GDT: Flyers @ Jackets | NWA | 7pm

[AndBoomGoesTheCannon]

Torts hockey even when we were winning was often a low event snoozefest. You’d think he would be used to it by now.

 

[Doggy]

Agree that NWA was flat last night. We could hear the players and officials clearly from our club seats. It reminded me of watching a practice.
I love Torts, my favorite CBJ coach though Evason may be challenging that. Torts complained the other day that arenas are too loud during time outs when he just wants to talk/settle his team. He said coaches end up shouting over the music/contests, etc and it defeats the intent to calm.

I just found it funny these 2 comments were made so close.

Honestly, I hate how loud hockey game ops plays the music and everything else in the arena. I don't know if they are trying to make up for the crowd sometimes being so quiet (or needing to be cued by Stinger banging a drum) but I have said this many times before: I have not been a single other building who blares their sound system as obnoxiously loud as NWA.

I have sometimes wondered if NWA just has poor acoustics.

My sister-in-law avoids going to games because of it. I bought a pair of earplugs but they muffle everything too much. Last game I brought my noise canceling earbuds in so I could get some sound without my ears ringing after the game is over and it did the trick for me. It just drives me nuts that hockey game ops in Columbus has to suck this up so much...they are totally deaf to the complaints (yes pun intended).

I also find it incredibly sad that the crowd gets louder for free t-shirts and pizza than they do for action on the ice. I guess I am just a traditionalist. I don't need distractions to get entertain me. You know what entertains me...good winning hockey. Now get off my lawn.

 

[Viqsi]

Your top-3 forwards for ice time that evening: Adam Fantilli (20:11), Cole Sillinger (20:01), Kirill Marchenko (19:18).

I'm beginning to suspect Cole isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

(Oh, and Mateychuk was #4 among defensemen, behind Werenski/Provorov/Fabbro and ahead of Severson.)

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Honestly, I hate how loud hockey ops plays the music and everything else in the arena.

being super pedantic here, but: that's game ops, not hockey ops.

cbj game ops is (imo) among the worst in the league. there have been some improvements (they refreshed/updated the 1st period walk-out package a couple years ago and it's way better now) but the whole thing feels really stale compared to other barns.

I also find it incredibly sad that the crowd gets louder for free t-shirts and pizza than they do for action on the ice

they pump in crowd noise for a lot of those (especially the "loudest section wins a prize" thing) but every venue does that.

 

[Derby]

Honestly, I hate how loud hockey ops plays the music and everything else in the arena. I don't know if they are trying to make up for the crowd sometimes being so quiet (or needing to be cued by Stinger banging a drum) but I have said this many times before: I have not been a single other building who blares their sound system as obnoxiously loud as NWA.

I have sometimes wondered if NWA just has poor acoustics.

My sister-in-law avoids going to games because of it. I bought a pair of earplugs but they muffle everything too much. Last game I brought my noise canceling earbuds in so I could get some sound without my ears ringing after the game is over and it did the trick for me. It just drives me nuts that hockey ops in Columbus has to suck this up so much...they are totally deaf to the complaints (yes pun intended).

I also find it incredibly sad that the crowd gets louder for free t-shirts and pizza than they do for action on the ice. I guess I am just a traditionalist. I don't need distractions to get entertain me. You know what entertains me...good winning hockey. Now get off my lawn.

I agree 100% and freakin’ Mike Todd literally SHRIEKS into his mic. Last night, I complained to my husband (again ) about that gawd awful tonality and M.Todd volume during every promo.

 

[Doggy]

being super pedantic here, but: that's game ops, not hockey ops.

cbj game ops is (imo) among the worst in the league. there have been some improvements (they refreshed/updated the 1st period walk-out package a couple years ago and it's way better now) but the whole thing feels really stale compared to other barns.


they pump in crowd noise for a lot of those (especially the "loudest section wins a prize" thing) but every venue does that.

My bad on the game ops vs hockey ops. I guess you knew what I meant. As for the "walk-out package", are you including the stupid ass 60 second count down clock? Because that's insanely lame.

I seriously believe they could hire a couple of kids from OSU or one of the other nearby colleges that has a BFA program and do way better.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

When I did my NHL trip last year, I don't remember NWA standing out in an obnoxiously bad way compared to other arenas (VGK, ARI, COL, [CLE], CHI). Everywhere is loud and they do the same crowd things (make some noise). I'm fairly sensitive myself and always had my earplugs on (the music kind). Maybe there's tiny differences arena to arena but I'd say every game ops team is just as deaf as the next one. I'll do a retake this year on the Canadian side to have more opinions.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

My bad on the game ops vs hockey ops. I guess you knew what I meant. As for the "walk-out package", are you including the stupid ass 60 second count down clock? Because that's insanely lame.

the 60 second part of it is lame but the rest of it (song, lights, viz) are an improvement over what they had before imo

I seriously believe they could hire a couple of kids from OSU or one of the other nearby colleges that has a BFA program and do way better.

osu's football game ops isn't much better.

the issues with cbj's game ops in particular are:

1. they seem to be heavily committed to having a family-friendly environment rather than a rowdy one
   • this is, admittedly, probably a lot better for their gate revenue (even if it means the environment isn't quite as exciting)
   • i'd wager most of the butts in seats are driving in from suburbs rather than from downtown/arena district/short north
2. the folks running it (iirc) have basically been in place since the franchise started

they're either unwilling to change the atmosphere (due to demographic considerations) or incapable (same people running it)

it's one of those things that sticks out to the diehards who want a rowdy environment, but is misaligned with the team's business priorities (family attraction) -- the solution probably has less to do with deliberate game ops choices and more to do with the team becoming a contender.

the crowds at NWA for playoff games are insanely loud. if the team becomes a contender, the regular season games will get a lot louder, too. there will be more diehard fans, and a higher percentage of butts in seats will be those diehards instead of casuals, families and corporate tix.

 

[Youngguns1380]

I agree 100% and freakin’ Mike Todd literally SHRIEKS into his mic. Last night, I complained to my husband (again ) about that gawd awful tonality and M.Todd volume during every promo.

It’s funny—Mike Todd is genuinely one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, but his voice feels like nails on a chalkboard to me. We joke about it every time we go to a game. I’m a half-season ticket holder, so it comes up pretty often, especially since other friends and family attend different games with me. It’s almost always a topic of conversation, and it’s usually them who bring it up first!

 

[cbjthrowaway]

When I did my NHL trip last year, I don't remember NWA standing out in an obnoxiously bad way compared to other arenas (VGK, ARI, COL, [CLE], CHI). Everywhere is loud and they do the same crowd things (make some noise). I'm fairly sensitive myself and always had my earplugs on (the music kind). Maybe there's tiny differences arena to arena but I'd say every game ops team is just as deaf as the next one. I'll do a retake this year on the Canadian side to have more opinions.

i haven't been to a ton of NHL barns but i've heard amazing things about vegas and seattle in particular. but those are two new franchises that had a blank slate and strong local culture to draw from.

where the blue jackets struggle on the latter is that columbus, as a city, lacks a tangible identity in that sense. it's an amazing place to live, but it's not really a distinct place in the way that seattle or vegas are, for example. the game ops at cbj games don't feel uniquely local in the way that they do in other barns.

part of that might be the franchise's myopic focus on being a columbus team rather than an ohio team but that might be oversimplifying it.

 

[Viqsi]

part of that might be the franchise's myopic focus on being a columbus team rather than an ohio team but that might be oversimplifying it.

That's almost certainly a direct result of the wishes and intentions of Mr. Mac (z''l). His motivation for making the team happen was to raise this city's profile.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

i mean… it was five degrees outside, literally just walking to the arena after parking was miserable. also a tuesday night against a shitty team. so not exactly a packed building to begin with.

the place erupted for both werenski goals, olivier's big hits, and the big werenski chance in overtime. and everyone was on their feet for the shootout.

it wasn't a "dead building" overall but the elements weren't exactly there for it to be a rowdy crowd.

Its semantics at this point.

Yes it was a Tuesday night. It was a divisional matchup and when people buy tickets to a game in January in Ohio cold should be expected.

The instances you mentioned account for about 15 minutes of actual time in the 3 hours I was in the arena last night. The majority of which was the last 5 minutes of regulation onward. 15k in attendance was a generous number.

As a whole, the place was a morgue the far majority of the night and only woke up after Werenski tied it.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

i haven't been to a ton of NHL barns but i've heard amazing things about vegas and seattle in particular. but those are two new franchises that had a blank slate and strong local culture to draw from.

where the blue jackets struggle on the latter is that columbus, as a city, lacks a tangible identity in that sense. it's an amazing place to live, but it's not really a distinct place in the way that seattle or vegas are, for example. the game ops at cbj games don't feel uniquely local in the way that they do in other barns.

part of that might be the franchise's myopic focus on being a columbus team rather than an ohio team but that might be oversimplifying it.

That's almost certainly a direct result of the wishes and intentions of Mr. Mac (z''l). His motivation for making the team happen was to raise this city's profile.

We should be Columbus's team.

Identities are created on the ice and if we were the "Ohio Blue Jackets" it's too broad of a name for a team surrounded by Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Chicago.

As much as I despise it, Columbus has its identity because of a successful (we'll call it semi-pro) football team in town. Wins and time creates an identity. Wins and time creates local pride. The Browns are still the Browns because they built their identity over time and some wins 50+ years ago. it wouldn't have mattered if they were called the Cleveland Browns or the Ohio Browns. Time and history built what they are.