CLOCK TO BE "RETROFITTED"

Harbour Station is getting a new score clock – sort of.

The city of Saint John, along with the feds from the Provincial and Federal governments, announced today that the score clock at the facility will be “retrofitted.”

“Harbour Station is central to Saint John’s reputation as a great venue for major events, and this upgrade will help the city attract more entertainment and sport,” said Ivan Court, Mayor of Saint John in a release.

As far we can tell from the release, the clock will not be replaced but updated with 21st century technology. The end result will likely be a mere image of the clock at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“The project will retrofit the facility’s original clock and scoreboard system into a new, state-of-the-art computer and video system,” said the release.

$700,000 will be put into the project to update Harbour Station’s video system. The federal government is contributing $352,592 through the Recreational Infrastructure Canada (RInC) Program, a key economic stimulus initiative under Canada’s Economic Action Plan. The Province of New Brunswick and the City of Saint John are each investing $350,592, to complete the project.

It’s good news for hockey fans in Saint John as they will not have a sore neck when they leave a game anymore. Video replays are currently projected on a screen in the West end of Harbour Station.

The big, rectangular, piece of junk that currently sits over center ice is an eye sore and is really the only noticeable aspect of Harbour Station that was left in the 90’s. The clock has been there since the building opened way back in 1993. Oh, the stories it could tell if it could talk.

The technology on the clock right now would likely give Steve Jobs of Apple a panic attack.

But for such an old device, it is used well and there are rarely any problems with the actual clock part. (The only problem being the fact that fans can hardly read the score at times because the light bulbs are out.)

The time of this announcement wasn’t much of a surprise with a Memorial Cup bid reportedly on the way soon. The Sea Dogs organization has said numerous that the clock would need to be updated in order to host the tournament in 2012.

Today’s announcement is part Canada's Economic Action Plan which is providing $500 million over two years for the RInC program to support the upgrading and renewal of recreational facilities in communities across the country.

Hopefully, Harbour Station will not have to hang one of those “economic action plans” signs in the rafters.

To read the official release click HERE.