Puck Drops Here in Honor of Canadiens
By Arlen Schweiger
Despite its location in Alberta, this Montreal fan decked out his bar and media room in the Canadiens' red, white and blue.

Talk about a fish out of water—or, more appropriately, a frozen pond. Homeowners Jon and Tanis Rivard live in hockey-crazed Canada, smack between Edmonton and Calgary in the Alberta town of Red Deer. But rather than root for the Oilers or Flames, Jon is fanatical about hockey’s version of the New York Yankees—the 24-time Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens.

Coincidentally, so is the staff at Calgary-based custom electronics firm Home Concepts, so when Jon approached them with the idea to outfit an entertainment room in Canadiens colors, they were happy to oblige.



“When he has friends over he has to fend for himself,” says Home Concepts’ P.J. Aucoin. “There aren’t too many of us Montreal fans out here. But it was a fun project for us, even though we’re in Calgary.”

The space, which was constructed as part of a new home build, really consists of two impressive media areas—a theater featuring a 119-inch projection screen and a bar with three 26-inch LCDs. When friends are over, hockey nights in Red Deer are fun from any seat; the big screen is easily viewable from the bar, and the bar TVs are all on articulating arm mounts so they can be extended and swiveled.

A Panasonic 1080p projector fires at the Da-Lite screen and can access content from three high-def cable DVRs and Blu-ray player or act as an on-screen interface for viewing the front-door surveillance camera or making selections from the Escient iPod dock. The projector is virtually hidden within the ceiling alcove above the row of theater chairs.

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