SMART Productions, headed by Josef “Pepa” Ženíšek, supplied all the technical elements required for the two venues – Prague’s O2 Arena and Ostrava Arena – involved in hosting the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)’s World Championship tournament. They also co-ordinated technical production in the Prague FanZone area.

As if Czechs were not already proud enough to see their national team beat Switzerland 2-0 in the final to become world champions for the next 12 months, the event’s lighting designer Ondrej Burian worked closely with game experience director Martin Zahálka from Livebros and leaned extensively into Robe moving lights to make an impact for that final event in Prague.

Twenty-four x Robe BMFL Blades, 24 x BMFL WashBeams, 12 x Spiider LED WashBeams and 12 x Tetra2 LED battens were deployed to illuminate the interior of the ice rink and used extensively during the intermissions and to light the pre-match entertainment. 

Robe lights were in fact used to enhance the visual experience throughout the entire 2024 Ice Hockey World Championship series – during the opening and closing ceremonies and the games themselves.

Lighting was instrumental to the whole staging concept of the Championships.

The SMART Productions brief included creating a dynamic range of different lighting scenes to dazzle the audience with outstanding lighting and visual effects and help keep the excitement ratcheted up. The ice rinks were mapped with light and timecoded shows were prepared for intros, intermissions, and the all-important goals and key moments that flowed throughout the championship.

AV Media was chosen by competitive tender as the lighting supplier. They are a major rental company in the Czech Republic and happen to have a large Robe moving light inventory, so BMFL fixtures were chosen for their reliability in cold and damp environments as well as their brightness and multiple features.

For the Final, all the Robe fixtures, together with some other lights, were rigged on trusses flown high above the O2 Arena and used to illuminate the audience and the entertainment segments. 

The production lights were spread out across the entire roof space around and above the central video cube scoreboard, with others filling in on trusses flown along the long ends of the arena. The general rink area was already illuminated with industry-standard sports lighting fixtures.

The Final was the only game with this additional show lighting to boost the atmosphere and excitement for the live audience and enhance camera shots for the broadcast. 

Robe proved a great choice. Bright and powerful, they helped make the event look extra special for everyone there in person and all those glued to televisions or watching remotely.

The biggest production challenges on the day were time, logistics and getting the desired results in on the budget. 

A few brainteasers were needed to help with synchronising the get ins, build ups, rehearsals and lighting sessions, all of which had to run smoothly and in conjunction with the ice building / freezing schedules, as well as the team practices. 

On site, SMART Productions co-ordinated over 100 technical crew and engineers covering all departments for the Final, and as always, their teamwork, calmness and organisation excelled to ensure that everything happened smoothly. 

Martin was right at the centre of everything visual as he was also responsible for the game production – video content, floor shows, entertainment and general operations.

Lukas Foniok and David Kramer were the hard-working AV Media production managers collaborating with project manager Michal Matko.

The most enjoyable moment for the whole production crew was the Czech team winning the title for the seventh time! Achieving this in their home country and in front of a Czech crowd was simply the icing on the cake!