Just about every NHL player loves playing in Edmonton. Blackhawks winger Sergei Berezin is no exception.
“It’s hockey weather outside, people are always excited to see hockey and good ice, what more can you ask?” Berezin said Tuesday.
Ah yes, the ice, universally regarded as the best by NHL players.
“[The ice] is hard and flat,” Berezin said. “It’s just so much fun to play on. It’s been that way since I’ve been in the league, you come to Edmonton you expect good ice.”
So what is it about ice in Edmonton that is the envy of the league? It’s the water.
“We have a soft water system and we test the water every morning,” said Chris Lewis, who helps maintain the ice at Skyreach Centre. “We do ice reports every morning and ice maintenance.”
According to Lewis, soft water is cleaner, clearer water, which makes for harder ice, optimal for skating and passing.
Edmonton’s location, deep in the heart of Canada, also helps. Humidity, the natural enemy of good ice, isn’t a problem like it is in Tampa, Miami or Dallas. Still, Lewis said the building managers are constantly gauging the temperature inside the arena and adjusting it.
Some arenas–like Carolina–have to keep the air conditioning on full tilt in order to maintain the ice. Lewis said having the building too cold presents problems as well.
“Having it too cold makes [the ice] too brittle,” he said.
Not only do Lewis and his co-workers test the ice, they get constant feedback from the players.
“The players always let us know if the ice is too chippy. We adjust right away,” he said.
Gridiron talk
Hockey is normally king in Canada, especially in Edmonton. But the Oilers have to take a backseat this week to the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
The Eskimos are playing in this Sunday’s Grey Cup, the Canadian version of the Super Bowl, against the Montreal Alouettes. Making the city even more excited is the fact Edmonton is hosting the event.
Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe hopes some of the Eskimos’ success rubs off on his team.
“A lot of these guys don’t know about the championship feel of this city,” Lowe said. “They’ll get a sense of what Edmonton is all about.”
Meeting their heroes
Fred Sasakamoose played 11 games for the Blackhawks in the 1953-54 season. He didn’t score a point and collected six penalty minutes. What makes Sasakamoose special is that he was the first Native American player in the NHL.
Sasakamoose brought a group of hockey-playing children from a reservation six hours away in Saskatchewan to Tuesday’s game. The group attended the morning skate and met coach Brian Sutter and many of the Hawks. Many of the children had their picture taken with Chris Simon, who is also Native American.
The children play for a team called “Beardy’s Blackhawks” and they wear the same jersey and logo as the Hawks. They are also the two-time defending champion of their division. The trip was a reward for their last championship.
