My family and I just arrived home after going to the Frozen Four and then
taking a vacation in Pennsylvania.  Since Agganis Arena just opened I have
based my opinion of the Schott against Agganis.

The Schott looked fabulous from the outside and the landscaping and
walkways were well done.  The entrance areas are nice and large and it is
easy to enter the arena.  However, I was immediately struck by the exposed
ventilation/lack of finishing and lack of/poor lighting in the concourse of the
100 level.  I was very surprised as this is the first area fans see.  On the
positive side was the boards running around the concourse showing (I
presume) all of the Ohio State Hall of Fame members and the Hall of Fame
Room was excellent.  Both are sorely lacking at Agganis Arena.  In marked
contrast to the 100 level concourse, the 200 level concourse finished and
well lighted.

The seating in the 200 level was good, wider than at Agganis (but then, that
is true for all other arenas), but not quite as comfortable.  The sightlines were
great, but the seats were further away from the ice than I prefer.

I was also disappointed with the main scoreboard.  The HD video screens at
Agganis put all the other videoboards in every arena I have been in to
shame, and the Schott is no exception.  However, I was also very
disappointed with the lack of penalty time on the center scoreboard.  The
small ribbon boards were also poor cousins to the ribbon boards at Agganis
and they looked to be smaller.  It also looked to me like the pressbox was
almost an afterthought as it did not appear to be very well designed.

Sean Pickett
Go Terriers


On 10 Apr 2005 at 15:54, Bob Griebel wrote:

> As one who just hates to have to give any credit to The Ohio State
> University, I'm just wondering what people in attendance thought of
> that dumpy rink.  Does it vindicate the state of Ohio for the
> Cincinnati experience?  The one time I'd been there before, I sat low,
> off the end of the player's bench, and had to keep looking around a
> half-naked OSU student who was determined to capture the camera's
> attention by acting outrageous.
>
> This time, from high up in Section 302, I thought the plunging sight
> lines were phenominal.  I'd liked the old Reunion Center in Dallas
> when the Stars played there because even sitting with your back to the
> wall in the top row behind the goal you had a great view of the ice,
> as long as you didn't lean too far forward and tumble all the way
> down.  But I thought the Schott was far better (other than that they
> must have bought their glass on sale at Value City) and I think it
> would be a good Hockey-L project to steal it and move it to someplace
> where people like hockey for a permanent NCAA championship site, kinda
> like the Broadmoor was for years.
>
> Bob Griebel