Royalty enjoys long awaited return to St. Paul for Wild hockey!

Opening Face Off at Xcel Energy Center 

Late Friday morning the King and I departed NYC from LaGuardia airport on American Airlines. We arrived in the Twin Cities early in the afternoon as we gained an hour since their in the central time zone.
We proceeded to rent a car from Alamo for the weekend. We got an upgrade since they didn't have any more mid size cars available so they gave us a full size car instead. We got a Chevy Impala. I've rented a number of those in the past so I was used to the controls.

After we left the car rental, we proceeded to the St. Paul area since we were going to see the Minnesota Wild play the NJ Devils that night.

Since we were hungry and we had some extra spare time, we decided to go to a familiar place to see to eat. I'm talking about Shamrock's. We were introduced to this place the last time when we went to Target Field in July 2010.

Shamrock's is a local bar and grill. For more details, see the special post under my restaurant reviews section.

After we had another great meal, we headed to the Xcel Energy Center which was only a few miles away. I wouldn't recommend walking there from Shamrock's though. I was told that by Natalie Kaess, who works for the Minnesota Wild and was kind enough to arrange to get the King and I tickets for the game. I spoke to her during the week and I gave her my credit card number and she charged up the tickets for us. An assist goes to Josh Morozowski, my Devils ticket representative who helped by getting one of his co-workers named Chris involved who had meet her in Nashville at a conference recently.

Upon arriving at the arena, I went to will call and I picked up the tickets. When I went inside I went over to the guest services booth located at section 105 where Natalie said she would be working that night. I had the privilege of meeting her and we chatted for a little while. I thanked again for arranging to get us the tickets without a hassle. In addition, she told me about a restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota which was about 15-20 minutes East of St. Paul heading towards Wisconsin.

I'm referring to the Machine Shed. I ate there on my way to Des Moines, Iowa back in September. I'll be talking about this restaurant again in another post. Please stay tuned.

As for Natalie, she was very helpful and if indeed you decide to go to Minnesota to see the Wild play, I'll make sure that I get you in contact with her so she can treat you royally.

As for the game we saw, the Devils struck first early to make it 1-0 but the Wild answered back fast and furiously as they chased future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur after they scored three quick goals just 8:17 into the first period.

The Devils got within one at 3-2 but they blew numerous scoring chances throughout the game as the Wild added an empty net goal late to win the game, 4-2.

Stay tuned for the next installment from this memorable journey.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty makes the most of the long Thanksgiving weekend!

Me on the Zamboni 

After I returned the car I rented at Avis, I took a few buses out to the Nassau Coliseum where I met up with the King and our friend Bryan Gilligan who drove out there.

We saw the Islanders take on their cross river rival the NJ Devils in a mid afternoon tilt on Black Friday.
Apparently the game started too early for the players because goals were few and far between. In matter of fact, there was only one goal scored in this game. The Devils were the team that found the net as they beat the Islanders, 1-0.

After the game, we all went back to Donovan's Pub and we had a nice post game dinner.

Saturday afternoon the King and I went to Newark, NJ to see the rematch of the Islanders and Devils in the back end of their home and home series.

We were joined by my Cousin Andy who wanted to get another sample of royal treatment. He always enjoys our company and this day was no different.

This time he got to see me ride the Zamboni before the game as they resurfaced the ice. I got to do so because I renewed my Devil season tickets early so I was given this special perk. It was really cool being able to take a joy ride around the ice. I would like to personally thank Josh Morozowski who is my ticket representative for arranging to make this happen.

As for the game we saw, this time more goals were scored but the Devils came up short as they lost, 3-2. With 2.1 seconds left, a goal was disallowed because it was directed in by Zach Parise's skate in front of the net.

After the game, the King and I said goodbye to my Cousin Andy who went home and we took a NJ Transit train down to Trenton, NJ to see a minor league hockey game in the ECHL. We saw the Trenton Titans play the Chicago Express.

We saw a good battle as the Titans built a 2-0 lead which they held going into the third period. The Express managed to comeback and they forced an overtime session. Just past the midway point of the overtime, the Titans lit the lamp as they came away with a 3-2 victory.

After the game, we took a NJ Transit train back to NYC.

Sunday the King and I wrapped our busy sports weekend by going to MetLife Stadium where we saw the Jets take on division rival, the Buffalo Bills.

As for the game, it wasn't a pretty one but I was satisfied with the end result as the Jets squeaked by the Bills, 28-24. Luck once again was on their side. As a result, they kept their playoff hopes alive.

After the game, we went home and rested up after running around all weekend.

We had a great time but it did take its toll on our bodies so the needed rest came in handy.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman