Adirondack Bank Center Is First North American Venue To Install Permanent Digital Dasherboards
Finland’s Vepe-Icepro provides 360-degree LED system for Utica Comets, Utica City FC games
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Utica, NY’s Adirondack Bank Center, home to the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets and the Major Arena Soccer League’s Utica City FC, has earned the title of first North American sports venue to install permanent digital dasherboards. The affiliate of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils put the 360-degree LED system to the test against the Rochester Americans on Dec. 28, but the new in-venue production tool is already paying off.

Along with the new LED dasherboards, Adirondack Bank Center has a 1,408- x 128-pixel halo board above a static stats centerhung and two videoboards.
“For a small-market team, it’s a huge honor to be the first to showcase this,” says Eric Kowiatek, VP, creative services, Utica Comets. “It’s such a cool piece of technology, and we’re excited to see what we can do with it.”
Visit Abroad: Trip to Finland Connects Team President to Vepe-Icepro
Near the end of the 2023-24 AHL season, Mohawk Valley Garden/Utica Comets President Robert Esche had an important plane to catch: he was headed to Finland and a meeting with Vepe-Icepro. Located in the town of Tuusula — which is about 45 minutes north of the Finnish capital of Helsinki — the developer of this engaging in-venue technology is heavily involved with professional-hockey venues and competitions across the continent of Europe, including at Nokia Arena and Kivikylä Arena in Finland and the 2021 IIHF World Championship at Arena Riga in Latvia, and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The long experience, technological innovation, and relationship with Vepe-Icepro CEO Riku Kallioniemi and Export Sales Representative Matti Karmala spurred Esche to fly to Finland to see the technology for himself.
“He wanted [the digital dasherboards],” says Michael Lehr, VP, marketing and content, Utica Comets, “and it ended up creating a great partnership with Vepe-Icepro. [The company] wanted to get into the North American market, and Rob was innovative enough to say we could do it.”
The only problem was that the time needed to install the massive fixture wouldn’t line up with the offseason. To solve the logistics issue, the organization circled a block of time during the 2024-25 regular season when the team would be on a road trip. After hosting the Providence Bruins on Friday, Dec. 6, the team wouldn’t return home until three days before New Year’s Eve, playing one game in Syracuse, two in Cleveland, and one game in Rochester. While the team was away, the in-venue crew got to work
“We had to melt the ice and rebuild the whole arena in that short time,” explains Lehr. “It would’ve been a much different experience if these dasherboards came in June and we could play around with them.”
With the help of Mohawk Valley Garden COO Rick Redmond and Adirondack Bank Center Facility and Event Manager Chris Burns, the dasherboards were installed and powered up on Dec. 21, a full week before the targeted first game on Dec. 28 and nine days before Utica City FC’s home opener on Dec. 29 against the Harrisburg Heat. Given the time crunch, Kowiatek clocked hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to configure the boards.
Guess and Check: Downtime Allows Workflow, Durability Tests
To make sure the boards — and the holidays — were merry and bright, the 27,840×128-pixel video display was put through its paces and stress-tested to ensure maximum efficiency. Its main driver is Chyron PRIME Click Effects, but, to deal with any system failure or connectivity issues, Vepe-Icepro built contingency plans into the load-in process.
“We have another backup computer that’s feeding [graphics] through HDMI. In case something goes wrong, we can flip that switch,” Kowiatek notes. “There’s also a built-in redundancy in the system itself: it shows a default image that’s loaded in and can be switched to if it’s not getting a source from anything else.”
Since the video display is right next to the field of play, experiments in trying to make the system break were important. In addition, the digital dasherboards are in the field of play. Although most LED displays can’t be disturbed by brute force, these fixtures needed to be checked and doublechecked by the NHL’s and AHL’s player-safety departments.
“They had to test curved glass, how the boards interacted with pucks and players, and how the glass gave when the boards shake,” Lehr explains. “One of the biggest players on the ice went into the boards during the first game, and [the LED] was no more than four frames [off] before it synced again. We haven’t had any issues other than that. Whether it’s adjusting brightness or resetting panels if we have to, the staff with Vepe-Icepro have been really good about any kind of troubleshooting.”
It’s Showtime: Crew Adapts Game-Day Script for New Tech Toy
For the season’s 10 games before the digital dasherboards were installed, Lehr and Director, Game Presentation, Matthew LaRochelle had to create a standard run of show with the knowledge that the video display would soon be ready. Not only has it helped in programming a show for the Comets, but the display’s ability to swap to a Utica City FC match has been beneficial as well.
“We definitely had to blow up the show a little bit,” adds Lehr, “but we mentally prepared where it would be used in the script. We have also been able to seamlessly transition between the Utica Comets and Utica City FC.”
The timing of the in-venue show needed to be re-clocked to fit in a special showcase of the tech during pregame. For instance, the crew added a minute and a half to give the video display time to go all out on entertainment.
Creatively, the elements are put together by Kowiatek in Adobe After Effects. Previously, he had been creating a lot of low-scale graphics for the venue’s 1,408-x128-pixel halo board above a static stats centerhung and two videoboards on one side of the venue. Now he has to populate the preexisting structures as well as the new video display — and match everything together.
“The majority of my designs are done in one-fourth or one-eighth of the full width [of the digital dasherboards],” he says. “But, when I make something the full size, After Effects wasn’t built for graphics that are that wide. It gets a little confused sometimes when I zoom in and out, because it doesn’t know what I’m trying to look at.”
Trying to bring Lehr’s, LaRochelle’s, and the club’s vision to life, Kowiatek has pushed the envelope on what is possible on game day. Because the technology is new to Adirondack Bank Center and to the league as a whole, production crew has agreed to abide by certain guidelines.
“There aren’t any rules set up for it yet because something like this hasn’t existed [in the AHL],” he explains. “The agreement [calls for] static elements during gameplay, simple animations during whistles, and full takeovers during pregame and intermission. A lot of LEDs at other venues support shows, but this system is in your face and sometimes takes over the videoboards.”
Since its inclusion on game day, corporate partners have been satisfied with the sponsorship elements being shown and the creative opportunities that the display promises. Lehr works closely with Utica Comets VP, Corporate Partnerships, Alicia Leone-DeSarro to come up with marketing spots.
“There are unique ways to integrate them into the game-day experience,” says Lehr. “Our title sponsor, Adirondack Bank, can have their logo go all the way around [the rink] with full takeovers or a car can go around for another sponsor with lyrics to a song popping up as it plays. These boards allow those partners to do a lot more than highlight their brand.”
One of One: Utica Comets Reflect on Being First, Plans for Year 2
Being the first means creating the blueprint, and the Comets aim to help others looking to install the tech. Internally, the installation is a major step forward for a franchise and a community that loves the game of hockey.
“Whenever we create something for these boards,” says Lehr, “the entire office is talking about it for the rest of the day. We’re most excited for our fans that get to see all these different elements because [this tech] changes the way they watch a hockey game. It’s a totally different experience than any event I’ve ever gone to.”
Although there have been many activations in the LED board’s first month and will be plenty throughout the rest of the season, the full breadth of this system’s capabilities won’t be tapped until next season. During the upcoming offseason in the spring, more ideas will be conceived, which translates into more fun at Adirondack Bank Center.
After tonight’s game vs. the Bridgeport Islanders, the Utica Comets will host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. ET. On the pitch, Utica City FC will host the Milwaukee Wave on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. ET