Hockey in the great outdoors

May 9 23:11 UTC 2001

I found this through USCHO.com.  Pasted here without permission.

Schulz: Hockey rivals may play outdoors 

EAST LANSING - The scene outside Spartan Stadium Oct. 6 won't look much
different than any other cool autumn Saturday: 

Tailgaters and fans bundled in green-and-white and maize-and-blue streaming
toward the gates. But if a goofy and glorious idea materializes, the scene
inside will start with a faceoff instead of a flying football. 

MSU wants to play a hockey game against archrival Michigan at Spartan Stadium
on the football team's open week next season. 

If it can negotiate the right price - about $100,000 - the school would hire
a Dallas-based company to construct a temporary ice sheet and boards on top
of the artificial turf football field. 

Doing so would give MSU and U-M, which both reached the NCAA's Frozen Four
last season, a chance at playing hockey in front of the largest crowd in the
history of the game. The stadium holds 72,027 people, about 17,000 more than
the known record. 

MSU hopes to make a decision by June 1. 

"When I tell people, the first reaction is shock," said MSU associate athletic
director Mark Hollis, who is spearheading the project. "The second reaction,
to a person, is, `Wow, that's cool.' " 

Fan base exists 

If MSU can pull it off, the game would give a well-deserved boost to college
hockey. 

The Spartans and Wolverines routinely draw more than 20,000 fans to their
duels at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. No telling how many puckheads would show
to watch them skate in a historic setting. 

U-M is committed to the concept, MSU hockey coach Ron Mason said. 

"I'd like to see it be an event," Mason said. "It's certainly unique." 

Aside from college hockey fanatics, MSU would target the 62,000 members of
USA Hockey who live in Michigan as well as youth leagues from around the
state, Hollis said. 

"We'd like to make it a celebration of hockey to show how popular it is here,"
he said. 

The record for the most fans to witness a hockey game was set March 5, 1957,
when 55,000 crammed into Moscow's outdoor Lenin Stadium to watch the Soviet
Union play Sweden, according to the A-to-Z Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey. 

"We wouldn't even have to sell out (to break the mark)," Mason said. 

Thrifty Spartans

Wisely, MSU won't use athletic department cash for the project. It will only
pursue the game if it could cover the cost through ticket sales and corporate
sponsors, Hollis said. 

A company named Custom Ice would build the makeshift rink for MSU, starting
with a layer of insulation on the turf. Next would come a plastic vapor
barrier, sand to level the crowned field and coils to freeze the ice. 

Buying the rink outright would cost between $500,000 and $600,000 - too rich,
and rightfully so, for MSU's blood. Instead, the school is hoping Custom Ice
will locate a buyer who would rent the rink to MSU for one game, dramatically
reducing the cost. 

Weather is also a consideration, but not for the reason one might think. Warm
temperatures wouldn't affect the ice, Hollis said. But a steady rain could
make the surface unplayable and sink the spectacle. 

"If we do this thing, we want to do it first class and make sure it doesn't
turn into a circus," Hollis said. "It's a little like having surgery. You want
the doctor to tell you everything that could go wrong." 

It's now or never. After next season, MSU will switch from an artificial turf
playing surface to natural grass, making it impossible to lay down ice without
ruining the field. 

"It would be tremendous ... if people really bought into it," Mason said. "If
we do it the right way, it would be a good boost. Plus, it's a darned
important game." 

A little goofy - and hopefully a little glorious, too. 

What do you think? Contact Todd Schulz at 377-1051 or at Tschulz@lsj.com. 

Fascinating idea.  I am really excited by it, personally.  Grex probably isn't
a potential target audience, but I thought I'd try to drum up interest anyway.
All sorts of interesting ideas to think about this with, too.

response 2 of 26:

May 10 03:02 UTC 2001

It sounds like a cool idea.  Too bad I'd be in Syracuse when it happens 
... (on the other hand, I'll take any excuse I can get to come back to 
Ann Arbor. Hockey worked out pretty well this past season (Ice Breaker 
tournament, and my spring break happened to collide with CCHA playoffs))

response 4 of 26:

May 10 03:26 UTC 2001

(if I had to guess, it would be the temperatures/lack of sunlight,
which doesn't affect artificial turf.)  ;)

response 6 of 26:

May 10 05:49 UTC 2001

I'm not hardcore.  I think it's cool.  And that we should setup a bunch of
outdoor hockey things.  That sounds like it would rock.

response 8 of 26:

May 10 21:48 UTC 2001

        A little early in college hockey season, eh?

response 10 of 26:

May 11 21:50 UTC 2001

which *I* think is entirely too late!  Do they televise the NHL exhibition
season at all?

response 12 of 26:

May 13 02:35 UTC 2001

Rain would totally ruin this, forcing a game cancellation and pissing off a
world record 72,000 hockey fans.

MSU would be foolish to go forward with this.

response 14 of 26:

May 14 13:09 UTC 2001

A group of people (mostly UM hockey fans) at the Whalers game yesterday 
was discussing this.  We mostly agreed that it would probably be 
interesting to see the first time, but if they ever did it again, then 
it would become just a gimmick.  We also thought that it would have to 
be done as a non-conference game, thus moving the conference meeting to 
be the game in the Joe Louis Arena in February (which is currently 
scheduled as a non-conference game).  This also means that MSU will give 
up a home game at Munn.  It was also agreed that sightlines for this 
would be terrible, unless you're in the upper level, probably one of the 
first few rows.  You still wouldn't be able to see much of anything, but 
it'd be better than in the lower seating areas.  Endzone seats would 
really be terrible.  A hockey rink is 200x85 feet.  A football field is 
360x160.  If you put the rink dead center in the middle of the football 
field, you'd have 37.5 feet to the side edges of the field, probably 
more to the seats because of sideline area.  You'd have 80 feet between 
the end of the rink and the end of the football field, plus again more 
space before the seats.  One would hope that such a game would be 
televised, and that you can tape it, otherwise even though you're there, 
you'd never see anything.

response 16 of 26:

May 14 19:33 UTC 2001

No one.  Turning a baseball field *into* a football field is a MUCH better
idea.

response 18 of 26:

May 15 00:26 UTC 2001

Hey, you hockey fans:

When I was at the Ann Arbor ReUse center today I noticed they're selling off
the old doors from Yost for around $100-150 a pop.  These are the old doors
with the goth hinges.

response 20 of 26:

May 17 01:29 UTC 2001

uh...what if it rains? imagine they are in the first period midway and 
suddenly a downpour...I guess hockey games can have rain delays if
baseball games too...pull out the tarp!

response 22 of 26:

May 17 21:06 UTC 2001

could they put a roof over the ice to prevent rain?  some of the seats
in the upper deck would be obstructed though...

response 24 of 26:

May 17 23:29 UTC 2001

(ooh... snow during a hockey game...)