Photo Credit: AP
After a four-and-a-half day, 3,300 mile trip, the NHL’s senior director of facilities operations, Dan Craig, was finally able to take a deep breath. On Monday, the NHL’s state-of-the-art mobile ice making and monitoring unit arrived right on time at the Levi’s Stadium for the NHL Stadium Series game between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings on Feb 21.
The route to get the unit out to the stadium though was not easy, instead of taking a more direct route to the stadium out in Santa Clara, the truck equipped with a 53-foot trailer traveled a southern path from Toronto to avoid the chance of getting stopped in mountain passes due to snow storms. Ultimately, this added an extra 500 miles to the already lengthy trip.
Following several days of heavy rain and dreary weather, the sun in Santa Clara finally came out and the temperature rose to the mid-60s which Craig described as the perfect weather for an outside hockey game.
Since the age of 14, Craig, now 58, has been preparing outdoor rinks and has held the responsibility for the NHL’s outdoor games. Last season he was the mind behind the preparation for the ice at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Kings and the Anaheim Ducks came together for a Stadium Series matchup.
More work goes into planning an outdoor hockey game than one would imagine, including following weather trends, packing accordingly, and preparing for anything that may happen. When it comes to this, Craig is certain that last season’s game at Dodger Stadium definitely prepared them for the series this season!
