Brothers' Trip 2010

This weekend was my The Semi-Annual Brothers' Hockey Trip 2010. This is when my brothers and I take a trip to Minneapolis or Chicago to take in an NHL hockey game and experience some general debauchery. This year was the Minnesota Wild vs the Dallas Stars. Here is a quick overview and some useless stats of this year.

The Stars have a special place in our hearts after having the Iowa Stars AHL team in Des Moines for three years. We got to see a lot of old I-Stars players and got to see Mike Modano's (probably) last NHL game. A fun trip had by all (I think).  Participants - Me, Kelly, Holly, Ryan, Hedda, Sean.

Useless Stats:

• Mistaken Hotels - 2
• Bands - 3
• Good Bands - 1.5
• High-Fives given to random strangers - hundreds
• Strangers happy to give high-fives - 3
• Restaurants that were featured on Food Network - 1
• Restaurants that were disappointing - 2
• Steaks that were not as ordered - 2
• Times the GPS unit had to "Recalculate" - approx 30
• Zombieland watched - 1.5
• Cadbury Eggs purchased - 48
• Free games at pinball - 3
• Hockey Goals - 7
• Beers drank - many
• Mike Modano crying - 2
• Mini-Corn Dogs eaten -12
• Crackheads given hugs - 0
• Vomit - almost 1
• Bowling Balls the lane next to us had - 14
• Total Hours Slept Fri & Sat Nights - 4ish
• Crazy Ladies trying to dig cigarette butts out of the buttcan - 1

The trip started with the drive up to Minneapolis and then meeting to eat at the Green Mill restaurant.  I'd never heard of it but Kelly & Holly had eaten there before and thought it was really good...plus it was close to the hotel.  It was mediocre...it had potential but it didn't execute well.  Out of ribeye steaks on a Friday night at 7pm.  The New York strip offered in it's place overcooked.  Disappointing nachos.  Slow service.  It all added up to be a disappointing meal.

We decided to go bowling after and that turned out to be a pretty decent time.  Memory Lanes had a stage set up on the middle lanes for live music.  The first band was female drummer and male guitarist/singer.  All I could think of was how awesome the White Stripes were at this combo.  This band was not the White Stripes.  They were punk/thrash stuff, which although I loved when I was young...I don't have much of a stomach for anymore.  I can't call them bad because I had cassettes and cassettes of this stuff when I was in junior and senior high.  It is just not very appealing to me anymore.  Maybe I am not as angry, maybe my tastes have just matured.  I did enjoy their cover of Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name...but that was probably more due to the fact that I like the song than their performance.  The next two bands were decent, some rock with a little bit of horns.  Nothing amazing, but good background for bowling.  I bowled both horrible and decent.  Afterwards, we played a little pinball in the games rooms while Hedda decided to start giving everyone around her high-fives...much to their annoyance.

Saturday started with watching Zombieland...which is a great way to begin any day in my book.  Then we headed to the stupid mall (mall's tagline should be - just like your mall but stupider and full of idiots).  We had meant to play a round of mini-golf but it was packed and had a long line by the time we got there.  We then headed to Psycho Suzi's for dinner.  We had been interested in Psycho Suzi's since it was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network.  It was decent but I had hoped for a little more.  I enjoyed the red rockets (mini-corn dogs) but was highly disappointed in the onion rings.  I loved the names for all the foods - red rockets, brown sugar babies, chicken gremlins, etc... but the food ended up a little drab and very greasy.  Usually, I am a big fan of grease, but this was a little too much for me.  But then I have to remember that I saw the place featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives so really how much could I actually expect?

Pre-Game Warm Up...Our Seats were better than this looks. 
Stupid phone camera.

Saturday Night we went to the hockey game.  Good game...Dallas was down early but battled back to tie it a couple times, sending the game into overtime and finally a shootout.  Dallas won.  It was the final game of the regular season and probably the final game in the career of Mike Modano.  Modano started his NHL career as a Minnesota North Star and played in Minneapolis for 5 years until the team was moved to Dallas.  It was good to see that the Minnesota fans still like and respect Modano.  He received a video tribute, and several standing ovations by which you could tell he was very touched emotionally.  It was a great night and a good finish to his career.  Good luck Mike!

Sunday was just the drive home...which was harder than it should have been since everyone was tired due to lack of sleep and the wind started blowing against up the entire trip...but we all made it home to take naps.  I did give in and buy a box of 48 Cadbury Eggs for my enjoyment. Maybe pictures of me and the bros later...I didn't have a camera, so I don't have copies at the moment.