Jim writes:
>follow the puck from behind a tuba is hard enough :-)  It also would help if
>the Press Box was situated at one end of the rink [as at BU], instead of
>squatting at center ice [as at PC] like a concrete pillbox that's often hard
>to see around.
 
NO!  The press box should *never* go at the end of the rink!  It's damn
near impossible to try to follow the action down the far end at BU, Princeton,
Harvard, etc.  When there's a scramble in front of the net, you never know
where the puck is.  Most radio guys seem to hate calling games in rinks
where the press box is at the end of the rink.  And since I spend much of
my time there, I'll tell you that is why I don't look forward to working
games at BU - that, and the glass that encloses the box, making you feel as
if you're in a fish bowl.
 
I agree that ideally the press box should be located so as to not obstruct
the sightlines of any viewers, such as at Dartmouth and Northeastern, but
I don't think it should ever go at the end of the rink.  Either put it
over the stands, or behind them like at Yale.  Now that I think about it,
there is more wrong with Schneider Arena than I originally implied, and
one of those things is that it *is* too much smaller than it needs to be
(with all the open space outside the building, it could have been made
bigger).  And, the press box does obstruct some seats, but I'll tell you,
from the point of view of the people who work in it, it's in one of the
best locations in the game.
 
It's a definite conflict, trying to place the box close enough to the
action but not blocking any seats.  That's another plus for places like
Dartmouth, which were designed correctly and make everyone happy.
 
Are we too starved for hockey, or what, with all this talk about arena
details? :-)
 
 
- mike