For visiting NHL fans, the weekend was about hockey, not pirates or traffic

Tampa faced two big questions heading into the weekend: Would traffic be an issue Saturday when the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates shared downtown with two major events leading up to Sunday's NHL All-Star Game? And what would visiting hockey fans think of the parade, with its swashbuckler theme and alcohol-fueled revelry?

For fans at Sunday's NHL Fan Festival before the All-Star Game at Amalie Arena, the short answer was: Not a huge deal.

Not one of the nearly 50 out-of-towners interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times complained about traffic.

As for the parade that city leaders hoped would grow in national popularity when exposed to thousands of visiting NHL fans, it was hard to find anyone who saw a single float.

"It seems interesting, but I can't be in two places at the same time," said Port Richey resident Steve Geiger. "I came for hockey."

And there was plenty for hockey fans to do outside Amalie Arena on Sunday before the big game: Three different games tested fans' shooting accuracy. Stars were on hand for autographs. NHL mascots competed in an Eastern versus Western Conference game of cornhole.

Among those in attendance was Gunnar Rodgers of Peoria, Ill., who was so focused on hockey that he was not aware of Tampa's parade until he and his friend Jeff Kolesar of Indianapolis were driving from Saturday's NHL All-Star Beach Bash in Clearwater to the Skills Competition that night.

"We were on I-4 and saw signs for parade traffic," he said. "So, I Googled 'Tampa parade' and something about pirates came up. It sounds cool, and maybe I'd like to see it someday. But I'm here for the All-Star stuff."

Those moments when the NHL fans did come face-to-face with a pirate were weird, visitors said, but fun.

"One pirate walked past our Marriott and gave my son a bead and he had no idea how to react," Andrew Matthews of Nashville said. "Another one looked so drunk I thought he was going to knock my son over."

But inebriation is nothing his 10-year-old son Jackson Matthews hasn't seen before at sporting events, his dad said, so they just laughed.

Others stayed clear of downtown Saturday.

Melissa and John Palmer of New Jersey have heard that Gasparilla can get out of hand. So, rather than attend Saturday's Fan Festival or Skills Competition with their two children, they "stayed away from downtown," Melissa Palmer said. "We watched the parade on TV. We made the right choice."

Rob Bennett's flight landed at Tampa International Airport at noon Saturday, just as the parade festivities in downtown were kicking into high gear.

The Atlanta resident expected it to take at least an hour to get to the Residence Inn in downtown, maybe longer, but the ride took less than 30 minutes.

"It was a pleasant surprise," he said. "Tampa handled everything perfectly."

Valerie Blackwood of Naples was equally pleased with how Saturday played out. Sure, there was traffic, she said, but nothing terrible. And the NHL warned ticket holders via email to be downtown as early as possible.

"We listened," said Blackwood, who was staying at the Tampa Airport Marriott. "We were in downtown by 9:30 a.m." for the Fan Festival that did not start until noon, "so we experienced no problems."

Former NHL player Jeremy Roenick, who went to nine All-Star games as a player and a few more since he retired in 2009, said this year's festivities rank among his top three in terms of fan accessibility.

That Tampa pulled that off with an event like Gasparilla occurring on the same weekend, he said, is a testament to the planners and law enforcement.

"All the people we had in Tampa, yet there was a lack of problems," Roenick said. "My hat is off."

Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follow @PGuzzoTimes.