Heritage Classic has ‘ice plant on wheels’
Posted Feb 9, 2011 12:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary weather in February can be hard to predict, which poses the question of whether a deep-freeze or chinook could wreak havoc on the ice rink for the Heritage Classic less then two weeks away.
The NHL’s top ice maker says ‘no,’ thanks to a $750-thousand investment by the League in the world’s largest and most technically advanced ice plant on wheels.
The NHL’s facilities manager Daniel Craig says the unit can handle anything Calgary weather can throw at it.
“It reacts so fast. We’ve done a couple of events where my technician has gone and made an adjustment because he knew what we were doing. And by the time he comes back to the floor, I say ‘you’d better be backing off now.’ That’s how quickly it reacts,” says Craig.
He points to the Winter Classic played last month in Pittsburgh where pouring rain posed major challenges, yet his crew and the truck stood up to it.
He says he would like to see minus 5 degrees at puck drop in Calgary, which would be ideal.
