Post by Banana Cat on Feb 17, 2011 17:24:51 GMT -5
I think Saturday's are the best days to hold indoor football games, but when teams share the arena with a hockey team the hockey team usually always gets their pick of dates just because they have more events due to a longer schedule. For a one sport guy like me, that's always frustrating.
www.mlive.com/sports/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/02/with_saginaw_spirit_saginaw_st.html
www.mlive.com/sports/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/02/with_saginaw_spirit_saginaw_st.html
With Saginaw Spirit, Saginaw Sting both playing, Dow Event Center ready for hectic weekend
February 17, 2011
Kyle Austin | The Saginaw News
SAGINAW — From Thursday afternoon until Sunday night, hardly an hour will go by without somebody working in Wendler Arena.
For the first time in nearly two years, the arena inside The Dow Event Center will have simultaneous sports tenants, when the Saginaw Sting start their season this weekend, with a month still left in the Saginaw Spirit regular season.
And the arena is hardly easing into the busiest time of the year. In the span of four days, Wendler will host three hockey games and an indoor football game.
As soon as Thursday night’s Spirit game ends, crews will start working to convert Wendler Arena from ice to turf.
“Right when the horn blows, we’ll have staff here to take the glass out and cover the floor and put the turf down,” The Dow general manager Matt Blasy said.
As soon as Friday night’s Sting game ends, the boards will be put back up and the ice will be uncovered in time for the Spirit to play again Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Blasy estimated that both transitions likely will take all night. The Thursday night process will involve laying down four-by-six foot insulated pads over the ice, then placing turf down on top of those pads.
The turf, which hasn’t been used since 2009, likely will need some paint touch-ups, and with a new transition crew, Blasy said the first few turf-ice transitions could be the longest.
“This first one will take longer, just because we haven’t done football in a while, and there’s a new staff doing it,” Blasy said. “This first one, probably the first two, will probably take a little longer than normal. But after that it shouldn’t be too bad.”
The arena hasn’t had simultaneous hockey and football tenants for nearly two years, since the last incarnation of the Sting closed up shop.
While those transitions went off largely without a hitch, Spirit fans remember a 2008 playoff hockey game that had to be postponed because of poor ice quality.
Before that game, an ice show and a Sting game left the ice too brittle for play. Although this weekend features a similar schedule, Blasy said the transition should be seamless.
Even with no co-tenant with the Spirit, Blasy said the arena has continued to transition for events such as the Kid Rock concert last month and the Shrine Circus this month.
“There was issues because of the Disney event, not so much the football,” Blasy said. “From an ice standpoint, this will be less wear-and-tear than when we did Kid Rock, when we did rehearsals for four days beforehand, and the ice was covered.”
Jason Desloover, a Heritage graduate who spent four years playing minor professional hockey, is in charge of the Wendler Arena ice quality.
If the Spirit make a long playoff run, the two teams could be co-tenants well into the spring. Blasy said the arena planned for that by reserving Saturday night games for the Spirit and leaving the Sting to play primarily on Friday nights.
So when the Spirit playoffs roll around, expect most weekend home games to be held on Saturday.
“We try to keep a consistent day for them,” Blasy said. “Friday nights seem to work pretty well.”
February 17, 2011
Kyle Austin | The Saginaw News
SAGINAW — From Thursday afternoon until Sunday night, hardly an hour will go by without somebody working in Wendler Arena.
For the first time in nearly two years, the arena inside The Dow Event Center will have simultaneous sports tenants, when the Saginaw Sting start their season this weekend, with a month still left in the Saginaw Spirit regular season.
And the arena is hardly easing into the busiest time of the year. In the span of four days, Wendler will host three hockey games and an indoor football game.
As soon as Thursday night’s Spirit game ends, crews will start working to convert Wendler Arena from ice to turf.
“Right when the horn blows, we’ll have staff here to take the glass out and cover the floor and put the turf down,” The Dow general manager Matt Blasy said.
As soon as Friday night’s Sting game ends, the boards will be put back up and the ice will be uncovered in time for the Spirit to play again Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Blasy estimated that both transitions likely will take all night. The Thursday night process will involve laying down four-by-six foot insulated pads over the ice, then placing turf down on top of those pads.
The turf, which hasn’t been used since 2009, likely will need some paint touch-ups, and with a new transition crew, Blasy said the first few turf-ice transitions could be the longest.
“This first one will take longer, just because we haven’t done football in a while, and there’s a new staff doing it,” Blasy said. “This first one, probably the first two, will probably take a little longer than normal. But after that it shouldn’t be too bad.”
The arena hasn’t had simultaneous hockey and football tenants for nearly two years, since the last incarnation of the Sting closed up shop.
While those transitions went off largely without a hitch, Spirit fans remember a 2008 playoff hockey game that had to be postponed because of poor ice quality.
Before that game, an ice show and a Sting game left the ice too brittle for play. Although this weekend features a similar schedule, Blasy said the transition should be seamless.
Even with no co-tenant with the Spirit, Blasy said the arena has continued to transition for events such as the Kid Rock concert last month and the Shrine Circus this month.
“There was issues because of the Disney event, not so much the football,” Blasy said. “From an ice standpoint, this will be less wear-and-tear than when we did Kid Rock, when we did rehearsals for four days beforehand, and the ice was covered.”
Jason Desloover, a Heritage graduate who spent four years playing minor professional hockey, is in charge of the Wendler Arena ice quality.
If the Spirit make a long playoff run, the two teams could be co-tenants well into the spring. Blasy said the arena planned for that by reserving Saturday night games for the Spirit and leaving the Sting to play primarily on Friday nights.
So when the Spirit playoffs roll around, expect most weekend home games to be held on Saturday.
“We try to keep a consistent day for them,” Blasy said. “Friday nights seem to work pretty well.”