Saturday, October 20, 2012

Mouse Madness 2012

The Cyclones pulled out a thrilling 6-4 victory over the Trenton Titans tonight. It was an excellent game. All those haters who snobbishly call the ECHL a bunch of bartenders and losers need to put up or shut up - at least as long as the NHL lockout has all this AHL talent playing in the ECHL. Of course I do not subscribe to that nonsense anyway. Actually this is a contra-opportunity for the legitimate ECHL guys. If the NHL and the players come to an agreement, the ECHL will pretty much see two distinct seasons. Everyone will be scrambling when the AHL guys go up. But, that's hockey. It's all good. Enjoy what you've got!

Tonight after the game the crew at US Bank Arena will be performing a "changeover" to get ready for Disney On Ice this week. First they will take down all the glass, the player benches, penalty boxes, and some of the dasher boards. Then they will cover the outside of the ice with the "pro deck" leaving a rectangular box on the middle. A rope will be placed along the pro-deck box and it will be frozen in place with water. This will help hold in a "bowl" of water to increase the depth.

The ice will be painted white on top to cover all the hockey lines and logos. Mickey Mouse does not tolerate anything but a pure white surface. Then more water will be applied over the white paint. This not only seals in the paint but it also increases the depth to be better for figure skating. They prefer deeper ice because the toe picks in figure skates can leave deep gouges. Also thicker ice is softer ice, which is better for figure skating.

Driving the Zamboni inside "the box" is a challenge because you don't have the boards in the corners to guide the machine. It is pure skill and experience to get the job done just right.

As I've said before, the Mouse gets what the Mouse wants!

Next home Game, Wednesday, October 31, Halloween night!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mickey and his stupid white ice is why game 6 had to be played there last season instead of in Gwinnett. After that all of our fans started hating disney.

11:45 PM  

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