Boston Bruins
“I am unable to imagine that that is the rink we’re taking part in this sport on tomorrow.”
TAMPA — The Bruins are not any strangers to lacing up their skates and taking to the good open air at this level.
Sunday’s Stadium Collection showdown at Raymond James Stadium will stand because the fourth out of doors sport for each David Pastrnak and Sean Kuraly. Earlier treks embody locales like Fenway Park, Lake Tahoe, and Notre Dame Stadium.
As such, skating on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ dwelling stadium isn’t precisely a departure from different rinks outdoors of conventional hockey barns.
However Saturday was a distinct story for each the Bruins and Lightning.
Whereas each golf equipment’ lone follow earlier than the Stadium Collection was held on the frozen sheet at Raymond James Stadium, the whole taking part in floor was lined in a state-of-the-art tent designed to maintain the ice intact earlier than taking part in open air in Florida.
“That felt like among the youth ranks I performed in after I was a child — once you simply really feel such as you’re in a bubble,” Charlie McAvoy stated after Saturday’s follow. “We used to have a bubble that we performed in Freeport, New York. In order that’s what it sort of felt like.
“I stored saying, like, I can’t imagine that that is the rink we’re taking part in this sport on tomorrow. Whenever you take the tent off it, it’ll really feel night-and-day completely different. I’m certain.”
With a view to be certain that the ice floor remained intact amid the weather in Florida, the NHL crafted a steel-framed, air-conditioned construction over the rink — with the tent remaining in place till midnight on Sunday.
Initially propped up over two weeks in the past, the tent — measuring 34 toes excessive, 125 toes extensive and 240 toes lengthy — is roofed in an engineered membrane materials designed to each entice within the chilly air, maintain out humidity, and likewise stay intact amid whipping winds.
It’s a little bit of a departure from among the barns that Morgan Geekie — a product of Strathclair, Manitoba — skated in whereas rising up.
“I imply, if it was wooden and had rooster wire and stuff,” Geekie stated of any comparisons between Saturday’s locale and of the rinks he skated in. “That is fairly high-tech, from the place I got here from.”
The setting of Saturday’s skate was extra akin to the gardening division at Lowe’s than a rink, albeit at a a lot decrease temperature.
Anchored by two refrigeration models and supported by a number of HVAC and dehumidification models to stop frost build-up, the construction has operated with a dew level of 38 levels Fahrenheit for weeks now.
“Constructing the ice for NHL out of doors video games is at all times thrilling, however this one is cool. Not solely are we constructing an ice rink inside Raymond James Stadium, we’re additionally going to construct a totally enclosed refrigerated tent to guarantee that ice is prepared for puck drop,” Derek King, NHL Vice President, Hockey Operations famous. “Sunshine, rain and humidity are all massive elements and controlling these parts for so long as doable whereas we’re constructing the ice can be important.”
Past the construction itself, the NHL additionally set down the ice floor at three inches thick — rather more than the usual 1.5-inch depth in an indoor enviornment to safeguard in opposition to any erosion because of the climate.
Nonetheless, the prevailing sentiment after follow was that the ice was nonetheless smooth throughout a number of areas — as is often the case for out of doors video games.
“You simply must simplify just a little bit the way you play your sport,” Hampus Lindholm stated. “Don’t attempt to [start] the primary shift with a cross-ice move or attempt to do something an excessive amount of. I feel it was just a little smooth on the market, however we’ve performed in so many alternative rinks. …You discover methods to get used to it.”
Granted, the NHL’s efforts to safeguard in opposition to the circumstances could not even be crucial given Sunday’s climate forecast.
The typical excessive on February 1 in Tampa is 71 levels — which might stand because the warmest puck-drop temperature for a sport in NHL historical past.
However Sunday received’t be shorts climate in Tampa —with the current forecast calling for a excessive of 49 levels and temperature hovering across the 30s by the point of puck drop at 6:30 p.m.
Satirically, Sunday’s projected temps are set to be colder than the 2023 Winter Traditional held at Fenway — with the thermometers studying at 51 levels at puck drop in early January.
For McAvoy, the colder the higher — even to the dismay of Bruins followers who have been seeking to escape the chilly circumstances up north.
“I need it to be colder, so the ice is healthier,” McAvoy famous.
For Bolts head coach Jon Cooper, Sunday’s forecast is a becoming consequence for a sport as soon as envisioned as pushing new boundaries for the NHL within the Sunshine State.
“It’s loopy, as a result of I feel final Feb. 1, if I keep in mind appropriately, it was like 81 levels in Tampa. …. However I don’t know if, within the 13 years I’ve been in Tampa, I’ll really feel the temperature as chilly because it’s going to be tomorrow,” Cooper stated. “This sport was meant to be performed in chilly climate.
“And I feel for 65,000 individuals, I do know lots of people are coming from the north which have already skilled this, however there’ll be lots of people that haven’t, and for them, I’m joyful, as a result of that is what we’ve skilled our whole life on the frozen pond outdoors, up ’until darkish. And basically, that’s what we’re gonna be doing, is taking part in it underneath the lights at night time.”
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