September 6, 2008

Changes at the ACC (Air Canada Centre)

I went to a charity hockey game (featuring Mats Sundin) at the Air Canada Centre on Friday and noticed three significant changes for this upcoming season. Two of them I knew about and one I did not. Other changes might be coming as some things aren't changed until after the pre-season is over.

1. Scoreboard
I knew about this one. When the ACC opened in 1999 they had the most advanced scoreboard in the league. It only took about a year before Edmonton and Colorado both had the same board, and only about 3 years for the rest of the league to not only to catch up but surpass the ACC. Maybe except Detroit.

The new ACC scoreboard features 17 high definition screens with LED blacklight technology. (Whatever that means) Even with all the new screens I didn't see any possibility of improvement on the out of town scoreboard. If you were ever lucky enough to get to Maple Leaf Gardens, you would know that they had the greatest out of town board in sports history.

ACC scoreboard from April of 2004

*Quick note here. This pic is from game 7 against Ottawa when the Leafs eliminated the Senators...AGAIN!

ACC scoreboard from September of 2008


2. Centre ice

The Leafs had the two Leaf logos at centre ice before. Nothing to write home about. Now, the circle features one large logo facing the TV cameras.

ACC centre ice November 27,2007


ACC centre ice logo September 5, 2008


Another change is the horn to end the periods. It is more distinctive. It doesn't sound anything like Montreal's, but you know Montreal's when you hear it. That is they way the new ACC horn sounds. It is much louder and people will be able to tell that it is from the ACC.

Another change, but this is from the end of last season is the goal light. It is no longer a traditional goal light. It is now a strip of LED lights that can turn red or green, just behind the goal, along the top of the pane of glass.

Sorry, not too many pics this time. I'll get some more through the year when I go.

I know I said I'd do my top 5 most over rated players, and I still plan on it, I just need to put my 5 players into a list.

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