On Frozen Blog

Excerpts from this afternoon’s Washington Post online chat with Caps’ beat reporter Tarik El-Bashir:

Arlington, Va.: Why are we only now hearing serious complaints about the ice at Verizon? I’ve heard rumblings about that for years but never from the players before now. Also, the Devils have been talking about the same problem at their new arena, but that doesn’t seem to have adversely impacted on their recent play…

Tarik El-Bashir: I think the ice has been bad for years, but this year, for some reason, it’s been worse than ever.

Remember, Verizon Center is one of the busiest arenas in the league — something is almost always going on there.

But the veteran players I’ve talked to don’t care about that. One told me the other day that MSG, the busiest arena in the country, has better ice than Verizon. Now that’s saying something.

I would be very surprised if the Caps don’t bring in some experts in the coming days or weeks to take a closer look at the situation. That’s what most teams do when players start making noise about the ice.

Washington: Could all the perspiration that Reebok’s uniform system is repelling away from players’ bodies be collecting in warm pools on the ice surfaces?

Tarik El-Bashir: That’s a problem. But that’s not why the ice at Verizon Center is so sloppy.

Look, I’m not an ice expert. But when I walk into Carolina’s building, I get really, really cold. Same in Tampa, Toronto, Edmonton and a bunch of other rinks.

At Verizon, I usually take off my jacket because it’s so warm. That’s not a good sign. The players have made remarks about that, too.

Washington: Thanks for doing the chats. What creates good ice or bad ice for a hockey game. What can be changed, a new ice system?

Tarik El-Bashir: I wish I knew. I’ve got to be honest, in all my time to covering the sport and playing it as a youngster, I’ve never thought too much about ice. it’s not something that comes up often — it just has in recent days because of Chris Clark’s comments.

But I do know this: some rinks have ice experts who go onto the rink, check the ice and take samples from it I presume for testing.

Hershey, Pa.: Tarik, just how much longer will hockey fans have to endure Gary Bettman? The uniform fiasco (now contributing to bad ice), the ridiculously unbalanced schedule — can’t the entire NHL see that no one shows up at Verizon for Southeast games, but fans pack the place for the old Patrick division ones? He’s been on the job 10 years longer than most commissioners, and his failures number in the hundreds. What will it take to see change?

Tarik El-Bashir: Gary Bettman got the owners their coveted salary cap. Teams are worth more now than they were when he became commish. So, in short, he’s going to be in the corner office for a long, long time.

Washington: Your paper’s high-profile sports columnists long have been on the record ridiculing and belittling hockey. Gene Weingarten joined them earlier this week. Clearly the sports editors there aren’t all that hot on the game either. Does such institutional animosity toward hockey make your job harder?

Tarik El-Bashir: It doesn’t affect me directly. I kind of operate in my own little world. It’s a one reporter beat. And I kind of like it that way.