Venue Preview: Canada Hockey Place

Name: Canada Hockey Place
Sports: Hockey
Days: Day 12
Location: 800 Griffiths Way, Vancouver
Capacity: 18,810
Opened: 1995
Costs: $160 million CAD New (1995)

In its everyday life its known as GM Place, home to the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL. But for 17 Days in February, GM Place will be rebranded Canada Hockey Place...and become the main Hockey venue for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

Originally built 1995, Canada Hockey Place will only require minor upgrades to become 'Games-Ready'. Canada Hockey Place was going to require capital improvements in the range of $10-$15 million dollars in order to upgrade to the wider international ice surface. However, by 2007 this requirement had been dropped by the IIHF, allowing Canada Hockey Place to retain its NHL sized surface, and reap the associated cost-savings.

One interesting fact arising from the hosting of the Olympics at Canada Hockey Place is the obvious eviction of the primary tenant: the Vancouver Canucks.  In order to prep the building, host the tournament, and then return it to its pre-existing condition, VANOC will have control of the building for almost 6 weeks. That means that the Canucks will play their last pre-Olympic home game on January 27th....and won't play at home again until...March 13th....ouch!



Of course, being the hockey nuts that we are, Canada Hockey Place will be the venue that we visit most frequently. For myself, I'll pass through the gates 8 times during the games:

• Women's - Canada v. Slovakia
• Men's - USA v. Switzerland
• Men's - Canada v. Norway
• Men's - USA v. Norway
• Men's - Canada v. Switzerland
• Men's - Russia v. Czech Republic
• Men's - Canada v. USA
• Women's - Gold Medal Game

This will of course allow me the chance to become pretty familiar with the place by the time its all said and done. However, there are two seating assignments that I'm looking to most. First, the Russia - Czech game, we have upgraded our location a few times, to the point where I'm now going to be directly on the red line, 7 rows behind the team benchs. Pretty much the best seats in the house.

The second assignment I really like is for the Women's Gold Medal Game...when Pam and I are in the 4th row of the upper deck, right behind one of the nets. This might sound like a crappy location, but I'm pretty sure we're at the end where they will raise the flags after the winner is declared. We should have an excellent seat for that, providing a really good photo-op if (ahem...when) Canada wins!

Anyways, as I said, I'm going to have every angle of this building covered during the games. Have a look at all our seat assignments to get an idea what I mean. Most games we're all together, but for a few we're broken up...if you're wondering why there are more than 8 arrows:

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Ticket Summary

Ticket Recap

Pam and Scott
Day 2 – IH002 - Women's Hockey - Canada v. Slovakia
Day 3 - FR002 – Men’s Moguls
Day 4 - SB001 – Men’s SBX
Day 5 - IH007 – Men's Hockey – USA v. Switzerland
Day 5 - IH009 – Men's Hockey – Canada v. Norway
Day 6 - IH013 – Women's Hockey – Canada v. Sweden
Day 7 - IH017 – Men's Hockey – USA v. Norway
Day 7 - IH019 – Men's Hockey – Canada v. Switzerland
Day 8 - CU012 – Women’s Qualification
Day 9 - ST003 – Short Track W1500m/M1000m
Day 10 - IH030 – Men's Hockey – Russia v. Czech Republic
Day 10 - IH031 – Men's Hockey – Canada v. USA
Day 10 - VC008 – Day 10 Victory Ceremony
Day 11 - CU019 – Men’s Qualification
Day 11 - CU020 – Women’s Qualification
Day 12 - BS003 – Women’s Bobsled Qualification
Day 13 - No Events - Snowboarding in Whistler
Day 14 - IH046 – Women’s Gold Medal
Day 15 - CU031 – Women’s Gold Medal
Day 16 - SS012 – Team Pursuit Finals
Day 16 - CU033 – Men’s Gold Medal


Ben and Andrea
Day 2 – IH002 - Women's Hockey - Canada v. Slovakia
Day 3 - FR002 – Men’s Moguls
Day 4 - SB001 – Men’s SBX
Day 5 - IH007 – Men's Hockey – USA v. Switzerland
Day 5 - IH009 – Men's Hockey – Canada v. Norway
Day 6 - SB003 – Men’s Halfpipe
Day 7 - IH017 – Men's Hockey – USA v. Norway
Day 7 - IH019 – Men's Hockey – Canada v. Switzerland
Day 8 - CU012 – Women’s Qualification
Day 9 - ST003 – Short Track W1500m/M1000m
Day 10 - IH030 – Men's Hockey – Russia v. Czech Republic
Day 10 - IH031 – Men's Hockey – Canada v. USA
Day 10 - VC008 – Day 10 Victory Ceremony
Day 11 - FR005 – Men’s Aerials

Jen and Beth
Day 10 - VC008 – Day 10 Victory Ceremony
Day 11 - CU019 – Men’s Qualification
Day 11 - CU020 – Women’s Qualification
Day 12 - BS003 – Women’s Bobsled Qualification*
Day 13 - No Events - Snowboarding in Whistler
Day 14 - IH046 – Women’s Gold Medal
Day 15 - CU031 – Women’s Gold Medal
Day 16 - SB006 – Men’s PGS
Day 16 - FS010 – Figure Skating Gala

Seat Assignments





Ticketing Schedule

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Seat Assignment!

So the day has finally arrived…..our seats have been assigned! The presentation below gives an overview of where all our tickets have landed.



The presentation includes the tickets we picked up for Holly/Kingston, and we're still waiting on the ticket placements for the ones we got from 'other' sources (Stubhub, Ms. Kauk)

The biggest thing we’ve noticed is how much our ‘A’ level tickets have been pushed to the end of the rink. Almost without fail, these are either right behind the net, or at best, in the corner. I suppose it was to be expected, sponsors and media getting all the ‘prime’ seats, but it’s still a little annoying that the best seats didn’t seem to make it to the public.

Now that we have our assigned places, we can better establish which tickets we’re going to sell for events where we have the choice. I think in general we’re going to sell the better seats, and keep the crappier ones. For example, for the USA-NOR and USA-SWI games, we’ll sell the lower bowl tickets behind the net, and sit in the upper bowl in the corner. Although we’re giving up the better seats, we’re also gonna be able to sell them for more.

I think overall, our ‘best’ assignment was for the Long Track Team Pursuit Finals at the Richmond Olympic Oval, where Pam and I have the 4th row, in between turns 1 and 2. However, since there is an aisle near our seats, that’s actually the 2nd row. Should be right on top of the action!

Updated as tickets change...

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Building Momentum

The announcements and unveilings have been picking up steam a little bit over the past week, as we get closer to the 100 Days To Go Mark. Ticket Sales, Volunteer Uniforms and Transportation Plans have all come out in the last 48 hours. The one I wanted to talk about briefly however is the ‘Live City’ events announced by the City of Vancouver.

The city announced that there will be two ‘live’ celebration sites during the games: one in Yaletown at David Lam Park, and one downtown at the corner of Georgia and Beatty……..Of course, the corner of Georgia and Beatty is about 50 meters from our hotel!

Artist Rendering of the Downtown 'Live City' Site

Included at the downtown site will be a 40’ TV screen, booze, and the Canada Pavilion. Its gonna be very sweet to have that so close to our hotel…..just so long as we can get at least the semblance of some sleep.

Up Next
Coming up next are three of the big ones:
Today: Unveiling of the Medals
Week from Today: Lighting of the Flame
Sometime in the next week or so: Seat Assignment

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Seat Assignment: Pre-Game

Received an email from VANOC yesterday asking us to confirm out delivery addresses for our tickets. They should be coming around Christmas; late-December to early-January.

More importantly however, I took the opportunity to ask VANOC about when the seat assignment process would be completed. The email I got back said that they should be posted to our ticketing account in early-to-mid October….so I’m obviously looking forward to that now!

Once we find out where our seats our, it’ll be time to talk about what we’re gonna do with our extras! Hopefully VANOC opens their ‘official ticket market’ at the same time.

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Phase II End

Got an e-mail from VANOC yesterday stating that they'd be closing down Phase II Ticket Sales on Friday (July 31st). That means of course that they're going to be doing the Seat Assignment over the next month of so.

Surprisingly, I think my biggest worry is about having seats that are 'Too Good'. We splurged on a number of events, picking up 'A' level seating, especially Hockey games. My issue is that at hockey games I don't like being in probably the first 10 rows or so....you get no perspective on what is going on. Now, because those would be the really high-falutin' seats, hopefully thats where they're sticking they are putting the 'Olympic Family'.

Either way, I'm really hoping for a bit of luck on this one, hopefully we can get some pretty bitching seats.

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