2014 NHL arena rankings

[newfcollins]

Take it with a grain of salt. The Wild have the top stadium, Ducks the worst.

Some surprises: Five Canadian arenas are in the bottom eight. The worst Canadian team was Ottawa:

There is no doubt that you will have a good time if you make the trip to see the Ottawa Senators. The members of Sens Army are friendly and knowledgeable and will add to your enjoyment. They will not blow you away with excitement, and that combined with the location of the arena, makes the Ottawa Senators a below average NHL experience.

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/0...arena-rankings

[Pengwin7]

Meh.
Until you tell me that the same 5 (or more) people have visited all 30 NHL rinks, it is going to be skewed rating.
One person may love a noisy atmosphere that reeks of 1980s smoke... another may not.

I have (though) read & heard that Xcel is definitely among the top rinks to watch a game at.

[kevinsrangers]

i went to a couple of anehiem games in the playoffs a couple years ago and i thought their rink was great and had a very good atmosphere. i think vancouver has a great rink and should be ranked fairly high for the canadiean teams. edmonton and calgary were not the best imo.

[petegreg21]

Hmmm looks like I need to take a few more trips in the coming years... As it pertains to the Leafs (24th), I live a few blocks from the ACC and attend 4-5 Leafs games per season. If you go on a week night, it's a lot of business people there wining and dining clients so the atmosphere is much more subdued, but if you're there on a Saturday night then the atmosphere is great. I get the feeling these writers went on a week night haha.

PHX was 10th? Clearly atmosphere doesn't play much into the rankings, though maybe the 13k people that attend Coyotes games are just off the hook!

[Big Ev]

yeah Ottawa gets shat on for location (majority don't live in downtown) but Phoenix isn't?

[tgraveline]

Hmmm looks like I need to take a few more trips in the coming years... As it pertains to the Leafs (24th), I live a few blocks from the ACC and attend 4-5 Leafs games per season. If you go on a week night, it's a lot of business people there wining and dining clients so the atmosphere is much more subdued, but if you're there on a Saturday night then the atmosphere is great. I get the feeling these writers went on a week night haha.

PHX was 10th? Clearly atmosphere doesn't play much into the rankings, though maybe the 13k people that attend Coyotes games are just off the hook!

I was shocked by PHX as well. I love how they put SJ at number 13, but say absolutely nothing about it. It is a good arena atmosphere, but curious as to how they actually quantified things. Sounds like they just made it up on the fly lol

[Mr. Guru]

Kanata Senators the worst? Shocker.

I haven't been to all of them but the Palladium, I mean, Corel Centre, I mean, Scotiabank Place, errrr, Canadian Tire Centre is definitely in the bottom of the league in terms of...almost everything.

Detroits Joe Lewis is absolutely horrendous too. Buffalo's arena is an amazing hockey specific arena just horrible location. Nothing going on around it.

Philly, Chicago, Montreal, should be top 3.

Location is key for me, making the district (bars/pubs/restaurants) around the ACC amazing. Surprisingly Columbus also has a great area around the arena.

[marshal]

The Oilers have been in DIRE need for a new arena for a long, long time. No, the location isn't great - it's right off the LRT, but it's not in a very safe part of the city.

Went to see the Sabres at HSBC (when it was called that) and the arena was new and looked great, but it's surrounded by nothing.

[Top_Shelf]

I watch a several games every year at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and I can confirm that it's pretty damn good, not surprised to see it ranked #1. Great fans and atmosphere, reasonable ticket prices and just an overall excellent facility with lots of bars, pubs and parking near by.....best part is listening to the season ticket holders heckle Dany Heatley

[Big Ev]

Kanata Senators the worst? Shocker.

I haven't been to all of them but the Palladium, I mean, Corel Centre, I mean, Scotiabank Place, errrr, Canadian Tire Centre is definitely in the bottom of the league in terms of...almost everything.

Detroits Joe Lewis is absolutely horrendous too. Buffalo's arena is an amazing hockey specific arena just horrible location. Nothing going on around it.

Philly, Chicago, Montreal, should be top 3.

Location is key for me, making the district (bars/pubs/restaurants) around the ACC amazing. Surprisingly Columbus also has a great area around the arena.

you haven't been to all of them. The arena is just fine.

[Mr. Guru]

Its fine for the Sens.

Bottom echelon in terms of most factors.

[Shiva Blaster]

you haven't been to all of them. The arena is just fine.

I've been to 8 NHL rinks and the Sens arena situation (had it multiple times for both concerts and hockey games) is by far the worst that I have experienced. Plunking that rink in the middle of nowhere Kanata was an idiotic decision and sucks all of the life, convenience, and atmosphere out of seeing a hockey game there. Like anything real-estate related, location is everything and Kanata blows goats.

[StaveOffElimination]

Completely agree with Vancouver being far down the list. It is to the point where it isn't even fun to go to the games. Half the fans aren't paying attention and the other half shush people when they make too much noise because they are "analyzing" the game. It is so bad that ushers will actually come tell you to quiet down. This isn't just a problem with drunk fans, obviously that gets annoying, but it's true for everyone who is cheering. Add that the tickets are ridiculously expensive and out of reach for a large majority of the population, there is just no reason to go to games. Hopefully with the changes in the organization they will change the way they approach the in-game experience because it is seriously lacking.

[Big Ev]

I've been to 8 NHL rinks and the Sens arena situation (had it multiple times for both concerts and hockey games) is by far the worst that I have experienced. Plunking that rink in the middle of nowhere Kanata was an idiotic decision and sucks all of the life, convenience, and atmosphere out of seeing a hockey game there. Like anything real-estate related, location is everything and Kanata blows goats.

It was the only choice they had (http://www.obj.ca/Opinion/Bruce-Fire...is-in-Kanata/1) and it's not in the middle of nowhere. The majority of people in Ottawa live in the suburbs.

People love to complain but it's so easy to get to the arena.



- - - Updated - - -

Its fine for the Sens.

Bottom echelon in terms of most factors.

Clearly not according to the review posted in the link above. The only bad factor was the location. So how does that rank 29th then?

[Mr. Guru]

well if that review said it.........

that review was a personal opinion. Just like my post on this forum.

Out of the 7ish arenas I've been to Kanata's was the worst.

No need to get offended. If you like it you like it. Big deal what others say. Again, the arena is probably fine for the Sens.