Beaner
03-11-2005, 07:03 PM
from, http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050310/1040241.asp
FOCUS: FUTURE OF NHL
Hockey's blue wave
The NHL is hoping colored ice and new rules to speed up the action will woo fans lost during this season's lockout
By GENE WARNER
News Staff Reporter
3/10/2005
Note to Buffalo Sabres fans: If you plan to attend either of the Rochester Americans' upcoming games in HSBC Arena, you might want to bring a pair of sunglasses.
The reason? The ice will be painted blue.
That, of course, leads to another question. What color will the two blue lines be?
Orange.
And the center red line?
Blue.
To recap, the Amerks will skate on blue ice, with orange lines determining offsides calls and a center-ice blue line.
But the new blue hue being showcased at the downtown arena is about a lot more than the ice tint at two American Hockey League games.
It's all part of the bigger picture, part of an ongoing attempt by National Hockey League officials to breathe some new life and excitement into a league that - once it returns from its season-long lockout - will face a huge challenge in bringing back its fans.
"I think there's a feeling we want to modernize the game," Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said. "I think there's definitely some fresh air in the league. I think people are open to innovation. I think there's a sense of a new era."
Specifically, they want to speed up the game, re-emphasize the players' skills and make the game more visually appealing to fans in the stands and on television.
League officials have stated repeatedly during the stalled labor talks that they need to fix the economics of the NHL.
That's not all that needs to be fixed.
League officials and coaches have convened several summit meetings to consider ways to open up the game - from allowing two-line passes to enlarging the nets to moving the blue lines - in an attempt to rediscover the flow and speed of the game.
Without uttering a word, Quinn provided a graphic example.
Sitting at his desk, Quinn popped in a video of the 1972 Canada Cup game, when Sabres star Gilbert Perreault took the puck from behind his net and took off on an end-to-end goal-scoring rush that lifted fans out of their seats.
That's the brand of hockey NHL officials want to recapture.
Blue ice easier on eyes
Sabres and league officials have heard from more than a few fans that they want a return to the breathless end-to-end rushes and an end to all the clutching, grabbing and neutral-zone traps that slow down the game.
The league also wants to make the game more visually pleasing, especially with the rise of HDTV. That's where the blue ice comes in.
The blue ice is being put in as an experiment, to see whether it's more visually pleasing for fans inside the arena and watching on television. The feeling is that the regular white ice - yes, it's painted white - throws off more glare and is harder on the eyes.
"I find after watching a hockey game for hours that my eyes hurt," Quinn said. "I think the glare from the white ice causes eye fatigue."
Several minor-league teams have experimented with colored ice, one team putting down pink ice for Valentine's Day, another using green for St. Patrick's Day.
But blue ice?
No, this isn't some joke being played by top Sabres officials bored by the current NHL lockout - the way a bored Sabres management drafted fictional Japanese hockey star Taro Tsujimoto in 1974.
On Wednesday, HSBC Arena workers began spraying blue paint as they put down the ice for the Amerks games on March 20 and April 3.
Sabres officials call it an "electric powder blue." Since the advent of color television, Quinn explained, media advisers often recommend blue shirts for politicians and blue backgrounds for televised events, to enhance the visual effect.
The idea came to the Sabres from league officials, in a meeting last fall with Reebok. So before arena workers took down the ice following Disney on Ice in January, Quinn had a portion of the ice painted blue, to see how it would look.
Pat Fisher, the team's youth hockey manager, was one of the guinea pigs who donned his blades and took to the ice.
"I was amazed to find that I could almost pick up the puck easier off the blue ice," Fisher said. "Off the white ice, you get somewhat of a glare. The light blue has almost like a calmer tone to it."
New uniforms possible
Quinn said the NHL is eager to see how the blue ice works. The Sabres will solicit the views of players, fans, league officials and television experts.
If the blue ice becomes the norm, Quinn could see other effects, including changing uniform colors.
"It's a different palette," he said. "You're using a blue palette instead of a white palette. It may mean a return to more colorful jerseys."
Conceivably, that could mean the end of the Sabres current black jerseys in a couple years. Quinn said many people like the team's traditional blue-and-gold jerseys, but they would have to be modernized, possibly to become the team's third jersey.
Even if the NHL resumes play next fall, Quinn stressed that no uniform change would be done in time for next year.
Quinn strongly believes that the NHL still can build a strong television package, as long as there's competitive balance for teams like the Sabres, a more crowd-pleasing game and an improved visual product.
Lost in this year's canceled season was the realization that the league's newest broadcast TV deal, with NBC, carried a zero rights fee, with the league getting revenue only after the network's production costs are met. That's a reflection of the league's anemic ratings in this country.
"Now that we've taken a year off, it's going to be that much more of a challenge to build the ratings up," said Michael Gilbert, the team's vice president for communications.
Among the many rule changes that have been floated in brainstorming sessions are enlarging the nets, reducing the size of goalie equipment, allowing two-line passes, restricting the area where the goalie can play the puck, widening the blue line to cut down on offsides and no-touch icing.
Expanding neutral zone
Hockey circles are buzzing with an even more revolutionary idea, to move each blue line closer to the goal line, creating a larger neutral zone. Under this proposal, once the puck crosses the opposing blue line, the offensive zone would stretch all the way back to the center line; so the defensive team, to clear the zone, would have to move the puck past the center line. In effect, this rule would expand both the offensive and neutral zones.
Fans attending the two Amerks games will see some changes, including shootouts to decide tie games, no-touch icing, wider blue (orange) lines, and a restricted area behind the net for the goalie to play the puck.
And, of course, those fans will see it all unfold on blue ice.
FOCUS: FUTURE OF NHL
Hockey's blue wave
The NHL is hoping colored ice and new rules to speed up the action will woo fans lost during this season's lockout
By GENE WARNER
News Staff Reporter
3/10/2005
Note to Buffalo Sabres fans: If you plan to attend either of the Rochester Americans' upcoming games in HSBC Arena, you might want to bring a pair of sunglasses.
The reason? The ice will be painted blue.
That, of course, leads to another question. What color will the two blue lines be?
Orange.
And the center red line?
Blue.
To recap, the Amerks will skate on blue ice, with orange lines determining offsides calls and a center-ice blue line.
But the new blue hue being showcased at the downtown arena is about a lot more than the ice tint at two American Hockey League games.
It's all part of the bigger picture, part of an ongoing attempt by National Hockey League officials to breathe some new life and excitement into a league that - once it returns from its season-long lockout - will face a huge challenge in bringing back its fans.
"I think there's a feeling we want to modernize the game," Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said. "I think there's definitely some fresh air in the league. I think people are open to innovation. I think there's a sense of a new era."
Specifically, they want to speed up the game, re-emphasize the players' skills and make the game more visually appealing to fans in the stands and on television.
League officials have stated repeatedly during the stalled labor talks that they need to fix the economics of the NHL.
That's not all that needs to be fixed.
League officials and coaches have convened several summit meetings to consider ways to open up the game - from allowing two-line passes to enlarging the nets to moving the blue lines - in an attempt to rediscover the flow and speed of the game.
Without uttering a word, Quinn provided a graphic example.
Sitting at his desk, Quinn popped in a video of the 1972 Canada Cup game, when Sabres star Gilbert Perreault took the puck from behind his net and took off on an end-to-end goal-scoring rush that lifted fans out of their seats.
That's the brand of hockey NHL officials want to recapture.
Blue ice easier on eyes
Sabres and league officials have heard from more than a few fans that they want a return to the breathless end-to-end rushes and an end to all the clutching, grabbing and neutral-zone traps that slow down the game.
The league also wants to make the game more visually pleasing, especially with the rise of HDTV. That's where the blue ice comes in.
The blue ice is being put in as an experiment, to see whether it's more visually pleasing for fans inside the arena and watching on television. The feeling is that the regular white ice - yes, it's painted white - throws off more glare and is harder on the eyes.
"I find after watching a hockey game for hours that my eyes hurt," Quinn said. "I think the glare from the white ice causes eye fatigue."
Several minor-league teams have experimented with colored ice, one team putting down pink ice for Valentine's Day, another using green for St. Patrick's Day.
But blue ice?
No, this isn't some joke being played by top Sabres officials bored by the current NHL lockout - the way a bored Sabres management drafted fictional Japanese hockey star Taro Tsujimoto in 1974.
On Wednesday, HSBC Arena workers began spraying blue paint as they put down the ice for the Amerks games on March 20 and April 3.
Sabres officials call it an "electric powder blue." Since the advent of color television, Quinn explained, media advisers often recommend blue shirts for politicians and blue backgrounds for televised events, to enhance the visual effect.
The idea came to the Sabres from league officials, in a meeting last fall with Reebok. So before arena workers took down the ice following Disney on Ice in January, Quinn had a portion of the ice painted blue, to see how it would look.
Pat Fisher, the team's youth hockey manager, was one of the guinea pigs who donned his blades and took to the ice.
"I was amazed to find that I could almost pick up the puck easier off the blue ice," Fisher said. "Off the white ice, you get somewhat of a glare. The light blue has almost like a calmer tone to it."
New uniforms possible
Quinn said the NHL is eager to see how the blue ice works. The Sabres will solicit the views of players, fans, league officials and television experts.
If the blue ice becomes the norm, Quinn could see other effects, including changing uniform colors.
"It's a different palette," he said. "You're using a blue palette instead of a white palette. It may mean a return to more colorful jerseys."
Conceivably, that could mean the end of the Sabres current black jerseys in a couple years. Quinn said many people like the team's traditional blue-and-gold jerseys, but they would have to be modernized, possibly to become the team's third jersey.
Even if the NHL resumes play next fall, Quinn stressed that no uniform change would be done in time for next year.
Quinn strongly believes that the NHL still can build a strong television package, as long as there's competitive balance for teams like the Sabres, a more crowd-pleasing game and an improved visual product.
Lost in this year's canceled season was the realization that the league's newest broadcast TV deal, with NBC, carried a zero rights fee, with the league getting revenue only after the network's production costs are met. That's a reflection of the league's anemic ratings in this country.
"Now that we've taken a year off, it's going to be that much more of a challenge to build the ratings up," said Michael Gilbert, the team's vice president for communications.
Among the many rule changes that have been floated in brainstorming sessions are enlarging the nets, reducing the size of goalie equipment, allowing two-line passes, restricting the area where the goalie can play the puck, widening the blue line to cut down on offsides and no-touch icing.
Expanding neutral zone
Hockey circles are buzzing with an even more revolutionary idea, to move each blue line closer to the goal line, creating a larger neutral zone. Under this proposal, once the puck crosses the opposing blue line, the offensive zone would stretch all the way back to the center line; so the defensive team, to clear the zone, would have to move the puck past the center line. In effect, this rule would expand both the offensive and neutral zones.
Fans attending the two Amerks games will see some changes, including shootouts to decide tie games, no-touch icing, wider blue (orange) lines, and a restricted area behind the net for the goalie to play the puck.
And, of course, those fans will see it all unfold on blue ice.