The Adirondack Bank Center is the first North American facility to introduce dasherboards – an enhanced 360-degree system with LED panels integrated into the boards surrounding the entire rink.

These dasherboards were installed and first used on Dec. 28 and include a variety of new features, including displaying live in-game updates, scores and more.

Utica University men’s hockey coach Gary Heenan said this new addition will help the players’ sighting ability.

“There is a small adjustment for players with sight lines,” Heenan said. “Could be a competitive advantage as well.” 

With the men’s hockey team having a 12-2-1 record, these could give an edge to the playmaking and styling ability.

“We are very fortunate to have a world class entertainment facility,” Heenan said. “The boards are the only ones of its kind in North America and add to the ones of its kind.”

Based in Finland, Vepe-Icepro has been in operation for nearly 50 years, and is the biggest ice hockey dasher board manufacturer in Europe. Since 1976, Vepe-Icepro has been a leading manufacturer of ice hockey dasher boards, delivering them to countries around the globe. 

The mission is to develop and create the best conditions on the hockey arenas to benefit players and fans.​​

According to the Utica Comets, “this will allow the Adirondack Bank Center to provide first-class presentation for all games at the Adirondack Bank Center, as well as provide new opportunities to enhance partnerships”The primary goal of digital dashboards in hockey is to replace traditional arena dasher boards with dynamic digital graphics during live game broadcasts. 

These digital dasherboards enable data-driven decision-making, provide measurable insights into game aspects, and facilitate quicker decision-making in various business areas.”