My take on the ShoWare arena

[HAF]

Me,Bishard,Buddy,IAM1 and a few other posters made the trek to Kent a few weeks ago.
We got there early to find an empty (and big) parking lot next to the arena. Little did we know at that time that this parking lot is a cluster#%&$ to get out of even when the crowd is only 3500 or so.
We parked and walked down the street to the Ram Sports bar to have a brew and watch some football while we were killing time. WelcomeToTheCircus and her husband joined us for a brew and were very hospitable ambassaduers of the area.
We were back at the arena at 4:00 where ticket scanners were very diligent on getting us right through the doors. Yes, they have thier version of "homeland security" at the arena but from what I saw they weren't jackasses like they are at the Toyota Center. IAM1 and I spoke to one of the ushers(section leaders) and the guy was very knowledgable of the arena and friendly, thanking us for making the trip over.
The concessions were pretty average as far as prices go. $5.00 for a stadium dog, $3.50 for a bottled Coke product,$7.00 for a domestic beer, $8.00 for a microbrew.
The inner arena area is a great place to watch hockey.Comfortable seats,great video screen and scoreboards. Doesn't appear to be a bad seat in the house either. The concourse,while wide and accomadating for large crowds only goes three quarters around the arena before it dead ends. This is a little bit frustrating and really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The other thing that makes no sense is how a state of the art building built in 2008 does not have the locker rooms behind the benches. This forces team personell to carry all needed equipment and extra sticks,tape etc. accross the ice surface before and after the game. The coaches also have to walk across the ice surface to get to and from the locker room areas.
Overall,maybe my expectations were a little too high. The arena while very nice,is not the "SUPER VENUE" I had visioned in my mind from the hype I had heard about it.
The Birds posters we met were very hospitable. However, you could see that the move to Kent has attracted a lot of new fans still learning the game. It has also brought some of the drunken idiots from the Key.

I urge all fans to make the trip atleast once to make your own conclusions.

[HAF]

The way the visiting team has to skate through the T-Birds in order to get to thier side of the ice for warmups. During a hostile environment where there may be bad blood this could be a train wreck. Regan Bartel put up a video on his blog showing it. Check out the third video clip down. You will see what I am talking about.

here is the link:

http://reganbartel.blogspot.com (http://reganbartel.blogspot.com/)/

[dondo]

LOL HAF -- just got back from the ShoWare and I agree with the majority of your comments. The parking lot exit strategy was dumb to the extreme, although it appears if you get there early enough you park for free.

scrunt and I parked, bought tickets and walked over to the Ram for better beer than I thought we might get. I knew it was a brew pub, but those mall based brew pubs often lack originality in their brewing, going for the average over the interesting or challenging, but the Big Red IPA was fresh and nicely hopped, a bit on the cold side but very flavourful.

Here's some thoughts (quoted) I just posted in my recap thread of the Feb 8th game in the Giants forum, plus extras.

perhaps you (or someone) can explain to me the logic behind the huge areas of concrete in the end zones, which were empty except for a couple of cameras and some wheelchairs.

Concessions: ran out of hot dogs during the intermission, they were not out of them just neglected to keep cooking more, so out of cooked ones - lol. Pretty poor if you ask me, especially waiting in long line ups forever, missing some of the second. Some folks sitting close to us were saying that they only had a few cashiers on because they were expecting a couple of hundred?? vc124 (5000+ showed up - according to the WHL numbers, but if there was more than 4000 actually in seats, I'll eat my shorts)

Micro Beer: tons of Amber choices (Alaskan, Fat Tire, Pyramid Amber Lager and more) not one IPA and the ubiquitous Pyramid Hefe-Weizen, and Redhook ESB which seems to be getting less and less hoppy every time I try it.

Parking: free? (I suppose if you get there early enough). Cluster-(you know what) upon exit, bad bad layout and blocking off exit lanes they could have desperately used.

Seating: other than clubs and folding chairs at the top around the arena, the seats were slightly narrow, but not horrible, padded plastic seats. Good rake to the arena, pretty good sight-lines and very good lighting.

State of the art scoreboard, a really nice one (I think that's where their budget went).

Lobby area: way too narrow for the building's capacity and no ability to walk all the way around. Small potatoes to some of you I suppose, but I like my stroll all the way around the concourse between periods, it was disconcerting having to turn back the other way and fight through the crowds.

Big store for mostly clothing and more booths with hats and pucks etc. pretty good merchandise actually. Very nice people working the place though. Might just be going through some growing pains.

Homeland security grilling nowhere near the paranoid level of Everett. Now that's a gauntlet.


Not sure why American hockey arenas have pretty much eliminated some of the prime seats giving them over to huge swaths of concrete in the corners right at the glass. They then charge exorbitant amounts for the first two rows along the glass. In my mind its a waste of seating area, takes away prime seating and creates a void around the glass where the intensity of the crowd should be concentrated.

The Kent area is pretty bare bones, has too small a foyer area (can't imagine if the arena was full and not three quarters full) and for some reason has no entrance to the benches from behind benches, having instead the players enter from the ends of the ice with the opposing team skating through the home team during warm-ups. Yeah that's not going to create any problems is it? I suppose the American arena designers are thinking with football minds (closer to centre-ice [the fifty yard line], higher is better and not with the game of hockey in mind at all.

Other than that though, its a good intimate arena with decent seats, a very nice scoreboard and a good rake to the seating. Looks like there are very few bad seats in the house, but the ends of rink focus on placing the patrons three or four rows above ice-level before they start the rows pushing more fans into the area where they have to look through that damn net.

Pretty expensive for Junior hockey as well (glass seats $30USD, club seats 40USD, regular seats are $22USD), but maybe I'm just being picky. All in all despite the Giants sub-par effort it was good arena in which to watch a game and was an entertaining tilt. Great fans too, love their team, a lot of them are decently knowledgeable about hockey and there were no folks giving us the gears for wearing the opposing team's jersey. All in all a good experience.

[HAF]

"perhaps you (or someone) can explain to me the logic behind the huge areas of concrete in the end zones, which were empty except for a couple of cameras and some wheelchairs."

This is due to the ADA (Americans with disabilities act) which requires everything to be handicap accessible. I agree this is a poor area to reserve for this but I suppose having these spaces on the floor level rink end possibly saved them money on ramps,etc.
I was also told that the locker room issue was due to the way the property was shaped. Apperantly there was not enough room to have the locker rooms on that side of the building. I agree that this was poorly planned out. Any rink built these days should have the locker rooms behind the benches. NO EXCUSES! I cant wait till the first major brawl from players skating through the other teams warm up. It will happen some day, that is inevitable.

I guess I didn't really think the concourse was all that narrow compared to the Toyota Center . Have you ever been to Tri City during a sell out? You can't tamp a greased BB through the crowd in that concourse. God help you if you have to take a leak...lol

[amsfan05]

Our concourse during sellouts is impossible. actually it's impossible to navigate even with a halfway decent crowd of 3-4,000. horrible experiences after drinking alot between periods and having to pee in between. lines in the guys restroom take 10 minutes at times.


anywho. Who's heading up to seattle for the 2 game set march 6-7? i can't wait for it. especially after saturday nights game. Rumor is it got quite heated in the hallway after the game between McColm and Parker. can't wait to see parker get Boogaard'd vc1tt by mitch.

[scrunt]

I concur with dondo's concurrence with HAF.

Nice arena in most respects.

Arena Design 101: The locker room location in Kent is a function of the cost-saving design, which has the main/ground level concourse at the same level as the ice. This allows the smallest possible building footprint, since the concourse is mostly under the stands -- not around the outside, which makes the building longer and wider, and adds major cost due to wider roof spans etc. With the concourse at ice level, there is no room for the Zamboni area and the dressing rooms under the stands like in most arenas, so they are put at one end. This design is very similar (if not exactly the same) as Kelowna.

Alternative design #1 for a flat site would be to excavate the centre so the ice surface is lower than the external site grade, putting the concourse level higher than the ice level, and putting the zamboni area and dressing rooms below grade. Costly excavation and logistical problems for loading etc. to the main floor/ice level are the downsides. Excavation can also a problem with a high water table - possibly a factor in Kelowna, which is barely above lake level.

Alternative design #2 for a flat site is to have the concourse level elevated above grade, so there are wide steps up all to the concourse level around the building - as in Chilliwack. Better for grade loading to the ice level, and the dressing rooms can go behind the benches, but not as convenient for patrons and adds to the construction cost. The cost saving solution is to minimize the width of the concourse, so it becomes a complete human gridlock between periods if more than 50 people show up (maybe this is no longer a problem in Chilliwack).

Anyway, it's still a great rink for junior hockey. Apart from the parking egress after the game and the Great Hotdog Fiasco. But that is the human factor, not the building...

Oh, and the fans were friendly and welcoming. Thanks!