SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League and power management company Eaton today announced that five skating rinks in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois and New York have advanced to the final of the “Light Like the Pros” promotion in which one community ice skating rink in an AHL market will receive a free Ephesus LED sports lighting system valued at more than $50,000.
The five finalists who advanced, as a result of online voting and the judges’ score of their essays, are:
Beaver Dam Family Center Ice Arena, Beaver Dam, WI (Milwaukee Admirals)
Sunbury Ice Skating Rink & Community Center, Sunbury, PA (Hershey Bears)
Oak Park Ice Arena, Stockton, CA (Stockton Heat)
Clinton Arena/Edward Stanley Recreation Center, Clinton, NY (Utica Comets)
Riverview Ice House, Rockford, IL (Rockford IceHogs)
From March 6-21, voting begins again at LightLikeThePros.com. All votes recorded during the semi-finals and these final two weeks of voting will be counted. The winning rink will be selected based upon a 75%/25% combination of their vote totals and essay score.
At the start of the 2017-18 AHL season, ice skating rink owners, coaches, and even hockey moms and dads across North America nominated their rinks by sharing why their rink is deserving of a state-of-the-art LED lighting retrofit solution. After a panel of judges selected 33 rinks to advance to the voting stage, a round of online voting during January narrowed the field to 10 and then a new round of voting in February helped determine the finalists. In all more than 100,000 votes have been cast.
“Numerous AHL teams have benefitted from Eaton’s Ephesus LED lighting and control systems in their arenas, so it’s fitting that we are able to provide one deserving community skating rink in an AHL market with the same great lighting that our players and fans experience at many AHL arenas,” said Christos Nikolis, executive vice president, Marketing and Business Development for the AHL. “It’s obvious from the strong support that these rinks have received that they are all valued members of their communities.”
After the refrigeration system, lighting is typically an ice rink’s largest electricity consumer as a typical ice rink uses its lights for more than 6,500 hours annually. Metal-halide lighting systems, which are currently installed at most skating rinks, generate heat that must then be removed from the building by the ice refrigeration system. In contrast, energy-efficient LED lights use less energy, generate less heat and help reduce the load on the rink’s ice plant refrigeration system. An ice rink that makes the switch to LED can typically expect a 70 percent reduction in energy use, as well as a near-elimination of maintenance costs.
“Our Ephesus LED sports lighting solution is well-known for illuminating some of the most famous sports venues in the world, including more than a dozen AHL and NHL arenas. What many people don’t realize is that LED sports lighting is now a reality for fields, arenas and ice skating rinks of all sizes,” said Mike Lorenz, president, Eaton’s Ephesus Lighting business. “We hope that by rewarding one deserving rink with this fantastic prize, we’ll inform all hockey rinks across North America that LED lighting is within their reach.”
Eaton’s Ephesus light-emitting diode sports lighting product line provides optimal lighting that illuminates more uniformly on the playing surface and offers an improved stage for players and fans. The system is easy to install, requires little to no maintenance for years and offers the lowest total operating costs compared to other traditional sports lighting systems.
Hundreds of sports facilities of all sizes have made the switch to Eaton’s LED sports lighting system. Some of the most prominent include: University of Phoenix Stadium (Arizona Cardinals); Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Dolphins); PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates); Bridgestone Arena (Nashville Predators); and the historic Martinsville Speedway in Virginia – the first NASCAR track with LED lighting.
For more information, visit LightLikeThePros.com.
Eaton is a power management company with 2016 sales of $19.7 billion. Eaton provide energy-efficient solutions that help their customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more efficiently, safely and sustainably. Eaton is dedicated to improving the quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and services. Eaton has approximately 95,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countries. For more information, visit Eaton.com.
