Utica Comets
Rink: Adirondack Bank Center
Capacity: 3,860
Built: 1960
League: AHL
City: Utica, New York
Home Of: Utica Comets
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: November 2, 2024 vs Rochester
Unique Arena: #97
AHL Arena: #11
The Utica Memorial Auditorium (now called Adirondack Bank Center) that the locals lovingly refer to as The Aud (Buffalo and Kitchener would like a word) is located on the edge of downtown Utica, just across the street from the city’s main hospital. Despite the rink being past its 60th birthday, the exterior has seen renovations that makes it look like a much newer facility with an added-on restaurant that is a decent enough modern sports bar. There’s also plenty of free parking on a street behind the rink, which was a welcome sight to see.
The building is actually round and mimics Madison Square Garden in New York in many ways, though the Utica Aud was finished 8 years prior to MSG. With that in mind, MSG actually took the ceiling cable design from Utica and has made it a bit more of a famous look than if it had only existed here. The seating bowl is more of a C/U shaped layout with no seating at all-in-one end (other than a small party suite) and little seating in the other, while the seating on the sides rises way up to each press box. The exterior concourse that runs under the seats only goes three quarters of the way around the building, as does the interior walkway which is about 1/3 of the way up the seating bowl from the ice. While the ice is regulation size, it’s a bit big for the floor it’s on and the first few rows of seats in the end with seating is halfway up the glass, which provides an awesome view. However, the back row of that end of the ice has a tad obstructed view of the net closest to them. Otherwise, the sight lines are better than expected.
With the ice not really fitting into the arena floor like one would hope, the centre ice scoreboard is actually over the blue line, like you see in nearby Rochester. As it goes in the AHL, affiliations with NHL parent clubs can change often, but it’s nice to see Utica keep their rink up changing the walls from Canucks blue and green to the Devils red and black. The fans in Utica are loud and knowledgeable to give a great atmosphere despite the crowd I saw being smaller than a typical crowd in Utica. I had wanted to go to a game here the previous season, but couldn’t on a couple days’ notice because it was sold out!
While the (off) centre ice scoreboard doesn’t have a video board there are a pair of videoboards hanging on the walls in the corners at the end with no seating. This setup actually works much better than ones I’ve seen in other rinks where they have just one videoboard on the wall at the end as at least one of the boards can be seen well from almost every seat in the house. Production is middle of the road but with a rink this old and small you only have so much to work with, they do a good job.
The arenas of the AHL vary greatly. It’s a league with small and very intimate rinks like this and Belleville. But also, a league that has massive arenas like Cleveland and Winnipeg. Going to a game here feels like a throwback in the best way possible. Despite its age and small size, it has been kept up well and doesn’t feel like a dank pit but at the same time you know you’re in an old barn and love every second of it.
