April 2024 Monthly Adventure
In this edition of the Monthly Adventures Series, I went to a Texas Stars game! Growing up, I would go to Houston Aeros games with my mom and was excited to finally get a chance to see the Texas Stars now that I live in Austin. The Texas Stars are the AHL affiliate to the Dallas Stars and are one of the handful of minor-league type teams in the Austin area. Be sure to follow along on Instagram for exclusive video content from this game.
Background
I love sports and I've made this known in some of my blog posts such as the time I went tailgating for a Texas Football game, taking in a Texas Women's Basketball game, and going to a Miami HEAT home game. I thought I was going to make it to a Texas Stars game last year, but that didn't happen. So here I am one year later finally getting a chance to go to a hockey game and went on a Tuesday after work a couple of weeks ago. I scooped up one of my best friends along the way and we went to our first Texas Stars hockey game!
Purchasing Tickets
Tickets are available for purchase via Ticketmaster for all Texas Stars home games. In general, I would say the tickets are cheap no matter where you choose to sit, but most tickets were in the range of about $20-$70. With this being our first hockey game and just looking forward to having something to do on a weekday evening, we decided to purchase the $20 tickets in section 114. It was more about being there for the experience since we don't know enough about hockey to be invested in the game beyond the Stars scoring goals. Remember that even though the tickets are cheap, Ticketmaster has service fees when making a transaction.
Parking at the H-E-B Center
One super cool thing about parking at the H-E-B Center for Texas Stars games is that parking fees are already in the ticket price for the game. It's basically like free parking and they appear to have plenty of parking spaces available. We arrived about 30 minutes before the game time that was listed on the schedule and the parking lot was pretty much a free for all in the general parking section.
We noticed that most of the vehicles already there were backed into parking spaces and determined that we should do what everyone else did. While traffic exiting the parking lot was not a hassle after the game ended, backing into the parking space definitely made it even easier to get back on the road.
Food
When going to any entertainment venue, the concessions are very important to me and shaping my overall experience at an event. When you think of typical food at sporting events, it's probably things like chicken tenders, burgers, fries, candy, popcorn, etc. These items are available for purchase at the H-E-B Center, but there's really only a single concession stand dedicated to those food items. There's quite a bit of variety given the venue's small size and features local businesses. You can get sausage, barbecue classics, nachos, macaroni and cheese cups, ice cream, coffee, and so much more.
I decided to keep it simple that day and get a chicken tenders basket with a medium soda (it was on my mind before we even arrived) and my friend opted for a basket of fries. The fries were really tasty and I ate them plain. The chicken tenders were a huge surprise to me! They were cooked just right and the breading-to-meat ratio was ideal. I paid about $23 for the chicken tenders basket and soda, and the customer service was fantastic. I would prefer to try something new the next time I go to the H-E-B Center, but it will hard to not get the chicken tenders basket again.
Texas Stars vs. Colorado Eagles Game Experience
Arriving early allowed us enough time to breeze through security (make sure to have a clear bag) and explore the concourse. We walked around the concourse to see all the food options and purchase something prior to going to our seats. We also did some browsing in the Texas Stars Team Store and I took a photo with H-E-Buddy who is the grocery sack mascot of H-E-B*. Once we finished looking at everything in the concourse and purchasing food, we walked over to section 114 to take our seats and wait for the puck to drop.
As every U.S. sporting event goes, they start things off with a recognition of special guests in attendance followed by the national anthem. My friend and I turned to each other with complete shock on our faces when the fans in the arena shouted "stars" each time the song got to the word star. The venue is small (it's a capacity of only 6,800 for hockey games) and there is literally no such thing as a bad seat in there. I don't even think half the seats were filled that night, but the ones that were had the loudest and most passionate fans for both teams!
My friend and I know almost nothing about hockey other than when someone scores a goal. However, I was able to see that we picked a good game to go to. In the midst of our fascination with the Zambonis, movement about the ice by players/coaches/arena staff, photojournalists at work, the music being played and the timeliness of certain selections, player substitutions, and locating the ever-present raccoon mascot, there was a hat trick! A hat trick is when a player scores three goals and that night it was Nick Caamano of the Texas Stars. He actually scored 4 of the 5 goals for the Stars that evening to lead the team to victory. As soon as he scored the hat trick, fans flung their baseball caps onto the ice and just as quickly they were picked up by arena staff on skates with large buckets to collect them so play could resume. There's nothing like going to a game where the home team gets the win over their opponent!
*For those reading this post and don't know what H-E-B is, it's a Texas grocery store chain that is beloved by everyone across the state. No grocery chain does store-brand items of high quality quite like they do and they mean it when they say "no store does more".
Wrap-Up
The Texas Stars game was such a fun way to spend a Tuesday evening! I enjoyed everything about being there, even if I had no idea was going on during the game. Being in an environment where you're surrounded by passionate fans of the sport and teams creates a special experience. Factor in good food and stress-free parking and that increases the value. If you haven't been to a Texas Stars game or any hockey game, I recommend going. It's not too expensive and it can be fun to try new things. In this case, my friend and I had such a positive experience that we want to go to another Texas Stars game in the future -- and possibly pay for upgraded seats near the suite level if we decide to splurge!
On to the next adventure!
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