World Championships: U18 and Women’s

[robertearle]

And welcome to the black hole that is Shelfit…

I had no idea...

[shelfit]

And welcome to the black hole that is Shelfit…

Lmao, at least you're funny. "Robert the Earle" takes himself too seriously and keeps coming back for more punishment. I saw earlier tonight that he had made yet another post, but I didn't read it because it looked too long to bother with and at a certain point I'm just wasting my time with another easy target who doesn't get it. I did the same thing with another guy during the Olympics and I made one final post and said I wasn't coming back to that thread, and I never did, so I have no idea if or what he may have said after that. I'm doing the same thing here. I made my point that the main camera angle was absolutely awful. Someone else said the same thing. The rest with Robert was just me having fun at his expense. Thanks for playing along and for your humor. Your comment was fun and funny. Ta-ta! Onward to other threads! Lol

[robertearle]

I made my point that the main camera angle was absolutely awful.

And i made my main point that the camera position isn't going to change, because the dimensions and layout of the building aren't going to change. So deal with it, learn to live with it, or don't watch. Either way, the UW women's hockey program will continue to do just fine.

[BadgerPete]

Here's a shot of where the cameras are. Where else would they go?

[PuckLover]

Let's at least keep in mind it could be worse...

(fisheye from U18s a few years ago, or god forbid, TV coverage at Ohio State)

[robertearle]

Here's a shot of where the cameras are. Where else would they go?

For those who maybe aren't sure what they're looking at, the balcony on the left is "the press box", and the main camera position is one side or the other of the second pillar nearer to the photo-taker. It is essentially at the red line. I don't know if you can really tell from the photo (thanks to BadgerPete for posting it, BTW) but the 'rise' angle of the stands is relatively steep. And that is because they had to shoe-horn LaBahn into a pretty tight space between existing buildings. And they chose to do that because 'underneath' they could, through tunnels, share locker space and Zambonis, etc, with the next door Kohl Center. The fact that the rise angle to the seating is steep necessarily means the angle the camera in the press area above sits is also steeper than it would normally be.

The only other place you could even conceive to put a 'main camera' would be directly below that balcony, in the walkway just above the center ice seats. And even if you could convince the fire marshals to allow something like that on a one-time-only kind of basis, you'd have to close off that part of the walkway and likely have no spectators in that center ice section of seats to put a camera there.

If you find the angle at which the main camera sits to objectionable - and I actually don't find it all that bothersome - there were SO many other advantages to shoe-horning the building into the space they had available that living with a less than ideal camera angle was easily the correct choice.

And I'd have been happy to explain that to shelfit; or he could easily see it for himself if he were to ever visit LaBahn for himself. But he knows better, so...

[CROSS BAR]

It is an awesome building (Been there a few times). Shelfit is one of those posters that likes to antagonize and take cheap shots from a key pad, with no other real intent or purpose. Don't waste your time.

[ARM]

The only other place you could even conceive to put a 'main camera' would be directly below that balcony, in the walkway just above the center ice seats. And even if you could convince the fire marshals to allow something like that on a one-time-only kind of basis, you'd have to close off that part of the walkway and likely have no spectators in that center ice section of seats to put a camera there.

That's what is done in many rinks, but the concourses tend to be wider, and you've already documented well why that is. This shortage of space for "extras" is why I've always felt it would be a challenge for LaBahn to host a conference or NCAA semis and final, as there isn't much room for things like bands and radio broadcast for each team. Maybe that will change in the future, if the determination is that if you can host a World Championship there, why not NCAA events? It will be a challenge for organizers, though, as those events expect things like a hospitality room for officials and team and media personnel that these international events sometimes just ignore.

As a spectator, I like the steeper seating, as it brings the sight lines closer to the rink. In many of the large rinks, if the stairs have less slope, then it feels like you are so far away from the plane of the glass if you stand at the top rail, for example.

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Let's at least keep in mind it could be worse...

(fisheye from U18s a few years ago, or god forbid, TV coverage at Ohio State)

Yeah...Video for the Sinners is much better than what the yuckeyes have.

Shelfit a he? I mean who knows these days, but me no think so...

[robertearle]

That's what is done in many rinks, but the concourses tend to be wider, and you've already documented well why that is. This shortage of space for "extras" is why I've always felt it would be a challenge for LaBahn to host a conference or NCAA semis and final, as there isn't much room for things like bands and radio broadcast for each team. Maybe that will change in the future, if the determination is that if you can host a World Championship there, why not NCAA events? It will be a challenge for organizers, though, as those events expect things like a hospitality room for officials and team and media personnel that these international events sometimes just ignore.

As a spectator, I like the steeper seating, as it brings the sight lines closer to the rink. In many of the large rinks, if the stairs have less slope, then it feels like you are so far away from the plane of the glass if you stand at the top rail, for example.

Can one walk, I dunno, a 100 yards - maybe 200 - to get to a "hospitality room", etc? Because the entire Kohl Center is a short walk away (and you don't have to go outside to get there).

I doubt we'd ever get a NCAA Frozen Four. But WCHA final four? That I think could happen.

One thing they did do that might not have been apparent on the video stream was they used the railing at the top of the spectator seating, press box side, for a secondary table-space area for team scouts and some (print?) press. I don't know if you recall, but those 'leaning areas' are maybe as much as two feet wide; wide enough for a laptop, etc. They had bar stool chairs along two or three sections length of space marked off and assigned to different scouts and media.

[ARM]

Can one walk, I dunno, a 100 yards - maybe 200 - to get to a "hospitality room", etc? Because the entire Kohl Center is a short walk away (and you don't have to go outside to get there).

I doubt we'd ever get a NCAA Frozen Four. But WCHA final four? That I think could happen.

One thing they did do that might not have been apparent on the video stream was they used the railing at the top of the spectator seating, press box side, for a secondary table-space area for team scouts and some (print?) press. I don't know if you recall, but those 'leaning areas' are maybe as much as two feet wide; wide enough for a laptop, etc. They had bar stool chairs along two or three sections length of space marked off and assigned to different scouts and media.

I don't know remember the leaning areas at LaBahn, specifically, but I've definitely seen that setup in other arenas. You're right that there is definitely a precedent for less for WCHA accommodations in rinks like the Bloomington Ice Garden, the rink in Rochester, Fogerty Arena in Blaine, and even the DECC.

For example, when the WCHA was at the Ralph in Grand Forks in 2015, the hospitality room/food was down at ice level, and it was a bit of an excursion to get back to the press box. The league/team personnel tend to be much more attracted to the eats than they are to watching the game. They can hide this fairly well at Ridder, because the club room has club-level seating right out the door. At the Ralph, it was pretty obvious. I think even the last time it was at AMSOIL, they held the media conferences back somewhere in the DECC. Doing that in the Kohl Center would work fine in Madison.

From a media perspective, one of the hardest things to do at most of these locations is when you are trying to transcribe quotes from the first game while the band is playing 20 feet away for the second. They may give you a quiet place to do that, but then it is impossible to follow the second game, which you typically have to cover as well. It will wind up being a 1-0 game, and the only goal happens when you're sitting in a weight room with no view of anything. You ask the player to describe the play, and she'll say, "Props to my teammates; they set me up." Ask Mark Johnson and you get, "She capitalized on an opportunity and it gave our bench a lot of energy." Sometimes, we know our recaps are blah, but there isn't much we can do about it.

[robertearle]

I don't know remember the leaning areas at LaBahn, specifically, but I've definitely seen that setup in other arenas. You're right that there is definitely a precedent for less for WCHA accommodations in rinks like the Bloomington Ice Garden, the rink in Rochester, Fogerty Arena in Blaine, and even the DECC.

For example, when the WCHA was at the Ralph in Grand Forks in 2015, the hospitality room/food was down at ice level, and it was a bit of an excursion to get back to the press box. The league/team personnel tend to be much more attracted to the eats than they are to watching the game. They can hide this fairly well at Ridder, because the club room has club-level seating right out the door. At the Ralph, it was pretty obvious. I think even the last time it was at AMSOIL, they held the media conferences back somewhere in the DECC. Doing that in the Kohl Center would work fine in Madison.

From a media perspective, one of the hardest things to do at most of these locations is when you are trying to transcribe quotes from the first game while the band is playing 20 feet away for the second. They may give you a quiet place to do that, but then it is impossible to follow the second game, which you typically have to cover as well. It will wind up being a 1-0 game, and the only goal happens when you're sitting in a weight room with no view of anything. You ask the player to describe the play, and she'll say, "Props to my teammates; they set me up." Ask Mark Johnson and you get, "She capitalized on an opportunity and it gave our bench a lot of energy." Sometimes, we know our recaps are blah, but there isn't much we can do about it.

I'll take that as 'Arlan endorses LaBahn for a WCHA final four'.

:-)

[Steamboat]

I think that the Victory Press just outed one of our regular posters. I will leave it at that, and let the investigations begin.

[Lindsay]

I think that the Victory Press just outed one of our regular posters. I will leave it at that, and let the investigations begin.

Ha! it’s all good, I gave my name. :-) the tsn coverage was amazing.... as was the fan engagement online, including right here. Thanks everyone for chatting here! I adored that tournament.

as for labahn or not: it’s just a special part of the college game so it’s unfortunate that all they get is their reg season and brief wcha playoff series. I like seeing the college rinks broadcast; I like that a city can host in a non college rink too. Things can be different you know? Penn State didn’t have a ton of fans but it’s ok, it’s not the end of the world. They had their roar zone show up and cheer against OSU which was fun; and we got a WCHA final as a national final and no one had home ice advantage (another way OSU had good fortune as UMD hosts next year). Yes I thought, if Labahn can do an IIHF, why not a Frozen Four?

Anyway that was a cool U18 tourney, as the victory press article alludes to what can we expect in Sweden? My money is on TSN sending a crew - they were going to send a crew to the Sweden 2022 games until they were cancelled. Exciting development for hockey fans and credit where credit is due: Luc Tardifff, USA Hockey and all the rest including volunteers who made it happen.

[Lindsay]

https://victorypress.org/2022/06/21/...hip-broadcast/

long read about the broadcast coverage of the most recent U18 tourney. People liked it, is the gist.