This past week, I had the privilege of attending the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-off as a fan. The hockey was great, and the venue for hockey was so unique, I wanted to talk about it with all of you.
Hockey can be played practically anywhere, at least where the climate permits, if you’re talking outdoors.
As a Midwesterner myself, I had the privilege to travel up to Milwaukee for the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-off, featuring three of the top twelve teams in America, including Wisconsin, Western Michigan, and Boston College, alongside unranked Lake Superior State.
Hosting this event in a fairly newer, basketball-prioritized Fiserv Forum came with its pros and cons. Getting to experience it in person, I wanted to share my thoughts in a not-so-usual article.
The PROS:
The Fiserv Forum is a newer building, opened in 2018. The overall building was clean, well-kept, and overall a very aesthetic venue. There were practically no areas you could point out and observe as unorganized or grubby. It is an NBA facility with professional-level keeping by its staff, one of the nicer venues I’ve been at.
The lower bowl was the only thing open to the public, which you’d think would be a bad thing… I guess not. The lower, more compact atmosphere was great for a crowd of 7,002. Wisconsin fans packed Milwaukee and brought traditions with them, and noise.
Arriving and departing at a big basketball venue like this was very easy. Parking was very informative ahead of time, and leaving after the end of the Wisconsin game with the rest of the crowd did not take a ridiculous amount of time, since the venue is often used to more than double the attendance at this event.
The CONS:
Some views were not built for this venue. At the beginning of the Wisconsin-Western Michigan game, I was sitting behind the corner, but unusually high up for that type of view, since some seating had to be moved around. You could not see the near corner boards from where I was, particularly well, which made watching board battles on that side a little tough.
Paralleling that point, the seating situation was bizarre. Considering it is a basketball-prioritized venue, the staff had to make sure specific seats were moved up in order to make room for the ice and what comes with it. The ice rink placed here at Fiserv Forum, like many other rinks, is the regulation 200 feet by 85 feet. A routine basketball court is 94 feet by 50 feet, so put that into reference. Therefore, select seats were moved up and just looked flat out awkward, as you can see below.
Overall, there are flaws to hosting a hockey game somewhere where the dimensions are meant to be different. With that said, there should be a demand for more of these. The attendance was great, and to be frank, you can use these types of events as a test for professional teams to see if cities like Milwaukee and others deserve promotions in their respective leagues. On top of that, it would be a cool concept to host these types of events in cities where hockey is practically nonexistent, perhaps even for universities and leagues to test the waters.