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On a clear winter night when the air is crisp and the wind is calm, it just may be possible to step outside of Pat Boemer's restaurant and bar on West Seventh Street and hear the roar of the crowd after a goal is scored in the Xcel Energy Center one block away.
What Boemer is banking on is that he will also be able hear crowd noise from inside his bar, both before and after hockey games and other events.
To accommodate the anticipated crowds, Boemer gutted what used to be second floor apartments above his Irish-themed restaurant called McGovern's Pub, and he's opening a new sports bar with 18 televisions called Upstairs at McGovern's.
He's doubling his employees and square footage before a single game has been played in the new arena.
"When you've got 18,000 people mulling in the streets of St. Paul, you're going to get some traffic out of it," Boemer said.
Boemer said he's expecting big things for all of West Seventh Street.
"I've been here for 18 years, and Seventh Street has gone from being a very depressed area in the early '80s to now, [where it's become] an area that's got so much potential."
The boom predicted for restaurants and bars near the new arena will be nothing short of what happened in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis when the Target Center opened in 1990, according to Boemer St. Paul city leaders.
That may be true, but there are notable differences between the two areas. And the ebb and flow of a team's success can carry risks for businesses that depend on big game-related crowds on both sides of the river.
About 1.7 million people are expected to pass through the turnstile annually at the Xcel Energy Center, said Bill Robertson, vice president of communications and broadcasting for the Minnesota Wild.
There will be between 120 and 150 events held in the arena, which has about 18,600 seats, he said.
Besides the 43 Wild games, the arena Will host highschool hockey tournaments, a University of Minnesota Gophers hockey game and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five. A diverse events calendar hasn't been announced, but it will commence with a Barenaked Ladies concert in late September,...