|
Stadium Series ice conditions concern Wings |
|
|
|
|
|
Mother Nature apparently is not a fan of the Stadium Series.
Sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s played havoc with the conditions at Coors Field as the Detroit Red Wings practiced Friday for Saturday’s outdoor game against the Colorado Avalanche.
“The ice was bad today,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said.
Detroit forward Darren Helm elaborated further on the subject.
“The ice wasn’t great at all,” Helm said. “It was pretty soft.”
Helm was worried that if the ice conditions didn’t improve by game time (6 p.m. mountain standard time), it might be dicey out there.
“It could be,” Helm said. “Yeah it is a concern. You can’t be playing too hard with ice like that. I think if it gets any worse than that there’s no way we can play.
“It was pretty tough to do anything - skate, pass. Pucks were bouncing. You’d throw a flat pass and it would be bouncing 10 times before it got to someone’s stick. But hopefully it was just the sun that was cooking it today.
“I know it’s supposed to be hot tomorrow but hopefully if the sun goes down and nobody’s skating on it, it will be a little better and we can have a fun game out there.”
They don’t expect the ice to be perfect, but they also don’t want to endanger their well being.
“I think if it’s bad so we can’t pass the puck, we don’t really care,” Zetterberg said. “But if it’s bad and we can probably end up injured, that’s when we probably have to have a discussion about what to do.
“I’m pretty confident that the ice will be good tomorrow.”
Weather reports are calling for sunny skies and a high of 69 degrees Saturday, but the players are hopeful that by game time, the sun will dissipate and the thermometer will dip enough to make the conditions both tolerable and playable.
“It should be fine,” Zetterberg said. “It should cool down to game time and no one will be on the ice tomorrow either, so it will be much better tomorrow.”
The Wings indicated that they were asked to leave the ice during practice by NHL executives concerned about the condition of the ice surface.
“I think we actually got kicked off because it was too hot,” Helm said. “It was starting to melt or get soft. It was really soft.
“We knew we were having a short practice because of the conditions of the ice. When the sun goes down it could change a few things.”
At first, the Wings were wowed by the set up at Coors Field.
“It was pretty cool when you walked out there and then you walked into the sun and couldn’t see a thing,” Helm said. “It was so bright it was tough to see. It was hot out there.
“Guys were saying it’s supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. It should be interesting. I don’t know, hopefully when the sun’s down it cools off a little bit at night and it’ll be a lot better ice conditions. It was definitely tough just to practice.”
Feeling Better
Helm was bedridden the last two days by illness but was well on to the road to recovery Friday.
“I was a little weak, chills, fatigue,” Helm said. “Wasn’t really throwing up or anything, just couldn’t really move out of my bed the whole day. Even yesterday I was feeling pretty tired, a little light-headed.
“Today I feel a lot better. Hopefully tomorrow I feel even better than that and I’ll be good to go. I have no reason to think I won’t be ready.”
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»