Shawinigan’s new 400 seat arena is home to the Cataractes, the local Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team. It replaces the 66 year-old Jacques Plante Arena that no longer met Shawinigan’s requirements. The new arena, which also serves as a cultural and community centre, is the most important multifunctional complex of its kind on the north shore of the St. Lawrence river between Montreal and Quebec City.
The dynamic signage of the scoreboard and the sound system are a SOLOTECH Quebec project. The six-faced scoreboard is made up of 3 LED 10mm screens and 3 score and time displays. The scoreboard is rigged using 4 ChainMaster motors. LED technology is used not only for the scoreboard, but also for the lighting of the 18” high publicity panels that are suspended from the arena’s structure in an oval.
The sound system utilises Bose speakers and QSC amplifiers. In addition to the main cluster, 80 smaller speakers are used for public address and background music. A full control booth is fitted with a Soundcraft sound console and a complete video recording system that is used to send game playbacks as well as promotional videos to the scoreboard screens.