USHL Arena Review -- Ralston Arena, Ralston, NE

Ralston Arena, of Ralston, NE is the home of my current residence, the Omaha Lancers.  It has a USHL Hockey capacity of 3,319 people, though it seldom sells out this year, as Omaha is having a less than stellar year (their first home win came on November 26th.  You'd have to go back to March 7th to have viewed their last home win).

Ralson Arena was built as a multi rink and multi use facility that opened in 2012.  Before that, the Lancers spent time in the Civic Auditorium (a dump) and the MidAmerica Center in... Council Bluffs, IA.

This arena is VERY VERY nice.  It has more video screens (14) than any other arena its size.  It features an Olympic size practice rink (often used as well for beer league, youth hockey, and the Midget AAA team the Junior Lancers), an NHL size standard rink (also shared by a pro Arena Football team, the Omaha Beef  (not worth free tickets to see) and the temporary home of the UNO Maverick basketball team).

FACILITY GRADE:  A+

AMENITIES and FOOD

It also has a full size sports apparel store that has a glass wall overlooking the practice rink.  The prices aren't bad.  They also have a bank of TVs for any games that may be on.  It is well stocked with Nebraska gear, College football and basketball gear, and NHL hockey apparel.  Oddly enough, no college hockey gear or even Lancer gear!

There are a bunch of built in restaurants, kiosks galore, and a bar.  The restaurants feature: Maria's Mexican Restaurant, Dominoes Pizza, Famous Daves, Chik-Fil-A*, Omaha Steak Restaurant*, and one other that escapes my memory.

Maria's features the "Famous" flour tortilla taco:  I've had one.  It's the blandest taco I've ever eaten.  The shell tastes like Fried Elmo's Glue.

Both the Omaha Steak Restaurant is more of an endorsement than a restaurant.  You cannot buy steaks.  It features hot dogs, corn dogs, and mediocre steak burgers.

Chik-Fil-A isn't the full restaurant either. You can get their famous chicken sandwich though.

Lastly, dear Lord, can we PLEASE get Coke products?  Seriously!!!!!

GRADE:  A (ok, it's really good even if I'm biased.  The variety is very impressive)

ICE Quality

Ok, as an impartial observer the ice seems pretty good.  They use one zamboni, though I'm fairly certain they have more than one zamboni.  The Zamboni driver is even a cool guy.

The boards are good.

GRADE: A

ENTERTAINMENT

They use every video board and have plenty of entertainment.  Sadly, they often come across as a bit too eager and too amateur.  There have been several occasions where they turned the music and sound up so loud that it blew a speaker or two!  One time, it shorted out the system or blew the system in such a way that there was no sound at all for over 10 minutes of hockey and half the intermission!

In the first intermission, they usually have some on ice contest like a relay race or mini mites.  They also have jumbotron games.  The MC is pretty good at this and it is pretty well done.

In between the second and third period, they have the "hardest shot" competition which is nothing more than an audience member shooting a puck into an open net for a hat and a tshirt and a chuck a puck competition.  This Chuck a puck competition is very well done even if it is a bit difficult to win (compared to the one in Des Moines where you won if you were closest.  In Ralston, you have to be on the target or you win nothing).  The grand prize with a black puck is $2500 but if your puck is orange and lands closest to the center you win a year's trash service!  No good if you are visiting but as a resident, I've enjoyed it!

The video production seems to be very good.

The Music selection isn't very good.  They feature more than enough non-sport songs, rap, and country.  They also have played "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mixalot.  They typically put the most obese woman who gets up and dances on the jumbotron.  Fun.

We also have, in my opinion, the worst opening video sequence in the USHL (that has one and I've witnessed).  It's over the top rap (Mama said knock you out) with a gaudy homage to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  Then it has a screen saver thing of various Nebraska sites painted red with the Lancer logo on it.  The only salvation is this live action sequence that shows a grizzled, bearded man (a true bada@@ by the looks of him) crafting his own sword and getting armored up in the gear of a Knight.  It's truly cool.

GRADE:  B- 

ATMOSPHERE

This place really reminds you of a cross between the high school hockey team and Mariucci.  Half the crowd sits on their hands until prompted and the other have blows vuvuzelas or talks about the neighbors or workmembers were up to this last week.

This is livened up a bit by section 101, which features a trip back to the year 2000.  When we score a goal, they raise their glasses and do the whole ziggy zaggy Man Show nonsense.

Meanwhile in Section 104 you have the "Lancer in the House" people who hold up a banner that says exactly that in the beginning of the third period.  They're not bad other than the fact that they do not know much about hockey, they're rude to newcomers to that section, and they get really cranky if you A: sit in a seat other than the one the ticket says even if no one is sitting there and B: they don't play "Baby Got Back"

And Section 105 features the "Super Fan" who wears orange and black striped overalls and is overall pretty cool even if he is a jumbotron hog.

Our cheer after a goal is "We want another one just like the other one.  We..want..2/3/etc."  It's lame, but it is high school.

There's no razzing of other teams' fans unless those fans are rude or you root for the Lincoln Stars.

GRADE:  C+


OVERALL GRADE:  A-

Arena Impressions - Cedar Rapids - RW77

Ok, Part II so far.

The Cedar Rapids Ice Arena -- Cedar Rapids, IA

Cedar Rapids Ice Arena, home of the USHL's Cedar Rapids Roughriders, is a modern arena opened in 2000.  It seats 4,000 people and has two sheets of ice, as well as a small store that sells Roughtriders merchandise and a decent sized open area that could be used for many different kinds of events.

Though this arena only holds about 600 more than Des Moines, the age of the building isn't the only stark difference between it and Buccaneer's Arena.  This arena is adorned with modern seating, projector screens behind both goals, great lighting, and a great feel around the upper walkway.

The walls were festooned with Cedar Rapids alumni like UND forward Michael Parks and LA Kings hero Alec Martinez.

The facility looked very well cared for.  Aside for a few random dents in the steel siding (most probably from VERY stray pucks), this arena looked new despite its 14 year old age.

If I were to build a USHL facility on a limited budget, I'd start in Cedar Rapids, IA (knowing full well what palaces Ralston Arena is and what the new rink in Sioux Falls seems to suggest).

Facility Grade:  A-.  Would be an A+ with an updated scoreboard.

Ice:

Not unlike the facilities, the ice was great.  The boards seemed not to be as lively as Des Moines.  I think this helped Omaha because the boards seemed to react very similarly to Ralston Arena.

Grade:  A

Entertainment

They had a VERY interesting way of doing things pre-game.  Even at UND, there wasn't that much to do between the end of warm ups and the opening lineup ceremony.  Not at Cedar Rapids.  From the minute the last player left the ice until roundabout 3 minutes prior to them stepping onto the ice, there was a nonstop series of montage videos featuring different songs.  Some featured highlights from last season.  Some featured behind the scenes stuff.  Others the history of the franchise.  All in all, I was VERY impressed.

Pregame Grade:  A

Intermission Entertainment:  They had a chuck a puck competition, and a slingshot bowling thing.  The chuck a puck was pretty straight forward except the prizes were a bit lame.  We did not participate.

The slingshot bowling is always a crowd favorite.  And it was done right.  Good on them.

Intermission Grade:  B+

PA:  We met this guy but really, all he had to do (like I said before) was to know the player's names and numbers and pronounce them correctly.  He did.

Grade:  A

PS:  He's a nice guy.

Fanbase:

A LOT more people came to the game in Cedar Rapids than in Des Moines, but I do not recall them announcing it during the game.  I'm fairly sure that it was between 2,000 and 3,000 people from the looks of it.  Still, there were some empty seats.  A lot in our section.

Though we had rumors that Des Moines fans were less than fun, we had no such preconcieved notions about Cedar Rapids.  For the most part, we were left alone, just like in Des Moines.

Two exceptions:  One fan came and talked to us as a fan of a former Lancer player (Gage Hough, now of UMass Lowell).  She was nice.  As for the other, these three nagging older ladies did not take too kindly to my razzing the goaltender (The old UND standard (Goalie's Name x3, you suck) and made a rather crude reference of a more homophobic nature.  Hey, I'm not sensitive, but if you are going to mock me, at least be original or creative.  She wasn't.  Sad for her.

Cowbell/Vuvuzela Factor:  This arena really pushed cowbells and they were everywhere.  Naturally, this concerned me.  I shouldn't have been concerned.  They knew when to ring the cowbells and when not to and responded to prompts accordingly.  There was no gratuitous noise.  No one rang them in anyone's ears intentionally or otherwise.  It was very well orchestrated.  That speaks a lot to a strong, loyal, and well-informed fan base.

Fanbase Grade:  A-

Overall Impression:

Omaha's fanbase doesn't travel...especially with the year Omaha's having.  However, this was an easy 4 hour drive from Omaha and one that every loyal Omaha fan should make.  I would not hesitate in the slightest to return to Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.  BTW, even the Roughrider website is cool.

Overall Grade:  A-

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• Arena Impressions - Cedar Rapids - RW77