Sunday, April 04, 2004
March 2004 Roadie, Part 2 - South Florida
Watched the Sens squeek by the Florida Panthers on Wednesday in suburban Sunrise Florida. The game wasn't as exciting as the game two nights earlier against Tampa Bay but it was still exciting. It looked like Ottawa was going to have their way with Florida early on but Florida took advantage of their opportunities and looked like they might actually upset Ottawa but the Sens pulled it out at the end. Great games by Marian Hossa and Antoine Vermette. Vermette is looking so good right now that I'd almost rather have him in the lineup then Petr Bondra. If he gets the ice time next year, he could really surprise a lot of people outside of Ottawa.
Anyways, on to the Office Depot Center itself. It's a beautiful facility that has feels like a cross between an upscale shopping mall and a high tech office buiding. A unique and nice touch is having the concessions in food court areas off of the main concourse. Typically, concessions clog the concourses during intermission but the food courts are really good at alleviating congestion.
The arena has different coloured seats for each of the three bowls. The seat colours are muted and not tacky like the seats at the Ice Palace. The seats are also steeped higher then the Ice Palace although the bowls don't jut out over each other. In the building it almost looks like one big high bowl. The suites are found in a horseshoe pattern around the bowls which is kind of unique.
The game day presentation was pretty good although some of the bits on the video screen were repititive, notably the ones with the cartoon rat mascot. The opera singer that did the anthems wasn't my cup of tea but I'm spoiled by Lydon Slewidge, the best anthem singer in the league, at the Corel Centre. The music selection was good with props to them for playing the only Rush song I kind of like - Subdivisions.
The crowd was pretty good. Attendance was listed at over 15,000 and it probably wasn't overinflated by very much. It wasn't as loud as Tampa but the crowd was far from quiet. I was kind of surprised at how good the crowd was considering Florida's record.
Overall, I enjoyed seeing the Sens play at the Office Depot Center and I'd love to see another game there. Especially if I can spend a day or two browsing the mammoth Sawgrass Mills across the street from the rink.
Anyways, on to the Office Depot Center itself. It's a beautiful facility that has feels like a cross between an upscale shopping mall and a high tech office buiding. A unique and nice touch is having the concessions in food court areas off of the main concourse. Typically, concessions clog the concourses during intermission but the food courts are really good at alleviating congestion.
The arena has different coloured seats for each of the three bowls. The seat colours are muted and not tacky like the seats at the Ice Palace. The seats are also steeped higher then the Ice Palace although the bowls don't jut out over each other. In the building it almost looks like one big high bowl. The suites are found in a horseshoe pattern around the bowls which is kind of unique.
The game day presentation was pretty good although some of the bits on the video screen were repititive, notably the ones with the cartoon rat mascot. The opera singer that did the anthems wasn't my cup of tea but I'm spoiled by Lydon Slewidge, the best anthem singer in the league, at the Corel Centre. The music selection was good with props to them for playing the only Rush song I kind of like - Subdivisions.
The crowd was pretty good. Attendance was listed at over 15,000 and it probably wasn't overinflated by very much. It wasn't as loud as Tampa but the crowd was far from quiet. I was kind of surprised at how good the crowd was considering Florida's record.
Overall, I enjoyed seeing the Sens play at the Office Depot Center and I'd love to see another game there. Especially if I can spend a day or two browsing the mammoth Sawgrass Mills across the street from the rink.
