Leaving hockey games early? Here’s why you do or don’t (Mailbag)

Do you leave hockey games early?

We asked the question on Monday, established some scenarios where it might be acceptable, and then put the question to you. And your answers provided a clear indication that if you want to enjoy the entire game, you should (a) live near the arena and (b) never, under any circumstances, have children.

After sifting through 75 or so emails to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com, here is a smattering of responses to why you do, or do not, leave the game early:

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Maybe it's because I grew up in a part of Canada where hockey options were limited, and maybe it's because I don't have a car I have to get to or traffic to beat, and maybe it's because I'm a "frugal" person who expects full value out of what they pay for, but I never leave a hockey game early.

I sit there, elbows on knees, stone cold sober in the face of $9 beers, and I watch until the 3 stars skate onto the ice. 

- Ryan "Neo" Andrews

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Thank you for bringing up this issue. I stay. I attend about 1/3 of the Penguins home games/playoff games and a few on the road each year. I didn’t even leave when they got blown out by the Bruins at home in the playoffs a few years ago. The amount I pay does factor in, but I pay the money because I care about the team and its development. 

So I don’t stay because of the money. I spend the money because I want to see the team, not for client entertainment or anything like that. I want to see as much as I can and assess the team and play and lineups etc. myself.  So there it is. 

- Melissa

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I don't leave games early.  I paid for entertainment, I'm getting every moment, good or bad!

I was at the Flyers Penguins 5-OT game with my pregnant wife...We stayed until Keith Primeau's goal at 2:30 a.m. And I had an 8 a.m. final at Penn State in the morning (a three hour drive). No way was I leaving that game! And I witnessed history and Primeau's greatest moment.

The best part is we had nosebleed tickets. When the first OT started we noticed empty seats near where the visitors take the ice. So for the start of the second, we went and sat there. Seats 3 rows from the ice for an epic OT game because fans left early!!! 

(Pens fans left early for the Flyers fan's benefit-oh the irony!)

We arrived at Penn State at 6-6:30-ish, took a 1-hour power nap, went to the 8 a.m. Final.

I almost left early during a Flyers blowout in 1999.. .getting bombed by Ottawa 5-0 and 5 minutes left. A friend drove 3 hours to go with us, and he said "let's go.”

At the top of the steps, there was a huge hit and a line brawl started. We all stopped and watched the end from the tunnel edge.

But I never completely left a game early.

- John Phillips (Let's go Flyers!)

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Part of an Avs season ticket group for all 20 years. Make about 15-20 games a season. Can count on one hand times I've left early, always the same. 8:00 start Avs getting blown out (down 3+ <5 to play), early work thing next day.

But I totally get and don't resent fans that leave early on nights when the team just doesn't show up and plays like crap. When they play like they don't care why should they expect anyone to stick around and watch. 

- John Lee

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When I first started attending hockey games seven or so years ago, I never believed in leaving early. I wanted to be there as long as I possibly could to get everything out of it, pre-skate to the announcement of the 3 Stars and all.

Time passes, get older, you get season tickets, you hate sitting on the LIRR to Penn an hour each way and you hate the exhaustion you feel the next day.

I started season tickets about 4 years ago now and the more I went the more I believed I was entitled to leave early. If a game is close I will of course stay till the end. But if the game seems out of reach sometimes that 9:29 train outta Penn Station gets really tempting. If it's a weekend game or I don't have work the next day I honestly don't care and I'll stay later but if I have to be up at 6 and not getting home till 1130/12 it's not worth it to me.

I go to at least 20 games a year (not including the playoffs) if I wanna go home, I'm going home. Guess I don't party as hard as I used to.

- Leigh Cuomo

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I have two tales to tell, one about the only time I have ever left a game early and one about the reason why, other than an extreme circumstance, I never will.

The one game I have ever left early is an AHL game in my now home of Rochester. We didn't have normal seats, we were on what is called the Party Deck, which is located directly behind one of the nets at ice level. A good friend of my wife asked if we wanted to go since they rented it out and there's no way we could say no, and it allowed us to bring our then 6-month-old daughter without bugging the people in the seats around us since there is space to roam.

One thing we did not realize though is that we were right next to the goal horn. The joy of our home team scoring turned to instant dread as it sent our daughter into a fear induced terror fit. Each and every one of those four goals sent her into an absolute fit with nothing we could do to  console her. So with less than a minute left in what was a 4-3 game and the Hamilton goalie pulled, we headed for the exit. As we were half way to the escalator we could hear the goal horn for the empty netter, but knowing we didn't have to see our daughter’s crying gremlin face again was worth the 58 seconds and empty netter we missed.

That said, because of an earlier in life incident it made it hard for me to leave even that game.

I grew up near Utica, NY, and became a hockey fan going to see AHL games when they had the Devils farm team. It was also a nice bonding experience for my dad and I, although I learned later in life he thought I just wanted to go to games to eat nachos.

After they left town, we got a team in a lower minor league called the Bulldogs. This team was bad, like almost un-watchable. So I'm sitting with my dad at a game and they are getting pounded. It was 6-1 midway through the 3rd, so my eyes start wandering around the arena. I notice an well dressed older couple a few sections over that were not there before and am looking at them for a minute before I realize that I'm looking at Gordie and Colleen Howe (Marty was the team’s coach).

So since I know I'm not missing anything on the ice, I went over and started talking to him. I had him sign my T-shirt, I'm sure I asked him 100 stupid questions because I was trembling and 13 and his hands looked like tree trunks and after abut 5 minutes my dad came over to drag me away and thank Mr. Howe for not punching his spazzy son, plus by this time I had blown his cover and made him known in the arena.

I know we watched the rest of that game but I could not tell you anything about it. I know that I'll never be at a game again no matter how good or bad and have a chance to meet a true legend of the game, but it just left an impression on me: Never leave games ... unless it is causing physical distress to your daughter.

- Aaron Bidwell

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I never, ever, ever left a game early. Not when the Islanders shattered my young dreams of a Pens dynasty. Not with four overtimes. Not losing by seven goals. Never ever…as a kid with comp’d tickets from my father’s business.

Today, as a paying customer…yes, I’ll leave games early. If it’s complete crap; if the players don’t even care anymore; if there’s just no reason to stay. I would not leave early during a win.

Not sure if it’s because I’ve grown up, have other things to do, or what. I do know that if I was attending on a comp’d ticket or something I didn’t pay for, I would still stay. I only leave if it’s a ticket I’ve paid for and am totally responsible for. Why? Who knows. Guess I’m just perverse that way.

Good question though. Maybe we’ll finally get an answer to the completely baffling behavior of leaving a 3-2 game early with your team down by 1 and a power play in the last minute. What on EARTH would you ever leave that game early???

- Sara Petyk

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No matter how poor the score, I don't leave hockey (or any other sport) games early. I'm a member of Ohio University's famed marching band, the Marching 110, and whether it be a basketball or football game, we're usually among the first ones to enter the stadium and the last ones to leave.  I imagine being required to stay for the entirety of a game (whether I want to or not) makes me feel some sort of motivation to stay even if I'm at a game I have the ability to leave; however, I can only think of one or two Ohio football games that have truly disgusted me enough to make me beg for the final seconds to finally tick away. 

I'm a die-hard Columbus fan when it comes to the NHL. I've grown up in the middle of nowhere exactly an hour away from Nationwide Arena, so whenever I make it out to games (which has been much more since my dad moved within 25 minutes) it's usually a bigger affair than just leaving my dorm and walking to an Ohio basketball game. I've never left a game early, no matter how bad some of the scores have ended up against the Jackets' favor. One of the most frustrating incidents was this season versus the Wild, the day before Ryan Johansen was traded to Nashville. The CBJ played rough all night but somehow we pulled close in the final five minutes. 

Like you said, leaving a close game early is asinine.  However, just as soon as things seemed bright, things fell apart (including what I still believe is an "I give up" faceoff on Johansen's half to allow a game-sealing empty net goal in the waning seconds). That was the moment the arena emptied. I was pretty much alone in the upper bowl with my group of friends (save for a few pockets of people in other distant sections) where I booed the Wild players named among the three stars of the night and feverishly applauded the one Jacket named. 

I just endured a painful up and down of emotions and I wasn't totally angry or happy or disappointed or who knows what. 

I've rambled at this point, but yeah, I consider myself among the more radical fans among those who stay till the end every time. Sometimes I don't know why I stay, and sometimes I know damn well that I wanna stay there and yell at my team and the opposing team alike. In the end, no matter how disappointed I may be in my team, I'll still applaud them and urge them to make me proud next time.

Sometimes I hate sports, but man, I love sports. Go Bobcats. Go Jackets.

- Kyle Arnott

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I never left an NHL game early until I had a kid. My son Max and I have attended many games and when he was younger, five, six seven years old, he really had a tough time sitting through entire games. Now that he is nine, this is not the case anymore.

The only exception to this is I will sometimes leave if the game goes into a shootout.  I never liked the shootout in the first place, and being a Devils fan, the shootout has become an exercise in futility for my squad as of late. 

My son has taken his dad's lead, and asks to leave before shootouts as well, so I guess I am having some effect on him!

Other than that I am a long time bitter-ender. I sat through the entire debacle that was Game 6 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals and countless other blowouts. 

- Morgan Doninger

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As a die hard Bruins fan it wasn't easy to watch them lose 9-2 at the Garden a week ago.

Full disclosure, Lucic is my favorite player, so the game was more than just that for me. However, as I watched people leave in droves during the second and third period the only excuse I would consider appropriate would be that some are season ticket holders. If you're seeing your favorite team 10, 20, 30-plus games per year it might be easy to chalk one up to a loss and get a jump on the commute home. For me, this was the first and only game I will likely attend this season, and while I am a true Bruins fan, I'm also a fan of the game of hockey and watching the offense brilliance and ease with which the King disposed of a much weaker eastern conference team was a sign to behold.

I was bummed, but got to see my favorite player. And when all was said and done I saw 11 goals scored in 60 minutes, and while many came at the expense of my beloved black and gold, I wouldn't have left that game a minute early if you paid me.

- John Benedict

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I recently read your article and it echoed so many things that I have always thought.

A buddy and myself have season tickets for the Minnesota Wild and regardless of how good/bad/ugly the game is and lately, we've had some really ugly games; I've never left a game early. I despise people that do personally and that started at a young age when I was playing in high school and college and people would leave early; I hated it. So to the people that want to save an extra 10 minutes by leaving and beating the 'masses' I just don't get it.

They just paid $100 for a ticket, probably a few $10 beers and a hot dog that cost $8, why spend all that money to miss the last few and usually best minutes of the game?

- Ryan Goertzen

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I have never left a sporting event early.

Wait, no, that's not true. I walked out of the Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field on June 9th, 2001 so I could celebrate the Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup in the streets downtown.

Games cost too much money to leave early. I took my family of 5 to an Avs game recently. It was $385 for the tickets (section 379, in the upper deck), a $45 convenience charge, and $15 to park. So I'm already in for $445 before the puck has even dropped. At that rate, I'm paying $7.41 per minute of regulation hockey (the price of a matinee ticket to a movie.)

Leonard Maltin walking out of a movie isn't courageous; I get it, it's his first time walking out. But he sees movies for free. No, actually, he collects a paycheck in exchange for seeing movies. A movie is two hours long with no lines and easy parking access. And if you watch the trailer for a movie, you usually know what you're going to get. That's why I saw Star Wars Episode VII and chose not to see Paul Blart 2.

But you can't just go see the "instant classic" games your team plays; you never know which ones those are going to be. Maybe you'll see 3-on-3 overtime, maybe you'll see a 43 save shutout, maybe you'll see a milestone goal, maybe you'll see a fight, maybe you'll see a 7-1 blowout. Games are unpredictable. But who would choose to spend hundreds of dollars, invest three and a half hours of their night, and draw the line at the last 2 minutes? 

Doesn't anyone enjoy applauding the hometown representatives in the 3 Stars of the Game? And why can't you enjoy seeing Ovechkin or McDavid or Jagr or Pääjärvi have a great game for the away team?

We have the opposite problem of people who leave early - my wife needs a wheelchair.

Pepsi Center never has enough handicapped parking; the "Camry Lot North" handicap section seems to fill up an hour before puck drop even during poorly attended games. So we have to get there more than an hour early just to keep from her bouncing across hundreds of yards of asphalt. After the games, we can't even leave the wheelchair section because the wall-to-wall mobs walking around the concourse don't see her wheelchair, bump into her, cut her off, etc. So we just sit in our seats for 10 minutes and watch the staff pick up trash. Then we go out into the concourse and wait in line with 10-20 other people for another 5-10 minutes (they have 4 elevators to serve sellout crowds of 18,007 plus staff.) So by the time we get out to the parking lot and I load her wheelchair in the trunk, we're essentially the last people to leave, there are hundreds of cars in front of us barely moving, and the handicap section is as far away as possible from the nearest street.

All told, it probably takes us 30-40 minutes from final horn to actually getting on the road. 

We stand to benefit the most from leaving early - it could save us nearly an hour. But we're hockey fans (that's how we met), and we always stay until the joyous or bitter end.

- Billy Gooch

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My dad and I have tickets for about 15 sharks game a year, and we leave early for almost each and every one. The reason? 

We live in San Francisco. The drive from San Fran to San Jose on game days, most of which are during the week can take as long as 90 minutes. After a long day of work, we're generally both exhausted and most Sharks games start at 7:30. If we leave with a few minutes left in a two goal game or half the period in a blowout, it means we can get home at 10-something vs. 11-something. 

Perhaps things would be different if we didn't go to games for a team that was 50 miles or so away from where we lived, but that's the hand we were dealt. 

In my mind, that's a totally legitimate reason for leaving early.

- Alex Hart

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My name is Charles, I live on 8 Mile, on the outside of Detroit, and I am an avid sports fan.

I can count several times in my life I have left sporting events early, mostly Red Wings, being as that is the team I pay to see the most often. I am a partial season ticket holder for my favorite club, as there are about five of us that go in together, every year, for Red Wings season tickets.

If I am to leave an event early (of my own volition, not because my ride is leaving) it is typically because of the shootout, which I personally love, however; my current superstition leads me to believe that if I watch in person, we will not win (which occurs 100% of the time I am at the game) if I am instead on the concourse watching on the television we have a chance. (The Red Wings are not a great shootout team, but I’d like to believe our chances there are 50/50, and therefore thank goodness for the 3-on-3 overtime now.)

In general, the premise of, what are you paying for? Is I'm paying for a win. If my team is not able to deliver on such, I absolutely have the right to walk out, as I am sacrificing my time and energy to see what they can deliver me, the fan.

I understand this is a conceited, and vulgar, way to think of sport in general, but it is entertainment. In essence, I wake up every morning far too early, and although I understand my team will not win every game; the difference between, an in stadium experience, and an at home experience, is becoming a thinner gap than ever before.

- Charles Lekander

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Never! Anymore!

Unfortunately for me. I was on crutches with torn ligaments in my ankle. My ex and I were in about the 17th. Row of the concourse at the old, Fabulous Forum! Getting the picture! The game. The Miracle on Manchester! 5-0 we start heading down the stairs, Kings score! Get to the main aisle, 5-2. Get to the main concourse, 5-3, me, starting to get angry at my yapping ex for wanting to leave early. Before that game I would stay until the final horn also! We get to the parking lot. Turn on the radio, 5-4. Needless to say, not a word said on the way home. Kings tie it on the way home. As we pull in the driveway Kings win in overtime! I swore that day! I WOULD NEVER LEAVE A HOCKEY GAME EARLY AGAIN!

- Steven Smigla

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Great stuff, and thanks to everyone who reached out. Keep the conversation going in the comments!

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.