Name: Tesla coil, cannon and Ric Flair: How the NHL is creating home ice in the hubs
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Tesla coil, cannon and Ric Flair: How the NHL is creating home ice in the hubs

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Jul 22, 2020TAMPA, . – coach was in Amalie Arena on a Saturday afternoon, two days before training camp was set to open, when he was surprised to hear a familiar sound.Sonya Bryson-Kirksey singing the national anthem.The 53-year-old retired Air Force technical sergeant has been a beloved fixture at Lightning games the past seven seasons, with her soothing voice the soundtrack of any night in this building. But on this particular Saturday, it felt strange. Bryson stood on the ice – in her blue Lightning jersey and sparkling lipstick – in an empty and dark arena, taping both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems. Organist Krystof Srebrakowski played from his perch on the second level. Soon the Tesla coil was firing in the rafters. The team’s mascot, Thunderbug, was on the ice.“We lit up the room, the stars were on the ice, the room was blue. It looked like we were ready to open the doors,” said John Franzone, Lightning VP of game presentation. “At one point, I looked across the ice, almost wistfully thinking what could have been.”The Lightning, like the rest of the NHL teams involved in the NHL’s return, have been recording and sending signature sounds and videos to the league to use during games at the two hub cities, Edmonton and Toronto. The boom of the cannon in Columbus will be available for games, as will the Ric Flair “Woooo!’ chants from Carolina. The plan to have celebrity anthem singers and heckle opposing goalies like Coyotes with “You Suck!” chants. Don’t forget the drum lines and medieval knights from the legendary pregame show. Team game presentation reps have been on weekly calls every Monday the past few months with the league, which has requested content like warmup music playlists, introduction video anthems, P.A. announcer intros and more.“What they’re trying to do is take each designed home game and try to make it sound and feel like it as much as they can without fans,” said Mike Forman, vice president of marketing for the . “They’re trying to re-create the in-game atmosphere for 24 different clubs, which is not an easy task. But I think they’re doing a really good job.”Team’s season ticket holders have also been asked to record and send videos of them yelling chants like “Let’s Go Lightning,” or “We Want The Cup!” The league will announce all the complete details in a press conference on Thursday, with teams having already sent a boatload of their content the past few weeks.“It’s like giving someone your recipe but you can’t cook the stew,” Franzone said. “But we hope at least it’ll raise the Spidey sense of our players.”&nbsp;There was a bit of a trial run during the Lightning’s Blue-White game Tuesday at Amalie Arena.The players were in full uniform in a near-empty building (other than a dozen or so media and staff). The team’s warmup music setlist played as they came onto the ice. The familiar tunes also blared from the speakers during play stoppages before faceoffs. When the referee (assistant coach Jeff Halpern) sent a player to the penalty box, the guilty parties were serenaded by NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.”When scored a shootout goal, his goal song, “Johnny B. Goode!” by Chuck Berry was played, with players on the bench loving it. The same went for defenseman ’s “Taking Care of Business” by Bachman Turner-Overdrive.Haven’t heard “Takin Care of Business” in a while. Norris Trophy finalist Victor Hedman finishes. Schenn got the winner in shootout.— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB)“The crowd is such a huge part of hockey, it’s one of the best parts,” Lightning center said. “Just the atmosphere it brings to the game. The organ is going. The music between whistles. It’s all kind of part of the routine of playing and when that’s gone, it almost feels more dead, quieter. It’s going to be different, that’s for sure.”The team’s game presentation executives said they don’t think there will be piped in crowd noise in the arena, but potentially on broadcasts. Most of the focus is on trying to make it as authentic an experience as possible. But the kind of music and sounds that the teams are sending over have become so engrained in both players and fans’ experiences, that every little bit helps. Franzone said, for example, a group of front office workers met in a room on that recent Saturday and recorded chants of “KUUUCH!” for big plays by and fan chants of “VASY! VASY!” for when the Vezina Trophy winner is stealing the show. The Predators sent recorded clips of fans in their own chants.“It doesn’t seem like the NHL is trying to go quite as artificial as the other leagues,” Forman said.”The others are doing more of the hum or buzz of the crowd, it doesn’t seem like the direction the NHL is going. They’ll have the music and the fan chants, and those are more situational than background, artificial noise.“One thing (NHL VP) Steve Mayer discussed early on with us is the NHL, they don’t want to try to make it something that it’s not, like pretend there are 18,000 fans there when there are zero fans there. It comes off fake. But if you incorporate some chants, it’s not as artificial. I’m intrigued to see how it compares to the sounds like we’ve heard with baseball and soccer recently.”Sam Flood, executive producer and president of production for NBC/NBCSN, put on players, coaches and referees during broadcasts, which should give fans a unique feel of the game’s iconic sounds (skates on ice, tape-to-tape passes) and (trash talk, etc). There will, however, reportedly be a five-second broadcast delay to monitor that language. Local broadcasters, like the will be calling games remotely from their own arenas, with the sounds from the hub cities (and “home” adds) sent through a feed.“Those are natural elements that happens when you’re producing,” said Stephen Frey, the Lightning’s manager of game presentation. “The game is going on and something happens, or (Kucherov) makes an incredible play, or Vasy stands on his head. That’s an instinct you feel – not playing the music, but letting the crowd make that ‘VASY! VASY!’ chant. It’ll be on (the league) to re-create them. It’ll be interesting to see how they execute these elements.”If you’ve ever been to a Blue Jackets game in Columbus, you know about the cannon.It doesn’t matter how many games you attend at Nationwide Arena, the thunderous boom the cannon makes when the home team scores makes you jump out of your seat. No, the Blue Jackets aren’t sending the actual cannon up to Toronto, but Derek Dawley, who the team’s executive producer, said the club did send the league video of the cannon.“We don’t know what they’ll do with it,” Dawley said. “There’s a charge that comes out of the cannon, but the sound is a concussion mortar that goes off in the building. I hope (it plays).”The Blue Jackets also sent in some of their unique chants, like the “Chili!” chant (the crowd gets free chili from a local restaurant after the team scores three goals in a game). Dawley said they’ll also send videos directly to players, through the team, during the playoffs to try to make them feel like they’re being cheered on.“We’re all in the same boat – it’s a new world we’re in,” Dawley said. “We gave it a shot.”So did the Predators.Ben Bosse, the Preds’ VP of event services and technical operations, said while it’s hard to replicate the live country music played by bands at Bridgestone during games, they got help from fans to pipe in some colorful chants. “It’s one of the things that make us unique, people make fun of us for it, but we’re irreverent to it,” Bosse said. “We’re just passionate about who we are and our brand. We’re just trying to give it a Nashville feel.”The Predators have had celebrity anthem singers during their playoff runs, from Luke Bryan, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill. Bosse said there are plans to have some big names record the anthem from the safety of their homes and studio so that can be part of the Nashville home games.Bosse said there was a discussion among his peers with the NHL on whether only the home team should get their game presentation and sounds used, versus a mix of both home and away teams. He said they’re still awaiting a decision from the league, but either way it’ll be a blast.“The group of game presentation folks in the NHL is so eclectic and so good at what they do, it really is some of the best creative minds in sports,” Bosse said. “I’m excited to see what everyone put together. I loved the . I’ve seen so much content that’s been so good. It’ll be interesting to see how the NHL weaves all these teams’ stories together.“I love the Tesla coil, the cannon in Columbus. I have no doubt that all teams are coming up with some special stuff because this is such a unique time. Everyone wants to own the playoff and their home games.”Bryson-Kirksey is the Lightning’s own celebrity anthem singer. She was a bit surprised when Franzone called her a month ago to come in and record the anthems for the league. They had to delay that initial taping . Bryson had been rehabbing from knee replacement surgery, trying to keep busy by crocheting and planning to start her own video blog. But Bryson loves to sing the anthem, interact with fans and, sometimes the team, which typically invites her into the&nbsp; dressing oom to say hello to players on her birthday (Feb. 11).Bryson-Kirksey said it only took a couple takes to do both anthems, though she did have to take some breaks in between to sit on a chair and rest her knees. It was a bit surreal.“The only funny part was that, anytime I sing at a home game, there’s a gentleman who is up in the 300 level, right before I open my mouth to sing, he yells, ‘Sonya!’” Bryson-Kirksey said. “It was so weird taking the microphone and pulling it to my mouth and not hearing that.”Bryson-Kirksey said she hopes all the sounds the Lightning recorded and sent will help the players “feel like it is home for them.” Bryson laughed when she found out Cooper had heard her taping of the anthem, which happened between 2-6 p.m. “Coop is always the last one in the building,” she quipped.Said Franzone: “It would have been good if (Cooper) joined for a duet.”(Top photo: Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Lightning)

Jul 22, 2020TAMPA, . – coach was in Amalie Arena on a Saturday afternoon, two days before training camp was set to open, when he was surprised to hear a familiar sound.Sonya Bryson-Kirksey singing the national anthem.The 53-year-old retired Air Force technical sergeant has been a beloved fixture at Lightning games the past seven seasons, with her soothing voice the soundtrack of any night in this building. But on this particular Saturday, it felt strange. Bryson stood on the ice – in her blue Lightning jersey and sparkling lipstick – in an empty and dark arena, taping both the U.S. and...

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Tesla coil, cannon and Ric Flair: How the NHL is creating home ice in the hubs

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