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The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are reportedly being rebranded as the Bridgeport Islanders. According to sports writer Andrew Zadarnowski, the AHL Affiliate of the New York Islanders will share their parent's namesake for the 2021-2022 season. He shared the below tweet. We must point out that Bridgeport is not located on an island, so the very name itself makes little sense. The Sound Tigers name was much better in our opinion, as was their logo. The new logo feels amateur at best, with an odd font choice for the Islanders text, and a very unbalanced overall look. While the general consensus on Twitter appears to be disapproving, we still decided to make an ice rink concept to show how it might look next season. What do you think of this change? Let us know in the comments below.

UBS Arena and Climate Pledge Arena both reach major construction milestones with the pouring of ice slabs. Jeff Nash gives you all the details about this step and why it is so important in this month's Rinks Roundup.

Some news out of Calgary regarding the planned new arena. Seattle and Belmont arena's are right on track and there is some news out of Edmonton for the former home of the Oilers. Check it out with Jeff Nash. Be sure to follow his channel for much more content!

One of many ways we are celebrating our tenth anniversary is with the return of NCAA center ice designs. Back in 2017 we started the college section, but it quickly got overlooked due to the site-wide conversion to full rink graphics. So at its best, we only had about half of the Division I teams for the 2017 season, and a few other ices for a couple previous seasons. It was just bad timing to introduce them to the site. However, having completed the full rink conversion process earlier this year, it seemed like a great opportunity to expand our center ice archive. We now have every NCAA team from the Big 10, Hockey East, NCHC, and ECAC on our site. Most teams have up to 10 years of center ice designs. That's over 195 new center ices added to the archive! As we continue our research, we hope to expand that even more. (Please note, some teams are not playing this season due to the pandemic.)​ We are doing our best to get the details right. Not all NCAA rinks share the same layout. From ref circles to corner board radius, and even the occasional International rink dimensions. You can find these ices under the NCAA tab on the Center Ice Archive page.

Getting back to our throwback series with a look at a return of the 80's and 90's. The Canucks skate logo was around for a couple decades but only appeared in the center ice circle for 6 years. Today we are brining it back, bigger and bolder than ever. We broke the current NHL rules a bit by having this one escape the circle on both sides. What do you think of this look? Would you like to see the Canucks return to their previous look? Let us know in the comments below.

Just 4 hours ago, we uploaded the final 2021 NHL season center ice graphic, or so we thought. The Islanders have already changed up their ice a bit, just a couple weeks into the season When the season began, the Islanders circled around that familiar logo at center ice, skating over the words "Nassau Live Center". This seems to have been a somewhat temporary name following the end of a naming rights deal with NYCB which had renamed the building "NYCB Live" just a couple years prior. Now, several games into the final season at the Coliseum, the building will once again have "Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum" on the ice. Coliseum leaseholder representative, Nicholas Mastroianni II, told the media, "The name ‘Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum’ will never disappear on my watch." For more on the backstory, check out the original story on Newsday. You can view the change in the slider below, and check out the complete history of New York Islanders center ices in the archive. What do you think of this change? Let us know in the comments below.

We are the only center ice archive on the web, and we strive for accuracy. Let's take a look at some improvements we have been working on the last month or two. If you search for official diagrams of an NHL rink on the web, you will notice a variety of of shapes for the rink. Obviously the current NHL rinks are all one exact shape and size, so it was important for us to nail down the correct shape and correct markings. Also we have have noticed that colors of lines and markings can vary depending on lighting and even whether or not the teams are using paint or in-lay logos. So we have been studying many photos of freshly painted rinks and aerial images from outdoor games to make our rink graphics as accurate as possible. Below you can see the changes we have made. The biggest change is to the shape of the rink. The corners of the rink are more rounded off. Our old graphic actually matched up more with a few older rinks that had sharper corners, so those will remain the same. (Meadowlands, St. Louis Arena, etc.) Next, we changed the crease color to a darker shade of blue, and reworked the crease layout for some of the pre-2000's crease designs. While we are on the topic of colors, we have also used a lighter shade of blue and red for the standard markings on the ice. One change that is not reflected in the comparison above (because most ices on our site were already updated over the last year) was enlarging the ref circle. Our original full rink graphics had much smaller and inaccurate ref circles. We are also trying to make sure they are in the correct location on older rinks where the ref circles were often off-center or on the opposite side of the rink. Another change that you cannot see because it a back-end site improvement is that full rinks will now load faster on the website. Previously, clicking on a thumbnail would take you to a page where the full rink graphic would load in it's full size of over 4000 pixels wide. Now it will load in a smaller size and you can click to enlarge full size if you wish to download. We have finished all of the NHL ices. We have moved on to AHL in which we have completed all of the current teams and are now working on former teams. We will start upgrading other leagues soon as well. ​ Stay tuned for more updates and feel free to check out our progress at the center ice archive!

With the NHL season finally on our doorstep, there are still several unknowns. Perhaps the largest question is where the Canadian teams will play this season if their government does not allow them to play in their country. The NHL has mentioned the possibility of the teams having to play in the United States. If this idea were to happen, we don't know what plans they would consider. Perhaps they would play in current NHL arenas and share with an existing team, or perhaps they would play in NHL-ready arenas that do not currently host a major league hockey team. Well the latter possibility is the one we like most, so lets play around a little with that. Obviously, these are just our thoughts, and you may disagree with them and that is fine. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. ​Lets get started. Calgary Flames The Saddledome just makes me think of Texas, but in Canada. Well it turns out, we have a Texas right here in America, and they have an NHL ready arena in Houston. Edmonton Oilers The Oilers need to move south, and there aren't a lot of NHL-ready arenas directly south of them, so we found a place one time-zone east that was built with NBA and NHL in mind but has never had a home team. The recently renamed T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Montreal Canadiens I am sure Habs fans won't like this, and I don't blame you, but the rust bucket of Brooklyn has housed an NHL team up until this year, and without fans, the seating layout and off-center scoreboard won't be a problem. Ottawa Senators Playing all the way down in Florida. This would seem less-than-ideal for the Senators, but that team seems to find themselves in many less-than-ideal situations every year. On the other hand, maybe they would enjoy some warmth for a change. Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto hosted the NHL for the playoffs, but they won't get to do that again for awhile. We didn't move them too far across the border, but they are moving a bit more west. Milwaukee has a brand new arena that has a never-before-used NHL-ready rink. Vancouver Canucks Vancouver gets to move south of the border and still remain within driving distance of the west coast. The Moda Center is ready for NHL action and isn't all that far away from home for the Canucks. Winnipeg Jets Finally, Winnipeg. We are just moving them back to where they came from. Of course, Milwaukee or Kansas City would work better geographically, but the fans of Atlanta would, no doubt, love to bring the former Thrashers back for one season You could make a valid argument that the Maple Leafs could join the Raptors in both playing in Florida, or that the Senators could play in New York. Obviously none of these options are ideal, and luckily, the NHL is not likely to listen to a website they have likely never heard of before. Tell us what you think in the comments below.

With the 10 year naming rights deal expiring this past summer, and no known extension being announced, it is possible the Canucks could soon return to a renamed arena. Here is who we believe might be the front-runner, and fans are not going to appreciate it. The arena in Vancouver has been known as Rogers Arena since July of 2010 when it took over the naming rights to the then General Motors Place. Many thought it would simply be Rogers Place to maintain a part of the old name, but we all know that name would later be used in Edmonton instead. And because Rogers now has their name on another building, you have to wonder if they will shift their focus to the newer facility, home to the Oilers. While they are a large company and could certainly afford to continue paying to have their logo on both buildings, there has been no public announcement of an extension. So lets assume, for a moment, that the Canucks are to get a new naming rights partner. Who might that be. While it could be a number of local or national corporations, there is one name that seems to show up more and more lately around the home of the Canucks. This is the part where Canucks fans may not appreciate this post because of a particular rival team's arena, but I feel its necessary to acknowledge the possibility that TD Bank could be a front-runner if the time comes for a new name. TD has been steadily increasing their presence around Rogers Arena for the past few seasons, and while this does not mean they are a shoe-in, it certainly shows they have a great and growing interest in this team. Now you might think they would never name another sports facility in North America after the TD brand. After all they already have TD Garden in Boston, TD Place in Ottawa, TD Station in Saint John, TD Arena in Charleston, and TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. Why would they ever consider another one? Well when Scottrade Center was bought out by TD Ameritrade, the home of the Blues nearly became TD Ameritrade Center. Ultimately, TD showed no interest in the St. Louis market. We circle back to their increased interest in the Vancouver market though, and it would seem plausible that they could add this venue to their portfolio. So, if they did take over naming rights, what would they call it? So many names are already used, and I somehow find it hard to believe they would use TD Ameritrade Centre since it sounds a little too American, and this is Canada. So our prediction (and we know this is still a long shot) is that the next name for the home of the Canucks will be TD Forum. Check out our ice concept below.

Our suspicions following the "Pepsi" branding omission in NHL 21 have now been confirmed. The home arena of the Colorado Avalanche has been renamed Ball Arena. Ball Corporation and KSE announced the naming rights deal Thursday. In addition, the partnership includes aluminum beverage packaging deals with Arsenal of soccer's Premier League, which plays in London's Emirates Stadium, and with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams in their new home, SoFi Stadium. Ball Corporation is a Colorado-based company that provides sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers. Of course, at TheFaceoff.net, we see this as an opportunity for a new look at center ice. Check out our concepts below and let us know what you think in the comments.

There has been no news on the naming rights front for the Avalanche since last September when the team renewed their naming rights agreement for a one year extension. That extension is now up, and NHL 21 may have just given us a clue suggesting that Pepsi will not renew the naming rights to the home of the Avs. EA Sports has removed the "Pepsi Center" name from center ice and atop the scoreboard in their newest release, NHL 21. Although they forgot to remove the tiny logos from behind the players benches, it is clear that they intentionally removed the name from the game, which usually only occurs when they lose the license to use their name and branding in the game. So why, after so many years would this license not be renewed? There are a couple real possibilities here. It could be something as simple as a missed request to sign the licensing agreement. This has happened before with a few NHL teams including the Avalanche several years ago. This would be more understandable than ever as we are going through a time where many of the usual people working the team offices may be laid off. The other possibility is that Pepsi has chosen not to renew their naming rights, and the building will sit in limbo until a new deal has been struck with a new naming rights partner. At this point, we will have to wait for any potential news to come out from the team or the arena, but I would not criticize EA Sports at this point for this missing branding. If the building should be renamed at some point this season, it is very likely that EA will patch it into the game with one of their title updates. What do you think of this potential development? Is a name change coming, or did someone drop the ball on the paperwork?

As we mentioned yesterday, Nassau Coliseum is in NHL 21, but we also noticed a strange scoreboard. Unfortunately we could only catch a small portion of it from the video we received. Today we have footage of the entire scoreboard, and it has left us with more questions than answers. Where did this board come from? Is it real? This scoreboard is nothing like the incredibly simple and small real-life scoreboard, and also bares little resemblance to any scoreboard I have seen in the NHL or AHL. It contains enough detail that I can't imagine EA just came up with a generic scoreboard without some specific inspiration. Could it be a new scoreboard for Nassau Coliseum that most of us have yet to see? Doubtful, as it would make little sense to purchase a brand new, state-of-the-art scoreboard for a single season of NHL action. Also, their current board was just installed following the recent renovations. Honestly, we have thought of several possibilities and none of them seem plausible than another. Never-the-less, it is great to be able to play in the Coliseum one last time. What do you think of this board? What are your thoughts on the possibility that it might be real? Let us know in the comments below.

With the news that the New York Islanders will play all of their home games at Nassau Coliseum for the 2021 season, many wondered if EA Sports NHL 21 would replace Barclays Center with the old barn. Today, via an early access look at NHL 21, we discovered that the Coliseum is indeed in the game. Our apologized to Islanders fans but these screenshots come from a Stanley Cup celebration which will certainly not make your day. It is great to see this arena back in the game. We noticed that there is no arena name around center ice. This is likely due to the fact that the real life arena has been stripped of its NYCB Live name, and will revert back to its former name. I would imagine this will be patched in later on. We also noticed a very strange looking scoreboard in the screenshots which looks nothing like their current board, or the previous ones. Unfortunately we didn't get a great look at it, but it makes us curious about the possibility of a new scoreboard in real life. It would seem doubtful that they would have a new board for their final season though. ​Take a look at the screenshots below and tell us what you think in the comments.

After a presentation from the NHL, we now have an idea of what the return to play will look like in Edmonton and Toronto. With no home-team advantage, the NHL will use some new and innovated methods to create a unique feel for each game. "This is going to be an unusual, to say the least, endeavor. It will be challenging at times, but I assure you we, in conjunction with the [NHL] Players' Association, who we work with every step of the way, are trying to do everything possible to make this an experience that hopefully you'll never forget, but in a good way." - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Per NHL.com, there will be 12 exhibition games -- six in each city -- from Tuesday through Thursday, and play will officially resume with the Stanley Cup Qualifiers on Aug. 1, when there will be three games at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and two at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The Qualifiers will consist of two round-robins -- one for the top four teams in the East, another with the top four teams in the West -- to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and eight best-of-5 series with the winners advancing to the playoffs. The first two rounds of the playoffs will take place in the hub cities, and Edmonton will host each conference final and the Stanley Cup Final, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Sept. 22 and will end no later than Oct. 4. As for game presentation, each of the 24 teams will have their own goal horn, goal song, crowd chants and other key elements of their game day experience. Additionally, they will use crowd audio from EA Sports to help simulate crowd noise during the games. Here is what the setup will look like.

Continuing our "What If" series with a look at what the Seals center ice might look like today if they were still an NHL team in Oakland. We are using Oracle Arena for this concept, because in our fantasy world, it has been retrofitted for hockey.

Continuing our series of "What If", lets try out the Kansas City Scouts. Their logo would look nice at center ice.