Blue Ice Surface??

[BuffaloRanger]

This might be cool. I think I'm going to go to the game on 3 APR and check it out.

"Note to Buffalo Sabres fans: If you plan to attend either of the Rochester Americans' upcoming games in HSBC Arena, you might want to bring a pair of sunglasses.
The reason? The ice will be painted blue.

That, of course, leads to another question. What color will the two blue lines be?

Orange.

And the center red line?

Blue. "

To recap, the Amerks will skate on blue ice, with orange lines determining offsides calls and a center-ice blue line.

Blue Ice Wave in Buffalo (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050310/1040241.asp)

[Ebenezer]

This might be cool. I think I'm going to go to the game on 3 APR and check it out.

"Note to Buffalo Sabres fans: If you plan to attend either of the Rochester Americans' upcoming games in HSBC Arena, you might want to bring a pair of sunglasses.
The reason? The ice will be painted blue.

That, of course, leads to another question. What color will the two blue lines be?

Orange.

And the center red line?

Blue. "

To recap, the Amerks will skate on blue ice, with orange lines determining offsides calls and a center-ice blue line.

Blue Ice Wave in Buffalo (http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050310/1040241.asp)
why?

[YardRat]

It's all part of the bigger picture, part of an ongoing attempt by National Hockey League officials to breathe some new life and excitement into a league that - once it returns from its season-long lockout - will face a huge challenge in bringing back its fans.

"I think there's a feeling we want to modernize the game," Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said. "I think there's definitely some fresh air in the league. I think people are open to innovation. I think there's a sense of a new era."

Specifically, they want to speed up the game, re-emphasize the players' skills and make the game more visually appealing to fans in the stands and on television. League officials have stated repeatedly during the stalled labor talks that they need to fix the economics of the NHL.






Bettman..."Tell you what...we'll paint the ice blue for you."



NHLPA..."OK...you got a deal."

Why didn't they think of this six months ago?? Dumb-asses.

[Myers57]

I thinks its about time to quit *****ing about the season being cancelled and look forward towards improving the league for the future...

I like these experimental things being attempted in order to boost hockey back to its status before the lockout....

I'll most likely be attending that April 3rd game as well...

Any zoners wish to meet and watch the game?

[Michael82]

It does look pretty cool from what I saw on the news earlier...

http://www.buffalonews.com/graphics/2005/03/10/actualsize/0310orange.jpg

[SabreEleven]

ESPN should televise this game to see how it translate to TV.

[chubluv]

The guy painting the line looks like Tommy Chong lol

[SkateZilla]

ok

heres my thoughts..

1. the ice itself isnt painted no more... they paint the underlying matt... DUH...

2. Blue ice would look better Live and in person... why on earth would you bring the sunglasses... blue ice would reflect less of the lighting than white ice..

3. blue ice would inclrease visibility of the puck and stuff.. trust me.. a lil black Dot surrounded by massive ammounts of hi lumenescent white ice .. you eyes cant focus on the lil black dot..

4. I think blue ice on TV would reak havoc on standard digital tv and maybe Analog TV.. a 2.3 MB/sec Bitrate wont be enough to broadcast BLUE.. BLUE is the color that gives digital TV the most problems..

On the Other Hand.. it should be really easy On HDTV ..


another thing..

if the ice is blue and the blue lines are orange.. and the center line is blue.. WTF? why change hte Blue lines to Orage and change the Red line to BLUE??

[Typ0]

ok

heres my thoughts..

1. the ice itself isnt painted no more... they paint the underlying matt... DUH...

2. Blue ice would look better Live and in person... why on earth would you bring the sunglasses... blue ice would reflect less of the lighting than white ice..

3. blue ice would inclrease visibility of the puck and stuff.. trust me.. a lil black Dot surrounded by massive ammounts of hi lumenescent white ice .. you eyes cant focus on the lil black dot..

4. I think blue ice on TV would reak havoc on standard digital tv and maybe Analog TV.. a 2.3 MB/sec Bitrate wont be enough to broadcast BLUE.. BLUE is the color that gives digital TV the most problems..

On the Other Hand.. it should be really easy On HDTV ..


another thing..

if the ice is blue and the blue lines are orange.. and the center line is blue.. WTF? why change hte Blue lines to Orage and change the Red line to BLUE??


that's what I thought when I saw the guy painting the lines...I thought they painted the lines below the ice not on top. It makes no sense to put paint on top of the ice as the skates are going to push it all over the place. I also though the ice was blue because of food coloring in the water.

[Myers57]

They put down a layer of ice, paint the lines, and then put on another layer of ice, that way the paint is never affected...

[SkateZilla]

yeah..

at perm ice rinks they put Ice.. paint and Put ice again..


at Facilities like Norfolk Scope Where the AHl team playes and stuff..

they just have a Mat, that they lay down an d the ice tottaly sucks..

i had to play a division game for my league last year there...

funny... they need ICE REGULATIONS..

Offensive teams Keep their ICE hard.. To Skate Faster On....

Defensive teams keep their Ice Soft.. To Keep other team from skating faster...

[Valerie]

This story is so big it even made the news down here! I think it sounds cool. I hope to see some highlights on television tonight to see what it looks like.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Blue ice is ludicrous. The puck stands out more against white than blue.

[buffalofan19]

I don't mind the blue ice. Actually, I think it's pretty cool, but changing the color of the Red line, Blue lines and faceoff circles seems unnecessary IMO.

[RetroRaiders81]

Blue ice is ludicrous. The puck stands out more against white than blue.
I agree with skatezilla saying that it's harder to see with white ice with all the bright light reflecting and making the puck appear smaller. Didn't they used to have blue ice back in the day?

[SkateZilla]

I agree with skatezilla saying that it's harder to see with white ice with all the bright light reflecting and making the puck appear smaller. Didn't they used to have blue ice back in the day?

yeah blue ice was on vintage surfaces..

OK, example, since i edit video as a major hobby... heres one

if you have a 640x480 image (NTSC ANALOG Broadcast).... take a 4 pixel Dot (which is about what a puck is on Analog TV), Move that Dot around the screen at velocities scaled to 15-20 mph, and export it to a 640x480 interlaced uncompressed AVI movie.. then watch it on both computer screen and tv.. you'll notice the WHITE bleeds onto the puck and makes it blured to about 2 pixels...

Now take another 640x480 clip and change the white background to a light to medium blue...

Digital And HDTV are Different,

WHITE is the most damaging color on the digital bitrate... anything super bright and white along with motion and it causes motion distortions and hash noise..

tinting the ice blue would stop it from affecting Digital TV streams and HDTV.

only problem that blue isce might present is their on ice effects... like the NFL has the first down line and stuff..

they wont be able to use chroma blue based cameras (cameras that dont see blue)

[RetroRaiders81]

hash noise? Like when a bright light's on your screen it makes a humming noise? I hate that! I have a new TV too.

[SkateZilla]

no hash noise. as in dark echos becaust the luminosity of the screen is nearly entirely white...

[SkateZilla]

Roflmao,

Mellenby is a broadcaster, not a Linear Video Editor, or a MPEG-2 Video / HDTV Tech, As With my 10 years of experience with MPEG-2 Video Compression, BLUE TINT is Easier on Bandwith and Bit/Pixel Management than White. White to MPEG-2 = NO Color (Well To The Codec theres no Color), which causes Edge Bleeding and interlaced patters on the edges..

White = High Chroma and Luminosity, which means a high bandwidth is needed to maintain image clarity.

****... they should paint hte ice black and the puck Yellow.... that would prolly work better, black is easy on MPEG-2 Compression, Requires Less Bandwidth, and Yellow Streaks Over Black, which would make it easier to follow the puck...

Yellow also streaks over Blue ....

man this is funny.. the League is on the verge of a major finacial hit and all they can argue about is how Blue ice effects the game..


http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Strachan/2005/03/17/963953.html

[chubluv]

I went to the game tonight. The game was great the Ice surface was great. The puck was more visible. We sat inthe corner of one end and we could clearly see the puck on the other end of the rink. The ice didnt look that bright especially once the players got on the ice and chipped it up. Even the replays on the video monitors looked cool.



Oh by the way the NHL better fix this situation quickly. It was great watching the future sabres play. Miller, Vanek, Milley , Bartovak, Palle, Jillson, Fitzpatrick, all played well.Even the vets looked good.

[SkateZilla]

roflmao..

i wish EPSN showed AHL highlights...

I wanted to see the Fitzpatrick Shorty Goal...

[Uncle Jesse]

Didnt miss much at the game is was kinda boring.

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

I went to the game tonight. The game was great the Ice surface was great. The puck was more visible. We sat inthe corner of one end and we could clearly see the puck on the other end of the rink. The ice didnt look that bright especially once the players got on the ice and chipped it up. Even the replays on the video monitors looked cool.



Oh by the way the NHL better fix this situation quickly. It was great watching the future sabres play. Miller, Vanek, Milley , Bartovak, Palle, Jillson, Fitzpatrick, all played well.Even the vets looked good.


You can't possibly be impressed with Vanek. All I saw out there was a major floater. He reminds me of Jagr in the worst way.

My thoughts on the ice. The blue ice wasn't to bad, but the orange lines have to go. They were horrible. I went out and watched it on TV in the hallways and it was terrible on TV.

[chubluv]

You can't possibly be impressed with Vanek. All I saw out there was a major floater. He reminds me of Jagr in the worst way.

.


I cant see how thats a problem jagr is in the top 5 in goals when the NHL is playing. Why would we want something like that. Vanek can float all he wants if hes scoring a ton of goals every year.

[SkateZilla]

Yeah,
yellow Streaks On Camera.. So When the Camera Pans the Lines Streak the Screen, and yellow is one of the colors that lose its color when on camera (NO MPEG-2 COMPRESSION IS LOSSLESS, You Do Get YUV Degradation),

Personally if the ICE is Light Blue Tinted, Leave the Blue Lines Dark Blue, and Red Line Red,

I Think its Contradictary, The Can Use the Dark Blue Line to Determine 2 Line Passes, But that Cant Have it for Offsides/onsides??

Vanek is a Scoring Floater.. he Looks dazed and Confused on Defensive times of the game still..

Vanek Right Now in the NHL he'd be on Ice for just as many goals as he scores, meaning he's a defensive liability till he works on his defensive positioning and stuffaz... Taylor and Pominville are closer than vanek...

[TheGhostofJimKelly]

I cant see how thats a problem jagr is in the top 5 in goals when the NHL is playing. Why would we want something like that. Vanek can float all he wants if hes scoring a ton of goals every year.

I didn't mean the good old days of Jagr doughboy.