Last night's game 5 was easily the best game of these Stanley Cup Finals, and perhaps the best finals game in years. Near the top of NBC's broadcast, did you catch play-by-play pro Mike Emerick's referencing the temperature of Joe Louis Arena's ice sheet? 

A frosty eight degrees.

That's about 12 degrees colder than is standard for an NHL sheet. It was warm outside in Detroit yestersday, and Joe Louis staff knew they'd be working with a full house. So they over-refrigerated the sheet to ensure quality as long as possible.

The play for much of last night's game was fast and crisp, with passes remaining rather flat on the ice for nearly all of regulation play. In fact, Detroit's best period was the third, when the puck seemed afixed to red Wing stick blades in the Pittsburgh zone. As the temperature in the rink over the course of the multi-overtime game rose, the ice sheet's quality deteriorated, as it should have. But Joe Louis staff and the Red Wings organization offered the entire hockey world a powerful exhibition of what can be done with ice hockey in summer and a rink heated high by packed-in bodies.