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Quality of ice is horrible

BenchBrawl

BenchBrawl

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
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Is it me or every game I watch the ice is in very bad condition? Like a player can't make a straight forward pass without the puck bouncing around.If it continues to deteriorate like that might as well call it Lacrosse.This is also relevent to the poor spectacle the NHL has become, but I wanted a separate discussion on this issue.

What can be done about it?
 
Depends on which arena you're talking about. Some are known for fantastic ice, like Edmonton, Detroit, etc. while some like MSG and Staples Center are known for bad ice.
 
Hockeyfan2390 said:
Depends on which arena you're talking about. Some are known for fantastic ice, like Edmonton, Detroit, etc. while some like MSG and Staples Center are known for bad ice.
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Currently Edmonton's ice is terrible due to Rexall's ice plant being too old but it will hopefully thing will be back up to form next year at Rogers' Place.

For years the Oilers gained a reputation for having the best ice in the league. Dan Craig & his crew maintained the ice when he joined the Oilers in 1987. Dan left to work with the league as Senior Director of Facilities Operations in 1997 and goes to each rink to keep things consistent, unfortunately there is only so much you can do with temperature fluctuations as well as the venue variables.
 
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Hockeyfan2390 said:
Depends on which arena you're talking about. Some are known for fantastic ice, like Edmonton, Detroit, etc. while some like MSG and Staples Center are known for bad ice.
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Yeah, the legend of EDM's ice continues to get thrown around by opposing team broadcasters when they come into Rexall. Only a few are smart enough to see that the ice is garbage nowadays.

As someone said above, the guy who did the ice is long gone. So having a bad ice plant as well as whoever is in charge of it equals terrible ice. Terrible as in compared to the past. It's still decent compared to the majority of the league.

I remember reading a long time ago that it would cost a million dollars to have a good machine and that if every team upgraded it then it would be consistently good most games, but that was such a long time ago. I've no clue how accurate that would be now.
 
The ice in Carolina last night seemed like it was beyond awful. Puck was bouncing everywhere, players were falling, etc. It just looked like they were playing in slush at times.
 
I'm inclined to agree. There has definitely been a lot of bad ice on display in the NHL this year. Seems worse than normal on the whole.

Even the Canucks had some absolutely horrendous ice early in the season, despite historically having a pretty decent surface. There was much ado about the replacement of the old ice plant with a new "eco friendly" unit over the summer though. Seemed to take them a while to figure the whole thing out. Early games were a joke, looked like hockey with a tennis ball. But seems to have improved lately at least. Hopefully they've got it sorted out.
 
This is actually an interesting topic that doesn't get talked about enough IMO. A lot of novice fans assume that each playing surface is indeed even, but there are certain arenas that have better ice than others. I think the players just deal with it though as there isn't a lot they can do about it.
 
The best hockey in the world should be played on a good surface too. Unfortunately that's not the case. It's a shame, really.

But I guess, there only so much you can do in certain climate conditions.
 
The ice in San Jose has been noticeably worse this year, on Saturdays they're generally playing on the second half of a back to back with the AHL Barracuda playing in the afternoon. Not sure if that's the cause or not, but it's rough watching the puck refuse to stay flat.

Maybe that's why we suck at home :(
 
Unfortunately most pro arenas are set up, literally, for fairweather fans. If you even go to the most basic local rink you better be wearing a toque and parka. Not an NHL rink, a T-shirt is fine. How you can have good ice in T-Shirt temperature is beyond me.

I mean I get it's hard to refridgerate a huge California or Florida building, but it's usually room temperature up here in Canada.
 
I really hope in Edmonton that new arena will take the ice seriously. With our skill we would be able to do great things with amazing ice.
 
You usually hear about the arenas with consistently bad ice... But rarely arenas with consistently good ice. Anyone have a list?
 
I have noticed some arenas if the puck sits anytime it seems to stick with lots of players fanning on passes.
 
When did the league have consistently good ice? When did it become this big of an issue? Is it just your observation or are there actual reports from media/players?

My thought would be players are larger and faster than ever before = marginally worse ice.
 
Minnesota said:
You usually hear about the arenas with consistently bad ice... But rarely arenas with consistently good ice. Anyone have a list?
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I think NJ has one of the better ice surfaces in the league. They don't really have much else going on other than Seton Hall basketball.
 
Oil and Avs said:
When did the league have consistently good ice? When did it become this big of an issue? Is it just your observation or are there actual reports from media/players?

My thought would be players are larger and faster than ever before = marginally worse ice.
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When rinks were only used for hockey rather than concerts/basketball/casino nights/etc

The difference between a rink that never has to replace ice and one that does is tremendous
 
A week ago, it was in the 60s and 70s in DC, NYC, Philly, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis and other cities I'm sure. And thats been par for the course in a lot of places for all of fall. Its been consistently in the high 40s, low 50s in Detroit, which is a total anomaly (not that I'm complaining).

I don't know how it is all over North America, but this has been the warmest winter I can remember in about 15 years. Ice managers probably just aren't used to having to work a little harder in November and December.
 
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