NHL

The 5 Rules Nobody Tells You Before NHL Games

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Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Seeing a hockey game live is one of life’s great pleasures. Whether you’ve got great Anaheim Ducks tickets or finally fulfilled your lifelong dream of snagging NHL tickets for all of the Original Six stadiums, you know you’re going to have a great time. From center ice Chicago Blackhawks tickets at the United Center to Boston Bruins tickets at the TD Garden, there’s just nothing like hearing the crowd roar in person. If you’ve never had been to a game before, you may not know how to be a great fan at the game, so here are the five rules that nobody tells you before NHL games:

1. Keep your glass pounding to a minimum.
Congratulations! You got amazing seats right up against the glass! That doesn’t give you the right to stand up and pound the glass EVERY SINGLE TIME there’s a scuffle in front of you. Great tickets are like being hockey Spiderman: they come with great responsibility. Keep in mind that there are a ton of people behind you who won’t be able to see every time you stand up and start pounding. Don’t be like the guy texting in the front row of the movie theater who ruins the show for everyone else.

2. Fewer goals means more tension.
Hockey is the antithesis of basketball. While your NBA tickets guarantee you a high-scoring affair every time, the NHL is more of a chess match. That little black cylinder only sees the back of the net a few times each game and sometimes not at all. As a result, you’ve got to follow the action as closely as a Shonda Rhimes drama. Once that puck finds the net, though, jump out of your seat and celebrate because you never know when you’ll get to do it again.

3. Doing “The Wave” is unacceptable.
This should be a rule in every sport, but hockey is an especially bad place to participate in “The Wave” (where in a section stands and sits at the same time to look like a human wave). Look, an NHL hockey puck is tiny. Following it is hard enough without having to worry about when it’s your turn to stand up and sit down. Just enjoy the game, cheer your team loudly, and dance along to the goal-scoring song when your favorite player scores a goal. Keep “The Wave” at the beach.

4. Make sure your superstitions don’t impact other fans.
Superstition is an important part of hockey. If you don’t grow a playoff beard, your team will most certainly lose. There’s an issue, however, when your superstition imposes on your fellow fans. Case in point: the guy who keeps wearing the same hockey sweater without washing it. He’s been wearing his LA Kings jersey ever since they won the Cup last year at the Staples Center. It stinks. He’s not taking it off though, because he firmly believes that his Kings tickets will become worthless if it ever sees a washing machine again. Sorry, dude. That’s not how it works. It’s time to do laundry. Don’t be that guy.

5. Get your business done at intermission.
Out of all of the four major professional sports leagues in America, hockey has the fewest breaks. Major League Baseball has eight breaks between innings. Your standard NFL and NBA games get you three breaks a game. Those NHL tickets, though? They only get you two intermissions and those come after twenty-minute periods. Make sure you take advantage of the time off and get your snacks and bathroom breaks in when you can.

There’s one more rule most NHL fans don’t know: You don’t have to pay box office price for your NHL tickets. Right now, you can save up to 60% below box office price with ScoreBig.com, where you save on every ticket you buy.

By Jason Kessler

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