Washington’s surface, whether in Landover or downtown, has never been regarded as moderately good or better than mediocre, even in the peak of winter. But there’s something particularly pernicious about the ice here this season. It’s being referenced with disgust by players and visiting coaches on a nightly basis. Tom Poti on Monday night called Verizon’s ice “embarassing.”

With assets the likes of the Alexes — whose skills can only improve in proportion to the quality of the surface they compete on — how can Capitals’ management allow the team to compete on a surface inferior to Tampa’s?

In Moscow last spring I shared a cab with an entrepreneur working behind the scenes with the NHL on its outdoor hockey games. He told me that today the technology exists to carry off an outdoor NHL game contested on a quality surface . . . in Florida . . . in October. In the years ahead, it’s highly likely that we’ll see outdoor regular season games played in some surprising locales.

Today in D.C. conditions for a hockey game downtown tonight really couldn’t be much better for this time in the calendar. The air outside is dry and crisp, the temps brisk. In any other big-league city, 45 or so NHLers tonight would compete on a reasonably decent if not good sheet of ice. The Caps and the Panthers, however, will not.

Why?


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Posted at 9:32 am. Filed under Area Youth Hockey, Hockey, Ice, Morning cup-a-joe, Washington Capitals.
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11 Comments

  1. Mark Tucker wrote:

    Nice post! Ted, are you listening? THIS is something you certainly can do something about, right?

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:38 am | Permalink
  2. Meza wrote:

    As a former ice tech and having received extensive training in Canada my first tips are drop the slap temp and lower the overall building temp. If you listen to almost any Canadian broadcast they all seem to reference how cold the overall building is. Maybe even update the dehumidifiers to keep the air dry.
    Just my 2 cents.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 10:41 am | Permalink
  3. Chimaera wrote:

    It has been poor for a while. Now it is unreasonably bad.

    I know some of that is the fact that the Verizon Center is used a ton, but that’s no excuse for it to be AWFUL.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 11:09 am | Permalink
  4. Rage wrote:

    What are comparable venues? LA? NYR? Atlanta?

    How does their ice compare? The ice always looks like crap when I go to games at MSG, and they have to squeegee it to remove the pooled water after the zamboni-ing each period.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 2:06 pm | Permalink
  5. Meza wrote:

    Rage,

    MSG has the worst in the league due to it’s over use. The new Staples Center in LA, I have not heard about their ice nor Atlanta’s.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 2:09 pm | Permalink
  6. TG wrote:

    Just a reminder that Ted doesn’t own the building. He’s just a tenant. Any and all complaints should rightfully go to Abe Pollin and his organization.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 3:30 pm | Permalink
  7. Jordan wrote:

    I’m pretty sure the team will make a formal complaint if they feel it necessary. I don’t think that we, as spectators, would have much say in the issue.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 3:37 pm | Permalink
  8. Grooven wrote:

    Maybe people are looking at this all wrong. Afterall, it’s called home-ice advantage for a reason. Maybe they need to make Kettler not-so-nice, so the Caps can get the knack for playing on choppy or uneven or slushy or whathaveyou. That would be 41 games with a decided advantage over the opponent if the Caps can do it.
    Football, soccer, baseball… they all have something to utilize. Domes, artificial turf, mud, elevation, snow, heat, grass, direction in relation to the Sun, distance to walls, etc.

    “Bad” ice doesn’t have to be bad.

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 4:41 pm | Permalink
  9. BE wrote:

    Amen

    Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 9:39 pm | Permalink
  10. Smitty wrote:

    Old man Abe owns the building. All Ted can do is whine, and I hope that’s what he’s doing - a lot.

    Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 7:24 am | Permalink
  11. The Peerless wrote:

    Watching the Caps on that ice, I get the impression that they are a team constructed to play on an ice sheet like that in Edmonton, when they really need to be a team that is “uglier” in style — banging in loose pucks and rebounds from close range.

    Cute won’t work on that ice sheet.

    Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 8:27 am | Permalink

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