Hockey is a game that sells itself. It is fast paced, there
is plenty of action, and these elements add excitement to the sport.
The game is played in arenas as large as Quicken Loans Arena
to small 500 seat rinks. Jam packing 20,000 into an arena makes for an awesome
atmosphere for the game. When you have just 500 seats to work with, the game is
still fun but more can be needed to add to the atmosphere.
When I did some public address announcing for a local high
school hockey scrimmage, we didn’t play any music during warm-ups or throughout
the game. We (myself and the people working the game) were using the scrimmage
as an opportunity to work out any issues before the first regular season game. None
of us had thought to coordinate music ahead of time.
I will admit it felt like a huge element of the arena
experience as missing without the music. It felt strange not having anything
playing the background when teams were warming up or in between periods.
Before the first regular season game, I decided to use my
iTunes to create a Playlist specifically for hockey. I put songs used by the
Monsters, the Cleveland Lumberjacks, St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets,
and Pittsburgh Penguins on the mix. I also included the Vince Guaraldi Trio “Linus
and Lucy” from the Charlie Browns cartoons as well. This playlist was
downloaded onto my iPod to use during the game.
With the iPod hooked up and ready to go before the first
regular season game, I started playing the music and it made a huge difference.
I noticed the crowd getting to the action more, enjoying the songs between
periods, and it created a great atmosphere.
Hockey is a game that sells itself but the music on this day
did as well.
