1 Word to Describe Every NHL Arena

Just like every NHL team, each NHL arena has a personality all its own.

No two arenas in the NHL are the same and each of them has their own environment that is very unique to their city.

It's hard to boil down the arenas and the environment within each of the arenas into one name, but here is my best effort.

Anaheim Ducks: Honda Center

The Word: SoCal

Not just because it is physically located in Southern California, but the arena itself has that kind of laid back feel to it.

My buddy Jeff Shibley, who writes for thehockeywriters.com describes it as fitting right in with the Southern California lifestyle.

Boston Bruins: TD Banknorth Garden

The Word: Traditional

For one of the newer arenas in the league, the Bruins and their fans manage to keep a very traditional feel to TD Banknorth Garden.

From the Bobby Orr statue, to the traditional passing of the Bruins flag over the crowd, this Original Six franchise knows how to keep true to the roots of hockey while still providing a great on ice experience for the fans.

Buffalo Sabres: First Niagara Center

The Word:  Underrated

Buffalo is considered one of those small market teams, but attend a game there and you would never know it.

They fill that building and make it a difficult place to play.

On the surface, you don't expect what you get when you come to Buffalo. I would call their arena and the atmosphere within it very underrated.

Calgary Flames: ScotiaBank Saddledome

The Word: Unique

The design of this arena is truly one of a kind.

Being a kind of "cow town" Calgary loves its rodeos and to have built an arena that honors that part of the community is really cool.

Unique definitely covers this arena.

Carolina Hurricanes: RBC Center

The Word: Loud

This arena is built to reverberate noise.

It's big and round and the crowd here knows how to get this place incredibly loud when they want it to be.

Another very surprising success story of the NHL expansion into the south. (Yes, I know the Hurricanes were not an expansion team, but the NHL was reaching into non-traditional markets here and that is my meaning.)

Chicago Blackhawks: United Center

The Word:  Electric

First, I cannot say that there are not other arenas in the league that provide a kind of electricity during the game, that's just not true.

That being said, the atmosphere created by the Blackhawks fans, especially during the singing of the National Anthems is easily the most electric sensation around.

The energy there cannot be described any better, in my opinion, than electric.

Colorado Avalanche: The Pepsi Center

The Word: Improving

Much like the Avalanche themselves, the Pepsi Center is getting a little bit better.

The jumbo-tron is still old and needs to be updated, but the ownership has helped by placing four large screens up where the old "hustle boards" used to be.

It's better, but still has a bit more to improve on.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Nationwide Arena

The Word: Lackluster

Even with the big moves that this Blue Jackets team made during this offseason, there is still a lot left to be desired.

There isn't a lot of excitement for this team, or at least it really doesn't feel like it, as a result of some bad ownership.

Attendance issues speak to some of these issues in a very serious way.

Dallas Stars: American Airlines Center

The Word: Technological

There is probably no arena in the NHL that does more from a technological standpoint for their fans than the American Airlines Center.

This arena has several types of amenities that can help the staff at the arena make the experience more personalized for each fan, and their technology is a big part of that.

You really have to give it to the owners.

Detroit Red Wngs: Joe Louis Arena

The Word: Classic

You know, classic in the same way that your dad's old car that people think he should get rid of is.

To the outside observer, it really doesn't look like anything all that special, but to your dad and your family and anybody that knows them, it's very personal and filled with a lot of great memories.

Detroit really could use a new arena, but losing the Joe is really hard to fathom.

Edmonton Oilers: Rexall Place

The Word: Tough

Tough isn't exactly the first thing that you think about when you think of the Edmonton Oilers, but tough comes to mind when I think of Rexall Place.

It's a hard place to play, the fans are tough both for creating an intimidating environment and sticking with a team that has been very bad for a few years now, and while those old Oilers teams were super talented they were also really tough.

Just feels right, tough.

Florida Panthers: Bank Atlantic Center

The Word: Innovative

There are a lot more negative things you could come up with when thinking about the home of the Florida Panthers, but one things that is always true about this franchise and arena is that they are always trying to find a new way to market the team.

Their latest scheme tries to attract the most die hard of their fans by offering a section where no visiting fans are allowed, just those for the home team.

An interesting idea, but one that is probably just going to help emphasize exactly how little this team is supported in the long run. Still, a noble effort.

Los Angeles Kings: Staples Center

The Word: Multi-Faceted

The Staples Center is one of the busiest venues in all of professional sports.

They host multiple sports teams in multiple leagues, WWE events and other concerts. This arena has to be ready to be changed over on a moment's notice pretty much daily.

This arena has more uses than MacGyver's Duct tape.

Minnesota Wild: Xcel Energy Center

The Word: Roots

Minnesota is the state of hockey for a reason.

This arena is so in touch with the roots of the game that it hangs up jerseys of local teams to help honor the future stars of this game.

Minnesota has hockey in their blood and they show that by honoring the young players that will keep this game going strong for generations to come.

Montreal Canadiens: Bell Centre

The Word: Religious

I've made this type of analogy to seeing a game in Montreal before.

True, it isn't the old Forum, but this is still the franchise that has perhaps the richest history of all of the teams in the NHL.

More Stanley Cups than any other team, legend after legend that played for this franchise and a fan base that worships this sport as if their well-being depended on it.

To see a game in this arena would send chills down the spine of any hockey fan and really could provide a kind of religious experience.

Nashville Predators: Bridgestone Arena

The Word: Country

Not really in a negative sense, either.

The ownership in Nashville knows who they are trying to reach and they make it as appealing to them as humanly possible.

It's a country place with a country team.

New Jersey Devil: Prudential Center

The Word: Excellence

The New Jersey Devils are a team that strive to be a part of the NHL's elite every single year.

The construction of The Prudential Center was another reminder of this.

Teams that don't make the playoffs rarely get such nice facilities. This market expects a ton out of their Devils and reward them when they live up to these expectations.

New York Islanders: Nassau Veterans Coliseum

The Word: Old

There are some that might wish to include Nassau Veteran's Coliseum in the same kind of "classic" league as Joe Louis Arena, and I can respect that.

To me, this arena is so old that it has gone past its time as being a classic.

It is so old and so run down and this team really needs a new place to begin to thrive.

The Islanders have a great new, young, fresh team that will start to be very competitive soon. They need an arena that will match the make-up of the team.

New York Rangers: Madison Square Garden

The Word: Great

Perhaps the most popular and well-known arena in all of sports, Madison Square Garden has a grandeur about it that cannot be matched.

It has been standing for a long time, yet never seems outdated or anything. It really is a perfect place to see pretty much any event or sport.

Long live the Garden.

Ottawa Senators: Scotiabank Place

The Word: Frustrated

This arena has to be wondering what happened to the winning days of their franchise.

It really wasn't all that long ago that games for the Stanley Cup Finals were being played in this arena, and now that team is on the verge of a major rebuild.

The front office, players, coaches and fans have all got to be very frustrated with what has happened in Ottawa; and that will carry into the arena itself.

Philadelphia Flyers: Wells Fargo Center

The Word: Unforgiving

The other word that I was going to go with was vicious, but unforgiving is more complete in my mind.

It encompasses the fact that the fans will be all over the players of the opponents, but they will also be all over their own team if things are not going to the liking of the masses.

Fans in Philly are easily the hardest to please in all of sports.

Phoenix Coyotes: Jobing.com Arena

The Word: Trepidatious 

This team has no idea what is going to happen to it because there is no owner and hasn't been for nigh on three years.

The fact that nobody knows what is going to happen to this team has made it very hard for them to keep any of the following that they do have.

This feeling will not change until the team manages to get an owner that absolutely will keep the team in the desert.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Consol Energy Center

The Word: Shiny

This is the newest arena in the league and it still has that "new-arena smell" that we all love so much.

There was so much history for the Penguins in the Igloo, it will be interesting to see what history is brought into the new building.

At the moment, it remains the shiny new arena that the fans will love to look at.

San Jose Sharks: HP Pavilion

The Word: Industrial

I've mentioned this in other descriptions of the HP Pavilion, but the design of this building has a lot of large pipes and things like that visible to the crowd all over the place.

It gives a feeling of a place that isn't very welcoming to outsiders, and the team has run with that as it is one of the most difficult places to play on the road.

St. Louis Blues: Scottrade Center

The Word: Par

Scottrade Center kind of reminds me of the St. Louis Blues themselves.

It seems to have some pretty great parts, but in the end it really isn't anything super special. It'll do.

Tampa Bay Lightning: St. Pete Times Forum

The Word: Surprising

It still surprises me what a great following this team has had throughout its years in Tampa Bay.

Recent moves by ownership definitely make it no shock that fans would want to watch this team play, but the fact that they have had so much success in a market like Tampa, is surprising.

Not to mention I still think that some teams get caught off guard by exactly how loud it is in this arena during games.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Air Canada Centre

The Word: Fickle

This is true of playing the game of Canada in one of the biggest cities in the country.

This place expects a lot out of its players and it doesn't take long for a player and the team itself to go from being loved and revered to being the object of the city's ire.

This is definitely one of the cases where the arena takes on the descriptors of the fans that inhabit it.

Vancouver Canucks: Rogers Arena

The Word: Alive

This arena seems to literally come to life when the crowd gets excited or sees one of the amazing plays that this team is capable of displaying.

It's hard for a gigantic inanimate building to have this kind of description, but there are a lot of things that help this arena literally feel as if it is gaining a life force of its own.

Washington Capitals: The Verizon Center

The Word: Intimidating

This building is one of the hardest places to play in the league because of the hostile environment, the amazingly talented team on the other side of the bench, and because of the dress code.

When you look out, and this is something that is happening in more arenas but seems to be most apparent in Washington, the entire crowd is dressed in the same color.

This makes it look as if the crowd is all another gigantic entity working against the visiting team.

Truly a very intimidating atmosphere.

Winnipeg Jets: MTS Centre

The Word: Jubilant

The excitement of having the team back in Winnipeg is so apparent in absolutely every minute of every game.

If the team doesn't begin to win this jubilance may wear off a bit, but it is clearly the most descriptive word of everything that is happening with the MTS Centre right now.

Everybody is just so happy to have the Jets back.