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This place is not falling apart. It's immaculate. The seating area is the large bowl effect rather than the multiple balconies of the old place. Sight lines are very good.

This place is extremely nice. It has good concessions, a good sports bar in it, and all the modern amenities. Places like the Molson Centre and Air Canada Centre have this place beat simply because they did a better job decorating the place with hockey (or even just sports) memorabilia than this place did. But it's still very nice.

The atmosphere at a Blues game is still just as raucous as it has always been. The place will erupt for a fight, and there may well be more fights in the stands than in the game. Those draw attention from the crowd as well.

The fans are very enthusiastic if not as knowledgable about the game as fans in other cities. This is a fun place to watch a game.

You'll notice right away that Anheiser-Busch products flow freely in the place. Probably because the whole city seems owned by AB. That's probably why the crowd can get so rowdy. This is a place where if you're cheering for the opposition it's best not to be too obnoxious.

All in all a very enjoyable place to see a game.

Recently renamed "Belle Centre", the capacity here is 21,500 and the place is immaculate. Certainly the most impressive arena I've been in. They've tried to keep up the nostalgia of the old Forum here. That's something that just couldn't be done. But check out the busts of all the old Canadiens greats on the lower concourse. They really did go out of their way to commemorate the winning tradition of the franchise in this place. And they did a good job. The banners in the rafters speak for themselves. No banners for Conference and Division championships, only Stanley Cup banners. And only the greatest of greats have their numbers hanging from the ceiling. It can be enough to give you goosebumps.

All of that aside the atmosphere here is electric. Incredibly intense and passionate fans. Very knowledgable. And the bilingual aspect is cool too. You've got francophones and anglophones coming together to cheer the same team feverishly. To experience that is a feeling you won't get anywhere else, except perhaps in Ottawa but that's not anything like this. Even when the place isn't full you still have upwards of 18,000 in the place. Concessions are quite good if expensive and well laid out so as to keep the lines down. Make an effort to try a hot dog. The bun is toasted and they're made in a way distinct to Quebec. You may be startled by the liquor conessions all over the building. Nice if you're fixin to drink some hard liquor.

Bathrooms are well laid out and there's a big indoor smoking area. The amenities are well looked after here. The place is easy to get to, right off the freeway, and easily reached be the metro. But parking is congested and getting out of here after the game ain't going to be easy.

Tickets aren't cheap, but then I'm from Toronto and all places have cheaper tickes than TO. Tickets are still not to hard to get, but as the Habs improve availability of tickets will decrease sharply!

This place is one of the best places to see a game I've been! The only knocks on it would be that it's not the old Forum. But what can you do. If they had to move out of the old place and build a new rink than they did it well. They built a place that is worthy of housing the most storied franchise in NHL history, and you still feel it when you walk in the door.

The building itself scores points for having great sightlines. It's the large bowl construction as oppossed to balconies. The place also makes good use of it's excellent multi-media capacities. If anything they do go a little overboard sometimes.

However the concourses here are nothing special and they weren't able to solve the problems of long lineups at concessions and bathrooms. There's one major entrance with a large grand staircase. This is a nice touch, but can cause things to get congested.

Parking here is plentiful but does cause serious traffic problems after the game. It's quite bottlenecked if you're heading back out to the highway. Try taking a city bus if your staying in Ottawa. Easily the quickest way back after the game.

Back inside the stadium you'll enjoy the concessions. Try the "beavertails", supposedly a local delicacy but I've seen them out west too. The atmosphere is electric! Knowledgable and enthusiastic fans. The bilingual thing is cool here too. It's more of a 50/50 thing than say Montreal where french is a little more dominant. Make sure to be there for the national anthem as the guy who regularly sings it is awesome! He winks at the crowd and blows them a kiss. He's actually a constable of the Ontario Provincial Police.

Because the Sens are an expansion team and because Ottawa attracts a lot of residents from other parts of the country they do seem pretty friendly and sympathetic to road fans. Toronto and Montreal are the biggest rivals and those games are always quite fun to be at.