March 16, 2018
Cool Insuring Arena (Capacity: 4,774)
Glens Falls, NY
Adirondack Thunder vs Fort Wayne Komets
Final Score: 3 – 2 (OT)
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It is rare that both schedules and weather coincide favorably for an Adirondack hockey trip, but this weekend presented that opportunity as we began in Glens Falls. This tiny city of just 14,700 sits on the Hudson River in Eastern New York, right on the southern edge of the Adirondacks. Paper products and the production of medical devices are the main players in the city economy. The completion of the Civic Center in 1979 brought hockey to the area and geography led to the “Adirondack” name for the Red Wings’ affiliate, who won 4 Calder Cups in a 20 year span. The loss of the team in 1999 was not the end of professional hockey, rather the beginning of a revolving door of teams and leagues. This current version of Adirondack hockey is the Thunder and they are in their third season with the ECHL. A playoff series win in 2016, was the city’s first since 1994. Watching a hockey game at Cool Insuring Arena is a fun experience and one that reminded me of days gone by attending hockey games when I was younger. They just need to reduce the bombardment of advertisements.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
Glens Falls is not all that attractive for visitors, but it’s only 20-30 minutes from a couple great destinations: Lake George to the North and Saratoga Springs to the South. Admittedly, both are primarily geared for summer, but Saratoga is worth a visit, even in the winter. That is where we spent the afternoon before reaching Glens Falls for dinner at one of decent several eating options downtown. This central section of the city is focused around Centennial Circle and the Civic Center is just a bit south, in between the Circle and a less glamorous area near the Feeder Canal.
Location Ranking: 6 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Though the city center is small, there are some odd juts in the street grid and the circle can throw one for a loop if not paying attention. Arrival into the city comes via The Northway (I-87) as downtown is only 2 miles from Exit 18. Since we got to Glens Falls early for dinner, we were able to get a parking spot on the street. Other free municipal lots get full fast and aren’t worth trying, so if arriving before game-time, the parking garage at the nearby hospital or the surface lots south by the paper plants are the main choices. When leaving, try to avoid getting back onto Glen St (Rt 9) as it is a challenge with both car and foot traffic.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Exterior
Uniquely built into a hill, the Civic Center has an unassuming appearance coming from downtown. The low height transitions to a bigger, more “arena-like” visual when walking down to the southern side along Oakland Ave. The rectangular box of an arena has an exterior made up of an attractive all-brick, which matches the surrounding city building landscape quite well. A bit of green material that slopes up to the roof can be seen at the top of the arena. Individual windows line the sides and these can give light to the interior but are curtained off. “Cool Insuring Arena” lettering is placed on two of the four arena walls.
Exterior Ranking: 6 out of 10
Concourse
One entrance into a small foyer is where people cluster before going into the Civic Center and this initial space features the typical pseudo-advertising tables. The area is lively thanks to colorful walls, visual displays and a team store. Inside the arena, a walkway rounds the top of the bowl and each corner opens to slightly more space. This is also the location of a food stand and they are not in a good spot as it leads to high congestion at intermission, along with long lines. While the interior game view is appreciated, the concourse and walking space overall is very tight and not ideal to maneuver. In addition, bathrooms are accessed down a level, so next to each one of those food stands is a restroom sign to an awkward and also small bathroom space.
Concourse Ranking: 1.5 out of 5
Food
Food is average at best with the typical stadium dreck offered (hot dogs, burgers, pizza, chicken tenders, etc.) I wish they would have described the “Thunder Dog” before I got it. Assuming it was just a jumbo hot dog, I found out it was covered in fake chili and nacho cheese. The lone good feature is the local beer available. Some examples include Glens Falls’ own Coopers Cave Ale Company, which offers “Bluesberry” and “Last Light IPA”.
Food Ranking: 4 out of 8
Interior
Cool Insuring Arena has a straight-forward interior: a bowl around the rink with 12-15 rows of seating. No frills, no suites, no clubs, just sit and watch hockey (yes!). Seats are alternating shades of green and the bowl is steep, making sightlines optimal. The roof is made up of steel beams going in every direction and it is quite low, which helps to enhance the noise. Advertisements are everywhere in the building: walls, stairs, support beams, section signs…it’s a theme for the game presentation to come.
Interior Ranking: 8 out of 14
Scoreboard
A really nice board sits above center ice and it is dominated by widescreen video that is clear. Live action was shown through the game and replays were sufficient too. For the in-game stats like score and time, a circular display is used underneath the video screen. I’m not a huge fan of that set-up, but the rest of the board is pretty good. In the corners, are very old, unused scoreboards that remain from the early beginnings.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3.5 out of 4
Displays
Up until 2017, the Glens Falls Civic Center hosted the State Finals for New York’s High School Basketball championships. Heritage Hall, a wing off the opening foyer, has the Hall of Fame that honors well over 100 people for contributions to High School Basketball in the state. There is also a nice glass display with pictures, newspaper clippings and past players/champions. I hate unnecessarily seeing tradition broken and I hope the tourney returns back to Glens Falls soon after their 36-year run ended. Further inside the arena, an Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame features a number of entrants, each with detailed information. Very well done. Some of the names include: Bill Dineen, Jody Gage, Ted Nolan, Barry Melrose and Dave Strader. The late Strader is also honored with the prominent naming of the Press Box after him. While the Thunder have not won anything significant yet, I love how the building still has the 4 Calder Cup Championship banners from the old Red Wings. They also have similar banners for Dineen and the retired #15 of Glenn Markoski.
Displays Ranking: 4 out of 6
Cost
Parking costs vary since some municipal lots are free. If you’re lucky to find a spot or get a free space on a street, then kudos as event fees for the hospital garage or south lots are $5. Minor-league hockey tickets certainly are increasing at a much faster rate than their baseball counterparts, but the price of an Adirondack game averages to be lower than other ECHL squads in the region. All seats are $19 and that is good because it evenly distributes fans as opposed to a disjointed look where many people sit in the ends. The $5.50 online surcharge is worth avoiding at the box office. Food prices are fairly reasonable as well: $3 for a Hot Dog, $6 for a Cheeseburger, $4 for French Fries, $4 for a bottled water or Pepsi.
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Fan Support
Crowd size for this game was disappointingly less than half-full. That seems to be the max that the team brings in, even for the playoffs, where the Thunder averaged 2,578 for their 4 home games. This ranked 13th out of the 16 qualifying teams, though it is important to keep in mind the very small market size for Glens Falls compared to the rest of the league.
Fan Support Ranking: 3 out of 8
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is old-school and it reminded me of when I attended Rochester Amerks games as a kid in the early 90s. That was most noticeable in the beginning, when you can hear the passionate, season-ticket holder group boo the announcement of the game official or cheer the scratching of an opposing player. Sporadic cowbells can also be heard at times. During most of gameplay, the atmosphere isn’t all that special. However, after goals, it can get very loud, especially when combined with music. The crowd was fully into the Overtime period that we saw and after the Thunder scored, I had to yell to talk to my brother next to me. Great stuff. The only downfall in the atmosphere department is the game presentation, specifically from the public announcer. If I heard one more: “It’s a Queensbury Hotel (soft voice) icing” or “Time for the Catseye Power Play….CATSEYE (loud)”, I was going to lose my mind. The over-the-top ad and music presentation did get annoying.
Atmosphere Ranking: 9 out of 14
Other Stuff
A small, local group is now in control of ownership and grass-roots donations / fundraising helps keep the team here. There are not many small and historic markets like this that still have professional hockey and I hope sincerely that they succeed….As a fan, the advertisements are incredibly annoying, but I understand it given the local ownership situation. It is also a reason why the long time “Glens Falls Civic Center” name came down last year as Cool Insuring Agency bought naming rights…..For anyone who went to grade school before the year 2000: Remember those old analog clocks in each classroom, they are here around the walkway! Brought back weird memories of looking at them every 5 minutes…..What’s the deal with people in shorts? It was 25 degrees out and we counted 4 people wearing shorts.
Game
Adam Larkin got the scoring going for the home side as the Thunder took a 1-0 lead into intermission. Fort Wayne, thanks to the power play, struck back with a couple quick ones in the second period, despite Adirondack controlling the shot count (it finished 50 to 27 in the Thunder’s favor). The game was tied up fairly early in the third as Brian Ward scored his 26th of the season. In the overtime session, Shane Conacher stayed patient and got the goalie out of his position as he put his backhand home for the Adirondack game-winner.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
