Toscano Family Ice Forum Impressions

[HuskyAlum012]

Just to follow up on the Student deck, yes the plan is to create risers for next season so there are elevation changes. The students should be standing the whole time anyway. The fact they werent for the first game was a travesty. Hopefully it comes with time they were much better for the second game @ Toscano

 

[jho]

UMass fans review of Toscano.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Just to follow up on the Student deck, yes the plan is to create risers for next season so there are elevation changes. The students should be standing the whole time anyway. The fact they werent for the first game was a travesty. Hopefully it comes with time they were much better for the second game @ Toscano

If they have to put in risers to create a standing room section then why bother putting in a deck? Take out the damn waste of space, put in railings in front of each standing row and pack the students into the exisitng bowl behind the visiting goalie twice. With or without risers the deck only makes sense to me if it's used for the pep band.

 

[The Viking]

Hahaha that UMass guy - not the one recording - was very loud - even through the anthem and definitely after their first goal.

Much quieter the rest of the game which was nice.

I think these shortcomings will be ironed out over a year or two between concessions and added seating and the place will be even better.

Seems like they may have been too aggressive with their open time and tried like hell to make it while in retrospect a Fall 2023 start would have been wiser.

Still love seeing games there though and I think a mix between Toscano and XL is perfect next year as long as you squeeze in some top games at Toscano as well. And really it’s hard not to when you consider outside of 3 teams anyone in the Hockey East can be really good in any given year.

 

[DblCrossbar]

I think these shortcomings will be ironed out over a year or two between concessions and added seating and the place will be even better.

Seems like they may have been too aggressive with their open time and tried like hell to make it while in retrospect a Fall 2023 start would have been wiser.

Still love seeing games there though and I think a mix between Toscano and XL is perfect next year as long as you squeeze in some top games at Toscano as well. And really it’s hard not to when you consider outside of 3 teams anyone in the Hockey East can be really good in any given year.

You may be right about the aggressive start to the opening. While the fire pit is complete much of the exterior façade isn’t done with weather-wrapping still visible in certain parts.

Consider this: It appears they wanted to get the Certificate of Occupancy and all player amenities rolling so the current team could het some games in there and experience it for themselves. Why? With the transfer portal as it is, each team also needs to retain players, and having Toscano on-line helps with that aspect of roster building as well…

 

[RC111]

Plenty if empty seats tonight. No reason to expand. Looks like they got the seating capacity right for now.

Maybe. Or the prices wrong. I wanted to go to a game but couldn't find any tickets at all on the ticket office site and didn't want to pay $107 per (cheapest ticket I could find) for a seat that had cost me $5 at XL. $10 versus over 200 for me and my wife.

I want to support the team, but that was a ridiculous new-venue bump.

 

[huskymedic]

Maybe. Or the prices wrong. I wanted to go to a game but couldn't find any tickets at all on the ticket office site and didn't want to pay $107 per (cheapest ticket I could find) for a seat that had cost me $5 at XL. $10 versus over 200 for me and my wife.

I want to support the team, but that was a ridiculous new-venue bump.

FYI… you couldn’t find face value tickets because UConn Athletics were not/are not selling MHOC single game tickets this year…

“Men’s Hockey season ticket holders have been assigned seats in Toscano Family Ice Forum for the remainder of the season. Seat location is listed on mobile tickets. Due to high demand, there will not be single game tickets available for public sale for the final five home games.”

 

[RC111]

FYI… you couldn’t find face value tickets because UConn Athletics were not/are not selling MHOC single game tickets this year…

“Men’s Hockey season ticket holders have been assigned seats in Toscano Family Ice Forum for the remainder of the season. Seat location is listed on mobile tickets. Due to high demand, there will not be single game tickets available for public sale for the final five home games.”

Thanks. This makes sense. We'd already been to two games at XL this year and had planned to see more, so we were pretty bummed to see there were none left in Hartford. We're moving out of state this spring, so it'll be a while before we see a game in person again at either venue.

 

[Big L]

Not fer nuthin, just walked by the new place. The exterior facade is not done. It’s been the mildest winter in memory, how is it not complete?

 

[zls44]

Not fer nuthin, just walked by the new place. The exterior facade is not done. It’s been the mildest winter in memory, how is it not complete?

The rest of the facing is stuck in a container ship somewhere. They’re waiting on it.

 

[Drew]

My girlfriend and I went to the Women’s hockey win last night against Holy Cross which was my first experience at Toscano.

I fully admit I am not a hockey guy whatsoever but.. the arena was MUCH better than Freitas was when I was in school. We sat in 102- great sight lines to watch the game from.

There are 2 additional concessions areas behind the goal in 107 and a drink concession area at the top of the stairs as soon as you walk up on your right. I’d suggest people keeping an eye out for those areas for future concessions needs as the lines were much shorter than the main concession area by the temporary table of gear “team shop” they had setup.

Overall it was a great experience. Girlfriend said it was the highlight of her trip so far, and we both would 100% go back again.

 

[husky8273]

My girlfriend and I went to the Women’s hockey win last night against Holy Cross which was my first experience at Toscano.

I fully admit I am not a hockey guy whatsoever but.. the arena was MUCH better than Freitas was when I was in school. We sat in 102- great sight lines to watch the game from.

There are 2 additional concessions areas behind the goal in 107 and a drink concession area at the top of the stairs as soon as you walk up on your right. I’d suggest people keeping an eye out for those areas for future concessions needs as the lines were much shorter than the main concession area by the temporary table of gear “team shop” they had setup.

Overall it was a great experience. Girlfriend said it was the highlight of her trip so far, and we both would 100% go back again.

attendance - 1354!

 

[huskymedic]

New England Hockey Journal:

 

[Viet Vet]

We sat in Section 111, Row F, seats 11 & 12 for the third period yesterday vs UNH (my seats are in 121, moved to see UConn shooting). Those are virtually identical to the XL seats I have.....and love). Great sight lines for that end, BUT you must look through the absurdly high glass behind the visitors' bench to view the opposing goal - and the view is distorted through the glass!

Sigh! Just add it to the growing list of shortcomings. Anybody else note the number of cracks in the stairs leading up to the concourse?

 

[Brunoblue]

Those high glass walls are meant to protect the visiting team from you Viet Vet! Just kidding’
I’d love to seee modifications to that student section with the cinder block walls. First, get rid of the wall. Replace it with safe railing. Put risers up there and it’s a great place for the band. Second, the concession stands are woefully inadequate for a capacity crowd. There’s plenty of space for enlarged food service areas in both corners of the arena on the home team side. They are desperately needed. You can miss half a period waiting for a beer and a pretzel. By the way, the food choices at Toscano and XL are just horrible. The food at the Yard Goats games is so much better. Of course my cardiologist would kill me himself if he found me eating any of that stuff …..
I’m hoping to see improvements by next year. Any new venue has growing pains and I’m sure DB et al we’re in a hurry to get Toscano open this year. Anyway you look at it it’s a great place for UConn Hockey . Beat BC!

 

[huskymedic]

… By the way, the food choices at Toscano and XL are just horrible. The food at the Yard Goats games is so much better. Of course my cardiologist would kill me himself if he found me eating any of that stuff … I’m hoping to see improvements by next year. Any new venue has growing pains and I’m sure DB et al we’re in a hurry to get Toscano open this year. Anyway you look at it it’s a great place for UConn Hockey . Beat BC!

 

[UC15]

Those high glass walls are meant to protect the visiting team from you Viet Vet! Just kidding’
I’d love to seee modifications to that student section with the cinder block walls. First, get rid of the wall. Replace it with safe railing. Put risers up there and it’s a great place for the band. Second, the concession stands are woefully inadequate for a capacity crowd. There’s plenty of space for enlarged food service areas in both corners of the arena on the home team side. They are desperately needed. You can miss half a period waiting for a beer and a pretzel. By the way, the food choices at Toscano and XL are just horrible. The food at the Yard Goats games is so much better. Of course my cardiologist would kill me himself if he found me eating any of that stuff …..
I’m hoping to see improvements by next year. Any new venue has growing pains and I’m sure DB et al we’re in a hurry to get Toscano open this year. Anyway you look at it it’s a great place for UConn Hockey . Beat BC!

I'll at least take the options at XL vs a hotdog, pretzel, popcorn & candy at Toscano.

 

[DblCrossbar]

Those high glass walls are meant to protect the visiting team from you Viet Vet! Just kidding’
I’d love to seee modifications to that student section with the cinder block walls. First, get rid of the wall. Replace it with safe railing. Put risers up there and it’s a great place for the band. Second, the concession stands are woefully inadequate for a capacity crowd. There’s plenty of space for enlarged food service areas in both corners of the arena on the home team side. They are desperately needed. You can miss half a period waiting for a beer and a pretzel. By the way, the food choices at Toscano and XL are just horrible. The food at the Yard Goats games is so much better. Of course my cardiologist would kill me himself if he found me eating any of that stuff …..
I’m hoping to see improvements by next year. Any new venue has growing pains and I’m sure DB et al we’re in a hurry to get Toscano open this year. Anyway you look at it it’s a great place for UConn Hockey . Beat BC!

The high glass some five rows up would be ok in a larger arena where you have options to get up above them, but they do get in the way of sight lines and were a particularly bad choice given the intimate setting. Do the walls behind each bench really need to be so tall in a tiny rink? Their height and stark white behind them are becoming of showers stalls in aesthetic.

100% right on with band risers to take place of student standing room cinderblock wall.

XL food offerings for larger crowds are better, but some vendors like Teds Steamed Burgers may not operate for 3-4K fans at XL. Randy’s Wooster Street and Bears are nice regular features, that and drought beer of course. Will be interested to see if food options will also be part of the Sugarhouse Sportsbook area.

Yard Goats need food and drink as an attraction to compliment a beautiful park. The experience there is more like a mini carnival, and it’s fun, but most in attendance are there to enjoy a night or day out rather than get behind the team like they do with UConn or Hartford Athletic.

At least with Tuscano if you waiting for concessions, you’re basically in the same room as the action rather than in the exterior concourse. Still, improvements will be welcome, even so early on.

Sweep BC!

 

[huskymedic]

 

[ableton04]

At the game yesterday there was a Bears BBQ stand (!) so the food situation is getting better.

 

[DblCrossbar]

Interesting piece on the technology and control rooms that exist behind the scenes to support both live arena and video supports.

Having had to watch the student only game vs Alaska Anchorage on ESPN+ it was curious to see Tuscano on the screen for a whole game vs the highlights fed to Twitter etc. There are no issues regarding where the commentators are, but the cameras have been placed at a level too low. There is a frequent disruption of the scene by fans either standing or moving up and down stairs. They literally block the view of the ice surface which is very annoying and bush-league. The cameras should have been placed up at the Blue Line Lounge level to avoid that visual interruption but with a mandatory $1k per ticket donation to be up there, there's a fat chance that they'll do the right thing and move the cameras up there for a better line of sight angle.

There are no issues with the arena looking small on camera - all that is fine. It's definitely better than seeing swaths of empty seats like seen last night when viewing Northeastern vs UMass Lowell, but the ice level lounge looks vacuous and dumb on screen and to some degree the student deck appears to be a bizarre wall that seems to needlessly come out of nowhere.

 

[Viet Vet]

Interesting piece on the technology and control rooms that exist behind the scenes to support both live arena and video supports.

Having had to watch the student only game vs Alaska Anchorage on ESPN+ it was curious to see Tuscano on the screen for a whole game vs the highlights fed to Twitter etc. There are no issues regarding where the commentators are, but the cameras have been placed at a level too low. There is a frequent disruption of the scene by fans either standing or moving up and down stairs. They literally block the view of the ice surface which is very annoying and bush-league. The cameras should have been placed up at the Blue Line Lounge level to avoid that visual interruption but with a mandatory $1k per ticket donation to be up there, there's a fat chance that they'll do the right thing and move the cameras up there for a better line of sight angle.

There are no issues with the arena looking small on camera - all that is fine. It's definitely better than seeing swaths of empty seats like seen last night when viewing Northeastern vs UMass Lowell, but the ice level lounge looks vacuous and dumb on screen and to some degree the student deck appears to be a bizarre wall that seems to needlessly come out of nowhere.

DblCrossbar is a wealth of reasoned, unbiased, intelligent opinions. Full disclosure: We share adjacent season tickets at XL Center.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Viet Vet]

Now go to work on the inside. IMO..........

Priority #1: Get rid of the Student Deck. Add bleacher seats instead.

Priority #2: Increase seating to at least 3,000 (getting rid of the student deck will help facilitate this).

Priority #3: Lower the walls behind the benches. Will add a couple of rows of seating, and enhance sight lines.

Priority #4: How about some draft (draught to you Anglophiles) beer. And wine for my wife!

Priority #5: Replace the "puck" holders with cup holders.

Priority #6: Night games, not 3:05pm and 4:05pm. It's Hockey East, not peewee hockey.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Now go to work on the inside. IMO..........

Priority #1: Get rid of the Student Deck. Add bleacher seats instead.

Priority #2: Increase seating to at least 3,000 (getting rid of the student deck will help facilitate this).

Priority #3: Lower the walls behind the benches. Will add a couple of rows of seating, and enhance sight lines.

Priority #4: How about some draft (draught to you Anglophiles) beer. And wine for my wife!

Priority #5: Replace the "puck" holders with cup holders.

Priority #6: Night games, not 3:05pm and 4:05pm. It's Hockey East, not peewee hockey.

I like your suggestions. Just make sure the financial gift you send to UConn for these upgrades is clearly marked “for the hockey arena upgrades”. Otherwise they might use your donation for other projects in the athletic department.