WORCESTER – The DCU Center is home to professional hockey, so how appropriate is it that the building’s new seats are black and blue?
The latest upgrade to the home of the ECHL’s Worcester Railers, concerts, shows, graduations, ceremonies, performances, and seemingly endless events was unveiled Wednesday afternoon as officials from the DCU Center and city, Railers coaches and executives, and hockey fans looked on.
The new seats displayed at the DCU Center Wednesday will not necessarily make the concerts sound any better, the speeches sound more dynamic, or make the Railers score more goals but they are arriving at just the right time.
“I think it’s part of the overall fan experience. It makes it a better fan experience,” said Railers owner Cliff Rucker, who put new seats at the top of his wish list when he first visited the DCU Center some eight years ago.
As part of the ceremonies, DCU Center executives unlocked a section of new seats for attendees to take for a test drive, of sorts. It was a bit of a new experience for Rucker, who generally spends most of his team’s home games standing in the corner by the visiting team’s tunnel.
Work on installing the new seats is ongoing.
“Don’t panic,” DCU Center general manager Sandy Dunn told the crowd. The building, which has been closed for four months, will the weekend of October 14-15 just in time for a Hot Wheels and Monster Truck Show.
“We’re not ready, but we’re getting there,” she said. “We’re used to turning things over fast.”
The Railers open their schedule the night of Oct. 21 versus — who else? — the Adirondack Thunder, and take on Trois Rivieres the following afternoon. So, exactly how are the new seats going to enhance Worcester’s home-ice advantage?
“If the fans cheer enough,” DCU Center marketing director John LaHair said, “and they’re going to be cheering about these seats, hopefully the Railers are gonna score a lot more goals.”
Team president Stephanie Ramey likes that line of thought.
“It’s a substantial upgrade to the building,” she said. “I think our fans are going to appreciate the new ambience. In terms of connecting to the hockey games — happy fans, people cheering, and hopefully more support for the team on the ice.”
The new seating plan of black-and-blue is not an accident, and actually has nothing to do with the intensity of hockey.
“As part of the partnership with the Railers, city of Worcester and the DCU Center,” LaHair said, “we said were going to replace the seats and five years into the partnership we have new seats that are dark navy blue as a nod to the Railers colors.
“The 200 level and 300 level seats are black because black is more conducive to the different shows that come in and shoot here. They like having those black seats.”
The dark navy blue, in particular, works for the hockey team.
“We’re very excited to have our Railers blue represented in the DCU Center,” Ramey said.
This is the third generation of seats in the DCU Center. The original ones were installed when it opened in 1982 as the Centrum. Those seats were changed out in the early 2000s.
Seating capacity is essentially unchanged, LaHair said. It remains at just below 14,000 depending upon the event. The second-generation seats were given away to any fans who might have wanted them. About 500 fans carted off about 3,000 seats. The rest were recycled.
The new seats will not just look different.
“I think fans will find them much more comfortable,” LaHair said. “It’s an opportunity to not only enhance the fan experience, but enhance the experience for anybody who’s in the building.”
Railers coach Jordan Smotherman and assistant Bob Deraney were on hand to view the new seats and answer questions from fans. Many of the fans said they liked the new seats and are hoping to sit in them for more than just 36 regular-season games.
Rucker stands most of the time and expects he’ll be standing enthusiastically for playoff games, too.
“Jordan has assured me,” he said, “that this is our year.”
Perhaps the new seats, then, are the start of a new era for the Railers.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com.
