Question: What is the most intimidating building in the NHL?

The Leafs fourth game in four nights ended with a 4-3 shootout loss to the Flyers. Mind you, Phil Kessel scored in overtime so it should have ended with a 4-3 win. The goal was wrongly waved off and there is no video replay in the pre-season, a fact nobody seemed to know.

The Leafs cross the border today to take on the Buffalo Sabres. According to this stateside report, the Leafs will face a roster of youngsters, including forwards Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe. Tonight's game will be broadcast on Leafs TV.

I don't know. Maybe it's just me. But for some reason, Leaf games at Buffalo's HSBC Arena just don't crackle with the same intensity as they did inside the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The Aud, which opened in 1940 and closed in 1996, used to exude an almost intangible menace.

Is it possible to appreciate the amenities and sightlines inside our new multi-function sports complexes while still missing the old buildings? Maple Leaf Gardens was not a great place to watch hockey, at least not in the seats we could afford. But it had character and deranged charm, which is not something you can honestly say about the Air Canada Centre.

Those old buildings went up during the early to mid-20th century during an age of war and instability. They were inspired by the twin notions of "diversion" and "spectacle," and not, say, "corporate seating" and "maximum profits."

Good lord, when the Leafs ventured into Chicago Stadium, my brothers and I would turn down the volume on the TV and feel queasy. The building was combustible. The fans looked like they were frothing with murderous rage. The stands rattled, as if set upon a foundation of Jell-O. The organ player seemed borderline insane. The jarring foghorn that blasted after every Blackhawk goal, well, it haunts me to this day. (As does this bit of extended lunacy.)

Anyway, compared to Chicago Stadium, the United Center is about as threatening as an airport lounge. This brings us to today’s question: Going into the new season, what is the most intimidating building in the NHL?

When the Leafs are on the road, is there a rink that is so loud and disturbing, it actually provides our opponents with a home ice advantage? Is there an enemy rink that makes young Leaf fans feel queasy? Or are those days now gone?

PHOTO: RON BULL/TORONTO STAR

Comments

[Moe Green]

I can't answer that question, I really can barely notice the difference on television. Perhaps some of our more astute or well-traveled observers can shed some light. I can offer some observations from the past and ask a question. When I was a kid I remember those sad "dying whale" horns that were omnipresent at MLG. In fact, I'm not 100% sure, but I think they may still exist today at the ACC. Far from being intimidating to the opposition or encouraging to the home team, those horns were, are, well, pathetic. They made you feel kinda woeful, sorta depressed - at best. Here's my question: How can we breathe some life into the fans at ACC? Is it possible?

[Vinay Menon]

That’s a good question. I’m not sure we can breathe more life into the ACC.
Why? Here’s my unscientific theory: The fans that make the most noise are furthest away from the ice. Their vocal efforts dissipate into the rafters. Meanwhile, down below, too many “fans” are sitting on their hands. Or they are using those hands to eat sushi and drink martinis, which makes clapping more difficult.
I forgot all about those air-horns. They were like really sad vuvuzelas.

[johnnyk]

Too many suits checking their Blackberries for stock quotes is the problem in the ACC. Pretty well everywhere fewer and fewer real fans can afford to go to a game now.

[johnstruthers]

I remember going to the Canada Cup games in Hamilton. For the final the suits showed up and it was much quieter when Lemieux scored from Gretzsky with Larry Murphy as the decoy. It was almost disappointing compared to the previous games.
At the ACC during Pre-Season games it's a real shame those empty seats aren't filled with kids. There should be a system to have the tickets distributed by those who stay home.
If you watch the ACC on TV it appears there are NO fans in the seats at the start of the second and third periods. Just grey (they call them platinum) rows. They are all in the bunkers. We don't have a real team because the owners aren't fans.

[Richar Zavergiu]

When you watch the game on television these days, you can only tell which arena the game is being played by seeing what the home jersey is. The corporate arenas today are built for profit and the template is the same around the NHL. There is nothing special with the Bell Centre in Montreal or the ACC. Both are boring as heck, architecturaly. No character at all!! However when I went to the ACC two years ago, the fans seemed indifferent to the game; not the same in Montreal.

[Mark]

I think the Captials building has been lately... red outs & loudness behind their allstar squad. Doesn't help knowing there will be plenty of offensive pour-ons from the home team so you can't let up.

As for the ACC, it does have the best playoff crowds & here's why:
I've noticed there are 2 ACC crowds- Saturday nights, white collar, season ticket, polite with no booing, & the weeknight blue collar rowdy bunch aching for fights, hard hitting, & who don't sit on their hands.
Playoff time- those 2 crowds combine to make the ACC the best building around- Toronto weekday crowds meshing with Toronto weekend crowds, a beautiful thing!

[J. D. POWELL]

ACC BORING ARCHITECTURALLY! ARRE YOU NUTS? YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE: THE ACC IS AN ART DECO PERIOD BUILDING (FORMERLY A CANADA POST) OF WHICH WE HAVE VERY FEW OF IN ALL OF CANADA. YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY FROM MONTREAL BECAUSE OTHER THAN OLD MONTREAL YOU HAVE NO NOTEWORTHY ARCHITECTURE AND I USE TO LIVE IN MONTREAL SO I AM NOT TALKING OUT OF IGNORANCE LIKE YOU. THE ACC MAY BE BORING FOR MAPLE LAFFS GAMES BUT BE THERE WHEN THE TORONTO ROCK LACROSSE TEAM PLAYS AND IT IS A VERY DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERE! SORRY, I FORGOT - OTHER THAN THE CANADIENS (YOU CAN'T COUNT THE ALOUETTES) - YOU ARE ONLY A ONE SPORT TOWN - EMPHASIS TOWN! COME SEE A REAL SPORTS CITY!

[Nuttyone]

Games at Northlands in Edmonton (sorry, Rexall Place) are still pretty loud and intimidating, especially during the Oilers' rare playoff runs. However, when Toronto visits, there are more Leafs fans in the crowd than Oiler fans. So I guess it's not that intimidating.

[Kevo]

To have an intimidating building you need the fans that care enough to make it that way. The best way to do it is have the 'normal' Canadian in the stands (aka not a bunch of suits with their clients). A great example in the GTA is Hamilton's Ivor Wynne Stadium - it's 80 years old and a simple steel girder and concrete stadium in the middle of a heavily blue collar neighbourhood. Even when the stadium has 20,000 of its 30,000 seats filled for a TiCats game, you can hear the roar of the crowds and rumble of the stadium as you walk down the street towards it. It's probably also the only stadium I've been to where even the old people will yell for the team and against fans of the opposing team (and chirp players of the visiting team by their first name).

It's all about the fans... if the Jays had 65,000 loud, rabid fans in the skydome, I'm sure even that stadium, which everyone seems to think is a bad spectator stadium, would be incredibly intimidating.

[JP]

Whoever said the fans are what makes a building intimidated are absolutely correct. And you're not going to find any fans scarier than those in Philly. Remember the guy who fell in the penalty box trying to get at Domi? And not just with the Flyers, it is with all the Philly sports teams. They are rabid and their intimidating presence has moved with them from the Spectrum to Wells Fargo Center.

[Alejandro]

JOE LOUIS ARENA!

[Ron Burgundy]

the spectrum in philly...hands down!

[Moe Green]

I have never been to the ACC (been out of the city for 12 years) but do they show all replays on the Jumbotron? I think it is an absurdity that they don't show ALL replays on the Jumbotron at Skydome. It's unconscionable! Wanna put some life into the place? Drop the beer and concession prices, get and organist or a band instead of the canned music. Show replays. Better concessions. Better beer! End the corporate control of the games!

[Steve G]

Intimidating for my wallet? ACC.

For visiting teams? Noisiest barn I've been inside in recent years was Raleigh for the 1st games of the Finals vs Edmonton. Even for a regular season game, they have a good time there.

Would love to go to the Spengler some time. On TV it looks like they have a real atmosphere there, with singing a la European football. There really aren't many venues here in N America that have anything that comes close to a top division game in England or Germany. If you're looking for a fun place to watch hockey - that can be really intimidating depending on who the visiting team is - drive down the 401 and watch Michigan play at Yost. It's a 7000 seat version of Varsity Arena, that's packed every night.

[Phil]

There is NO NHL arena which compares to the atmosphere of the Bell Centre. The din is so loud that one can barely hear oneself think. Coupled with the tradition of the franchise...the banners of Stanley Cup Champions and Hall of Fame players hanging from the rafters..it has an almost surreal,ethereal aura...no other NHL rink comes even remotely close.

[Pyramid Power]

Wachovia and Philly, Verizon and the Caps until they start to stink again and the Bell Centre would be my votes. Leafs fans way way way way too quiet for so many reasons. Pathetic.

[johnnyk]

"As for the ACC, it does have the best playoff crowds & here's why....
.....Playoff time- those 2 crowds combine to make the ACC the best building around- Toronto weekday crowds meshing with Toronto weekend crowds, a beautiful thing!"

Nice!
The frickin' Leafs haven't been in the playoffs for half a decade and no Cup since you know when.
Hopefully "the best playoff crowds" will still be alive for the next time!

[mason]

It's all about the fans - seats at Scottrade Center in Saint Louis are filled with people who love the Blues, love the game, and who aren't forking out hundreds of bucks to be there - the seats are affordable and therefore you get people who are passionate about their team in the stadium - as opposed to Toronto, where normal people cannot afford to attend, so all the seats are filled with corporate guys there on the corporate buck (and therefore have to behave so as not to embarrass their company or the client they brought). It's seriously all about the fans. Put some real Leafs fans in the ACC and the place would be as intimidating as it gets. By contrast.... Keep it filled with guys who care what they might look like (god forbid they're seen cheering) and then it'll stay the same forever.

[Jubes Mickelson]

1. Anaheim
2. Phoenix
3. Tampa Bay
4. Columbus

HANDS DOWN

[Moe Green]

Here is an off the subject comment that may warrant an article all by itself: Why hasn't there been a cup in Canada since 1994? Given that there are six Canadian teams, shouldn't we expect to see a cup every 5 years or so? I think it is because of the massive salaries players are getting. When you are as rich as they are and marry top-level actresses, models, singers etc. none of whom want to live in Canada. Let's face it, If I were making six-million a year, I don't think I would want to live in Toronto or Montreal either. Let alone Edmonton! I'll take Los Angeles, San Fransisco or Miami thank you very much. Sure Canada is a more compassionate country especially from a social program perspective but when you are that rich, who needs health-care. Given that reality, will Canada ever win another Stanley Cup? Who is the biggest recent free-agent to sign with a Canadian team? There sure haven't been many. It's really an ugly, ugly truth.

[Moe Green]

The problem is that even with a second team in the GTA the seats would still be owned by corporations. The only way we'll see a change is with a third team in the GTA. Toronto would easily support it.

[Mark Prior]

back when the leafs played the flyers and islanders in the playoffs in the early 2000s at wachovia and vet's memorial respectively were the most nuts in recent memory

[KD]

The old Philly Spectrum would have to be the best in my memory. As for current ones, how about the Devil's stadium in Newark? It's not as bad as the old staium in the Meadowlands, but Newark itself is a frightening thought, never mind the hockey rink!