guests in their hometown this weekend against interstate hockey rival Wisconsin.
The esoteric sport of synchronized skating is staging its national championships at Mariucci Arena, forcing the Gophers to prepare for the Badgers in a season-ending series that will determine Minnesota's first-round playoff opponent.
Communication became muddled in the bureaucratic swamp between the athletics department and arena officials, who booked the U.S. Figure Skating event for March 3-6 believing this weekend's Badgers-Gophers series was in Madison, Wis.
A mad scramble to rebook garnered stern opposition from U.S. Figure Skating and brought lawyers into the picture, producing a buyout price deemed too expensive to swallow, according to Mariucci manager Craig Flor.
With Ridder Arena hosting the Western Collegiate Hockey Association women's final and the Xcel Energy Center booked for high school wrestling, the Gophers were caught in the headlights until Target Center officials stepped into the breach.
The Timberwolves are on the road this week, which allowed the downtown Minneapolis arena to host its first hockey games in 10 years.
Tonight's match is the first collegiate game there since March 18, 2000, when North Dakota beat Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Five title game.
[Pioneer Press]
if i didn't have to work early tomorrow morning, i'd probably go to this game.
ReplyDeletethe target center certainly isn't ideal for hockey, or anything else for that matter, but it would make for a fun night because of all the pre-game bar and restaurant choices.
At first when the Final Five was moved from Target to Xcel Center I was upset because the dining and drinking facilities were un matched. The Xcel is a great rink but they don't have lot of good bars. Reids is good but they don't have very much room to accomidate big crowds. I like the Irish Bars down by the Xcel but they are the same small and crowded.
ReplyDeleteTarget Center (before it even had a name) was designed and built for NHL hockey as well as basketball and other events. Met Center was imploded because genius Gary Bettmann felt that no NHL team could move to the Twin Cities if there were two arenas. Even then, the new owner of the Winnipeg Jets franchise couldn't make the numbers add up so the Jets zoomed off to Phoenix where they've been an exercise in impending bankruptcy ever since.
ReplyDeletePhysically, the rink at Target Center raises up from below floor level 5 feet on 200 odd computer-controlled screw jacks. It was state of the art when it opened. Unless there's been some mechanical failure in the interim, there's nothing wrong with the rink at all. Too bad it doesn't get used more often. In fact, why wasn't the figure skating deal done there? The T-wolves could have moved to some high school gym for a game or so.
I'm going to wander over to the arena just before game time and see if I can get a cheap ticket on the street. And if it isn't cheap, I'll go watch a high school or junior game.
I'm told that Target Center sort of muffles the crowd noise and that it made for a sleepy atmosphere Wednesday for some sectional h.s. games. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteyeah, i've been to basketball games and concerts at the target center. the acoustics are horrible, the upper deck feels like you're watching the game from the moon, and many of the seats in the lower decks have obstructed views. it was poorly designed. as opposed to the x where there isn't a bad seat in the house and the sound is about perfect.
ReplyDeleteI don't know I didn't mind the Target Center. Xcel is better, but I don't see why hockey can't be played at the Target Center?
ReplyDeleteThe Target Center was built for NBA basketball, not WCHA/NHL/HS hockey. I was there on Wednesday night for the section 2AA and 6AA HS titles, and there are some awful, awful seats in that building. Not only that, the sightlines to watch hockey are terrible too. Last season the section 2AA and 6AA title games were at Mariucci and that was a clusterfu** of epic proportions. Four huge high schools and 10,000 seats + standing room was not enough, that's why they had to have it the Target Center. There was more fans there on Wednesday night for HS hockey than there is for 90% of the Timberwolves games. Goon is right though, the bars/restaurants around the Target Center are better than in St Paul, but nothing beats the Xcel Energy Center for hockey period.
ReplyDeleteTarget Center: Wednesday night: HS Sectionals: the two games were at Target Center, and so was I, because the Mariucci figure skating deal screwed the high school scheduling too. But what is even more confusing is the girls tournament was held at the X instead of Ridder, which was suppose to show off girls hockey! Apparently, not good enough! What a bad mistake the gophers made by not having all those high school kids come on campus to play the high school tournaments. And worse....the U of MN rejected the proposal to have high school FB games played at the TCF. That has to be a mistake, if you are a recruiter for the UMn.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the ice was all messed up at Target Center, a problem the whole game. The Badgers played just well enough to win, showing a lack of intensity, especially between the blue lines. They're going to have to step it up a notch if they want to get to the final four.
ReplyDelete