DetDannyWilliams
11-10-2014, 08:03 PM
BUFFALO, N.Y. With the Detroit Red Wings' storied history, two NHL owners, some of the world's top amateur teams, a few dozen indoor rinks and legions of avid fans, metro Detroit easily can back up its self-anointed nickname of Hockeytown.
But at the other end of Lake Erie, Buffalo has done something that will make any Hockeytown resident envious: It just opened a 19-story building that is devoted to amateur hockey. Experts say it's unique in North America.
It's called HarborCenter, a nearly $200-million waterfront edifice with 650,000 square feet of space that includes two rinks on the building's sixth floor a hockey academy, training center and parking garage.
On the first floor is an elaborate Tim Hortons that is partly a memorial to the famous Horton himself, the coffee shop chain co-founder who died in an automobile accident in 1974 while playing for the Buffalo Sabres.
HarborCenter also houses a two-story restaurant named (716) Food & Sports Buffalo's area code that features three bars and more than 60 TVs, including one 38 feet wide that makes the scowling face of ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith as big as a garage. Patrons can sit in booths and select their own TV game or at glass countertops that look like ice complete with imitation skate grooves.
The 12-story Marriott hotel is under construction; retail outlets are planned for the first floor.
"To my knowledge, there is nothing like this anywhere," said Jack Vivian, an ice-surface consultant who has helped build rinks from Michigan to China. "Not with the kind of amenities they've included in the venue."
John Castine, the longtime publisher of the Farmington-based Hockey Weekly that covers amateur leagues across the Midwest, said: "It sounds like something the Red Wings should add to their District Detroit project. Otherwise, Buffalo could become the new Hockeytown."
http://www.wgrz.com/story/sports/nhl/2014/11/10/buffalo-hockey-harborcenter/18827119/
But at the other end of Lake Erie, Buffalo has done something that will make any Hockeytown resident envious: It just opened a 19-story building that is devoted to amateur hockey. Experts say it's unique in North America.
It's called HarborCenter, a nearly $200-million waterfront edifice with 650,000 square feet of space that includes two rinks on the building's sixth floor a hockey academy, training center and parking garage.
On the first floor is an elaborate Tim Hortons that is partly a memorial to the famous Horton himself, the coffee shop chain co-founder who died in an automobile accident in 1974 while playing for the Buffalo Sabres.
HarborCenter also houses a two-story restaurant named (716) Food & Sports Buffalo's area code that features three bars and more than 60 TVs, including one 38 feet wide that makes the scowling face of ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith as big as a garage. Patrons can sit in booths and select their own TV game or at glass countertops that look like ice complete with imitation skate grooves.
The 12-story Marriott hotel is under construction; retail outlets are planned for the first floor.
"To my knowledge, there is nothing like this anywhere," said Jack Vivian, an ice-surface consultant who has helped build rinks from Michigan to China. "Not with the kind of amenities they've included in the venue."
John Castine, the longtime publisher of the Farmington-based Hockey Weekly that covers amateur leagues across the Midwest, said: "It sounds like something the Red Wings should add to their District Detroit project. Otherwise, Buffalo could become the new Hockeytown."
http://www.wgrz.com/story/sports/nhl/2014/11/10/buffalo-hockey-harborcenter/18827119/