Penguins Lose On Opening Night at the New Console Energy Center

I, much like the thousands of other Pens fans, was super excited about heading down to the CEC for the opening of the regular season.  The night had all the elements of a huge experience.  There was the first meaningful game at the new building, the anticipation of a great season, the prospect of watching  the new players and the fact that they were playing the hated Philadelphia Flyers.  This night had it all.

I was so excited to see which Penguin would be the one to light the lamp for the very first time in the CEC.  This was such a big event, it had to be a Pen that would do it.  Much to my Huge disappoitment, Daniel f’in Briere was the first to score.  That was a major let down.  Unfortunately, the night didn’t get much better as the game proceeded. The Pens went on to lose in a lackluster performance on a night that they should have been as fired up as they could have been.

Now, a few comments on the new facility.  Part of my excitement was generated by the prospects of seeing a real game in the new, supposedly, better arena.  I have to say, it is a beautiful building, but overall I had some major concerns about the how things went in this new state-of-the art building.  Let me first state that much of the the problem may be due to the fact that it was the first game and fans and staff both will have to settle in an refine things.  The first thing was the whole getting into the building thing.  Many of you remember the line to get in the Igloo at the lower gate.  It could be lengthy.  You could, however, walk to one of the many other gates and eliminate the wait.  The wait to get into the American Eagle gate was horrible.  It was like being in the middle of a slow moving cattle drive.  The second thing I notice was that the concourse was a huge clusterf***.  I had high hopes that traffic would move more efficiently in this new building than it did in the Igloo.  It was most likely worse.  Third, the bathrooms were a nightmare.  For those of us who partake in the consumption of adult beverages, that is a problem.  I thought with the easier access and abundance of facilities, the lines may be less in the new building……not so much.  The same goes for the concessions.  One other thing I noticed was the delay in getting the fans game information such as goal scoring details or penalties.  It took a long time for them to get the information on the Jumbo-tron and to announce it over the PA.

Now, I am going to withhold final judgement for a while, but these are a few things I found disappointing last night.  (Aside from the game itself)

Still looking forward to the next game.