Share
this

Dogs on Ice

Official Review by Dennis Morrell, Stadium Journey Special Correspondent

The Niagara IceDogs have had an interesting history since there inception in 1998. After several owners and beginning their first nine years in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, the team landed in St. Catharines, Ontario to start the 2007 season.

The team plays at the Gatorade Garden City Complex, formerly the Jack Gatecliff Arena Complex. Nestled in a residential area of this middle-class community, the arena is one of the most unique and quaint that I have ever visited. Witnessing an IceDogs game is one of the most unique you will ever enjoy even though you will see many unimpressive things along the way.

Food & Beverage    2

Like most junior league venues, they offer food because it provides a source of revenue. There is nothing to write home about here. A pizza slice costs $4, a hot dog $3.75 and a bottled soda is $2.50. Pretzels, popcorn and several water fountains can be found in the arena.

Beer and soda (Pepsi) along with a few snacks are available inside the arena at the corners behind the seating area and below the seating areas at the North end of the arena. Also at the North end is a seating area where you can watch the game on TV while finishing your food and drinks.

The lesson here? Eat before you come to the game.

Atmosphere    5

This is worth the price of almost any admission, but keep in mind, there are some unimpressive things to see before you get to the Promised Land.

The ticket office is to the right of the entrance at street level. Take your ticket and walk to the left toward the stairs which will take you to the concourse and seating areas. You will flash your ticket and head up the steps. Be sure and grab a $2 program and updated stat sheet on the way up.

Get to the top and you will find a makeshift merchandise area complete with just about anything team-related you could want, but not merchandised or displayed in visual-appealing way as you might expect. Keep in mind though, the focus is on the game, not so much on the things related to it.

Walk to the right once you reach the top of the stairs and you begin to reach the concession areas. A few makeshift tables serve pizza slices, pretzels and bottled sodas while a more permanent booth offers bottled soda, nachos, hot dogs, etc.

Bypass the 50/50 booth and enter the seating area from the South end of the building which is separated from the concourse by hinged doors. The benefit is that when the game is going on, the doors are closed helping to keep the sound from escaping the arena.

This is where the real fun and the value in coming here begins.

The rink is made up of a seating area consisting of nine rows with "double seats" and one standing room row with counter ledge in front of it, but behind the ninth row. There are just ten rows inside the entire arena which accommodates 2,800 seated fans and 345 standing fans for a total of 3,145 fans in a packed house.

The crowd is loud at the start of the pre-skate and it continues building until the drop of the first puck. When the hitting and end-to-end action begin, the crowd gets into the game even more.

One unique feature of the atmosphere at the arena is the presence of an organist who sits among the crowd. Ben Phelan, from the locally-famous musician family, plays during the games at the South End of the arena between sections G and H. My advice to the IceDogs is to let the boy play more at the games. He's great and the fans enjoy it more than the ear-splitting rock music.

The benches are across the ice from each other with the home team anchoring in front of section E while the visitors are in front of section L. Both penalty boxes are in front of section M. The IceDogs shoot twice at the end in front of Section A. The tiny press boxes are on both sides of the ice and precarious to reach.

A characteristic of outdated building codes is the steep pitch in the rows providing excellent sightlines to the play on the ice. One of the charms in this old arena which opened in 1932 is this tight row, steep pitch feature. Even with this quality, the real treat is of all things, not sitting to watch the game.

The unlikely gem is the standing room area which in my view is the best area to watch a game as these spots are all the same price. Select a side instead of an end and be careful not to get behind a beam. Here is the other thing. You are assigned a spot by which to stand. After a few shoulder taps from regulars, I figured out that I could not stand just anywhere, but only in my assigned spot.

The benefit of these areas is the best visibility of any area in the arena, a six inch ledge in front of you to rest yourself or your food or beverage and the ability to stretch when needed. The other benefit is that the distance between those standing and the outer wall is just three feet. This allows just enough space to provide a walkway instead of having people double stacked over your shoulder.

From here you can see the appropriately-sized traditional scoreboard with all you need to know; what period it is, how much time is left, what the score is and any penalties. Watch the game and any replays on one of four video boards positioned along the sides of the rink between the blue line and face-off circles and high above where folks on the sides can see clearly.

The rink is ten feet smaller than the typical rink making the neutral zone narrower. The boards in the corners don't move so defensemen have to watch out when digging out the puck with a forechecker on their backs. It makes for more exciting play, but probably leaves players more susceptible to injuries and concussions.

Neighborhood    2

The arena sits in a residential neighborhood and while there are some nearby places to eat, find another option away from the rink and come full as there is not a lot to get excited about in concession offerings.

Fans    5

Not to knock American fans, but the best place to watch hockey is almost anywhere in Canada. St. Catharines is no different. A quick discussion with an usher leading to my disclosure of being from St. Louis and he went into all the players that came from the IceDogs franchise that were drafted or played for the Blues. Alex Pietrangelo has been the most recent and he spoke for ten minutes on how he enjoyed watching him when he played for the IceDogs.

As you walk the arena or sense conversation nearby, you will be impressed with the level of knowledge IceDogs fans possess. Instead of jeering and booing, you hear things like how surprising it is to find a certain defenseman on the power play or why they started a certain goalie against a team where he has not had success in recent weeks.

If you like sitting among the hockey intelligent, you will enjoy these fans.

Access    3

Parking is where you can find it. It is a residential area, after all. Restrooms are found at ground level on the way in, on the main concourse before heading into the seating area and, once in the seating area, there are several stairways that lead you downstairs to restrooms. There are just a few though and on a crowded night, could get backed up a bit.

Return on Investment    5

Premium seats which are along the sides are $20, end seats are $19 and standing room "places" are $14.50. Seniors and youth fans get special pricing, but only on end seats. These are $16.50.

What little the arena has for food and drink was priced slightly below what I expected, but then again, the variety was unimaginative. Programs and updated state packages at $2 are a great value and the merchandise was priced right.

Extras    2

The standing room area is more special than you can imagine. It is unique in that it provides a special perspective to the game, and it is sought after by most veteran fans and you will likely be standing alongside scouts from the many junior and NHL teams. I stood next to an Ottawa 67's scout the night I was there and it made for interesting conversation between periods. It was all business during the game.

new arena

the city of st catherines has just approved of a new 5-600 arena complex

by onechris | Jan 06, 2012 03:37 PM

You must be a Stadium Journey member to post a comment.

Already a member? Sign in or Create a Stadium Journey Account

-- OR --