Hit up Sean Avery's Bar Tonight-

Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I found myself sitting in the corporate club seats at the Rock tonight to watch the Bruins keep their playoff hopes alive with a 1-0 win in overtime.

It was a hard grinding game with neither team getting a lot of time or space in between the face-off dots. While I had fun, there wasn't much scoring, so when it was all over, we were in the mood for a little additional excitement, and decided to hop off the PATH train at the World Trade Center stop, and swing by Warren 77, (Sean Avery's Soho bar) for a post game drink. We had done this the last time the Bruins played the Devils, it's in walking distance from the train station, and exactly the right mix between hip downtown, and hockey cool. It's a good spot for  a nightcap- especially after a hockey game.

You want the vibe? 

There's an autographed Martin Brodeur picture behind the bar, and this is the picture that's hanging in the bathroom.

No labels, you either get it or you don't, and we got it. It was fun.

But even though I enjoyed myself, and I'll be back- there were elements of the place that might irritate a hockey purist.

The first time we stopped by, we paid our check with a credit card, and got our receipt  clipped to a postcard of a soft focus color photo of what looked to be an old time hockey shot of the Rangers playing the Blackhawks. We thought it was from either an old NHL game, or perhaps taken on the set of that Rocket Richard movie that featured Avery playing Bob Dill.  Since we honestly didn't know what the story was, we asked the bartender, a Hispanic dude in his 30's. He looked at the postcard and said, with a completely straight face: "It's old. From the 1840's."

We were pretty sure that the Rangers weren't facing off against the Blackhawks before the Civil War, so we asked for clarification, and after some waffling, he admitted he didn't really know. It was pretty funny, we busted his balls a little, and he was a good sport, but still- if you're handing out a hockey photo with every check, shouldn't you know the story there?  We were discussing it tonight, and figured it's probably not from Avery's movie, since why would there be a scene featuring Blackhawks/Rangers in a movie about Rocket Richard? Then, we figured since the Rangers last cup prior to 1994 was in 1940, there's a good chance the bartender had heard it was from 1940, and maybe not being a big hockey fan, just jumbled it up. But if that's a shot from the 1940's Rangers, why are they playing the Blackhawks? The team they beat for the cup that year was Toronto, so wouldn't they grab a pic from that series?

Who knows?

Not us.

Then, tonight we had another kind of lame incident. My buddy was wearing a Bruins jersey, and this cute blonde chick seated at one of the booths shouted at him is a flirty/antagonistic way- "Is that a Bruins T-shirt?" My buddy looked a little confused and said "um- it's a jersey" She replied "Jersey, T-shirt, same thing-why are you wearing it in a Rangers bar?!" I looked back at her and asked, "If this is a hockey bar, shouldn't you know the difference between a jersey and a T-Shirt?"

She kinda shrugged, gave up and said "I just work here."

Oh.

Don't get me wrong, we had a good time, I'll go back, and I enjoyed myself, but that's the kind of fake, not-so classy stuff that leaves a not-so-great taste in your mouth, you know?

The whole experience was kind of like- well...kind of like Sean Avery. 

So you know- it was perfect.

Highly recommended.