Inside the Loud House
Fansided

My First Experience This Week With Syracuse Crunch Hockey

By Paul A. Esden Jr.

Feb 28, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; A detailed view of hockey sticks and the puck in a face-off during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Pittsburgh Penguins at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeat the Penguins 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 28, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; A detailed view of hockey sticks and the puck in a face-off during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Pittsburgh Penguins at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeat the Penguins 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Here’s my diary of my first trip to the War Memorial for Syracuse Crunch hockey. Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

I’m going to be perfectly honest, I’m not the biggest hockey fan on planet Earth. Blame my parents if you’d like for not exposing me to Syracuse Crunch hockey.

I moved to the Syracuse area in 2008. Prior to that my sole experience with the game was my grandfather who lives in Ohio. On the back of a 24-pack of Pepsi, there was a free voucher to see the Columbus Blue Jackets.

I had no idea who this team was, but I thought that if you could get four tickets for free, they must not be that great. Unfortunately I was right.

There first .500 season of the 21st century didn’t happen until 2008. So it was pretty special to see them this season as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

But I was a kid when I saw the Blue Jackets.

Now as a freshly 24-year old adult, working in the sports media business, circumstance led me to

More from Inside the Loud House

the War Memorial Wednesday night. For those of you who don’t know, recently I moved media companies. I was working for the mothership ESPN for the last two years before moving over to my new home, The Score 1260.

I’ve been at my new job for the last couple weeks and I’ve been working with Mike Lindsley of the In The Cell With ML show. So let me set the stage, I was supposed to work Wednesday night and do the Syracuse Chiefs game.

Well as luck would have it the game got postponed, which freed up the rest of my night. So ML texted me if I wanted to go and next thing you know I was headed to the War Memorial.

I’ve only been to one hockey game up until this point in my life and I really didn’t know much about anything to be honest.

War Memorial thoughts…

I’ve heard in the media a lot about the War Memorial and all the deficiencies that it possesses, but I enjoyed the rustic look of the monument that held us in. It had a special honest and personable raw arena. As soon as I walked into the doors, the blast of the Crunch faithful hit me right in the face.

The thousands of screaming hockey fans cheering a Crunch goal (I arrived late because I parked at wrong garage) was jaw dropping. The music that is blasting throughout the stadium and encouraging the fans to get on their feet and create this unique home-field advantage.

The crowd was hostile, volatile, and passionate. It was riveting to take in the alcoholic beverages to simmer down the nerves while taking in the whole experience.

I got to meet some great people, create some lasting memories, and enjoy a sport I had mostly ignored for my life. While I’ll always be a football guy at heart, the moral of this story is always broaden your horizons.

Next: Roundtable: Is the Media Hurting Young Athletes, Tyler Lydon’s Future?

How much better does it get? My first AHL hockey experience was seeing the Crunch win Game 3 in a pivotal Eastern Conference Finals playoff game. Now that I’ve gone to my first Crunch game and having my proverbial cherry popped, I’m ready for some more Crunch hockey!

Home/Syracuse Orange