Following the New England Patriots 33-16 win over the Tennessee Titans Sunday afternoon, the atmosphere at Gillette Stadium turned from football to hockey with the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic taking place Jan 1 between the hometown Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens.
Dan Craig, the NHL’s NHL’s Senior Director of Facilities Operations/Hockey Operations, has supervised rink builds through all kinds of weather for the many editions of outdoor games the NHL has played in recent memory. As told by NHL.com:
At the Heritage Classic in 2003, he labored through a historic cold snap. In 2008, for the first Winter Classic, he inherited Ralph Wilson Stadium after a Buffalo Bills game and had to stop work almost immediately because gale-force winds made the conditions impossible. Rain has hampered other rink builds, as has, believe it or not, too much sun. Direct sunlight is, perhaps, the worse enemy to an ice surface.
His first trip to New England to build outdoor ice, for the 2010 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park featuring the Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, presented a myriad of weather issues and work was slowed down several times.
“Last time we were here, it was bitterly cold and we had a lot of snow,” Craig said.
It’s too soon to predict the weather for the game, but the forecast calls for temperatures in the low 40s and a light wind with significant cloud cover and a chance of rain.
Building the rink will essentially take place around the clock between now and December 29, when Craig said the ice should be ready. After the base floor is installed over the turf Monday, ice-tray pans will be placed on the base and the piping will be run from the refrigeration truck to the rink on Monday night. Come Tuesday afternoon, all the pans should be in place and the boards will be installed. That’s when it will begin to look like an ice rink and the ice- making can begin. They will constantly spray the rink over Christmas until the one-inch ice forms. That’s when the ice will be painted white followed by the rink lines and logos should be down followed by the building of another half-inch of ice two days later.
After his crew become the first ones to skate on the ice, Craig will oversee the rink play host for several Winter Classic-related events, including an alumni game, a women’s game, team practices and sponsorship skates.
Check out the 24-hour webcam for construction updates above, or you can view the link here.