For a building as big as the Air Canada Centre and a Maple Leafs fan base that is so rabid about its team, the in-game experience has sure been quiet since, oh, time immemorial.

But that’s about to change.

The Star got an exclusive sneak peek Monday at what’s new at the ACC, changes that treat fans like the sophisticated hockey watchers they are — less intrusive during the action, and less commercial. It should definitely make the place louder, like most other rinks.

“We were just looking to change the philosophy,” said Shannon Hosford, vice-president of marketing and communications for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. “It was time.”

Hokey is one word to describe the in-game experience of the past decade, despite many fan-friendly advances in technology that have livened things up elsewhere.

The biggest change is a $1.5-million investment in over-the-ice projectors that will use the surface as a screen. Nine NHL teams already have this, including Wednesday night’s visitors, the Montreal Canadiens, and the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The projector can show the rink’s surface in near 3D — lines getting painted, water flowing in, ice forming. At one point, shards of ice flow by, each with its own Leaf vignette. The Maple Leaf logo is meticulously stitched together. And, of course, there are lots of shots of players, goals and hits.

“We want to make sure hockey fans and our players are front and centre,” said Michael Gelfand, creative director at MLSE. “We want to make sure people are excited to be here for puck drop.”

Another addition is Toronto-born actor Will Arnett, delivering an impassioned speech about being a Leaf fan. “We are a nation within a city,” Arnett says on the video.

He’s no Drake, the rapper synonymous with the Raptors, but give the Leafs credit for trying.

Gone are some of the more sophomoric events such as slingshot hockey and goalie races during intermissions. Instead, the between-periods focus will be on the game itself, with more — and better — replays on the over-the-ice screen. Also out are many of the corporate promotions that often interrupted the excitement as it was building.

“Anything that’s a little gimmicky, we’re getting away from that,” said Hosford. “They’re sophisticated fans. They’re here to watch the game, enjoy the game.”

The changes were inspired by Brendan Shanahan, the Leafs’ new president, who is hoping to build a true home-ice advantage.

“Game operations is very important to getting that (home-ice advantage),” said Hosford. “He told us we had to change everything. We had to change our philosophy. That’s what we’ve done, stem to stern.”

To that end, just as Shanahan added some of the game’s brightest young minds to the front office in Kyle Dubas and Brandon Pridham, the Leafs pursued the NHL’s best in-game operations people and brought in Steve Edgar, formerly Calgary’s assistant manager of game-ops. The Flames have been voted the best in that area by their peers for three years in a row.

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The new in-game host, Lauren Howe, will do less corporate shilling, although one corporation in particular will get a lot of positive in-game play. Automaker Ford is giving 200 fans per game the chance to sit in their own section, as some under-used corporate suites have been turned back into a kind of grandstand. These promise to be the loudest fans and will probably be featured a lot.

They have to audition for the free tickets, though. There is a travelling Maple Leaf — a big, oversized logo — making its way around the busiest parts of town with a camera and computer algorithm. Fans can approach the logo and cheer into the camera and microphone. After that the algorithm — dubbed the “spirit meter” — rates the cheer for quality and volumne and a box opens, with a prize inside. Sometimes it will be a T-shirt, sometimes Marlies tickets, and for the craziest fans it will be tickets to the Ford Fan Deck. No doubt video of the winning auditions will be shown during the game.

Pre-game and in-game music will go with the flow, reviewed every six or seven games. Game-operations people say they’ll tailor it to the crowd’s mood. If the place is loud and boisterous and chanting “Go Leafs Go!” the music won’t interrupt — maybe a drumbeat to keep it going. If the crowd is quiet, the tunes will be cranked up.

“We want to be real strategic with what music we play when,” said Reid Black, senior director of marketing for the Leafs and Marlies. “The best game presentation is where the crowd takes over. If you look at soccer in the English Premier League, game presentation is just the crowd noise. We would love to get to that point.”

Some old elements will return. Wednesday’s anthem will be sung by the fans, for example, typical when the opposition is a Canadian team.

Next season, a new over-the-ice JumboTron will be unveiled with four equal sides, giving fans the same experience no matter where they sit.

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