Joseph Morton, Omaha World-Herald wrote:The Omaha Republican has broached the subject of an exhibition game with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman several times over the years and took an opportunity Wednesday to bring it up again.
Bettman, who was on Capitol Hill for a panel discussion, seemed optimistic that it could happen.
I'll go no matter who is involved. Â Now if it's the Red Wings, I'm going front row if possible. Â The only key I guess is can they do this with River City Roundup going on at the same time.
We've gone to several of the NHL exhibition games in KC.
Terry Lee is proving his complete and total ignorance once again. Â There's a reason why the NHL hasn't played an exhibition game in Omaha: the lack of an available, suitable facility during the NHL exhibition season.
Specifically: Â the CenturyLink Center hosts the rodeo smack dab in the middle of the NHL exhibition season. Â It might be possible to set up ice in early September, hold a hockey game, and then melt it immediately afterwards to set up the rodeo...but I'm not sure even that would work. Â Heck, the rodeo presents challenges for UNO to start it's season.
If it were feasible, it would have been tried by now.
HskrFanMike wrote:Terry Lee is proving his complete and total ignorance once again. There's a reason why the NHL hasn't played an exhibition game in Omaha: the lack of an available, suitable facility during the NHL exhibition season.
Specifically: the CenturyLink Center hosts the rodeo smack dab in the middle of the NHL exhibition season. It might be possible to set up ice in early September, hold a hockey game, and then melt it immediately afterwards to set up the rodeo...but I'm not sure even that would work. Heck, the rodeo presents challenges for UNO to start it's season.
If it were feasible, it would have been tried by now.
What.
The River City Rodeo is set to go from the 26-29th. Â The NHL preseason usually lasts until October 5-6th. That's plenty of time for conversion.
The River City Rodeo is set to go from the 26-29th. The NHL preseason usually lasts until October 5-6th. That's plenty of time for conversion.
Its possible, but according to a lot of hockey people, the ice would be terrible. The clink laid the ice one day before a game this year. Â Granted it was also an exhibition game after the tore the ice out for state wrestling...
The River City Rodeo is set to go from the 26-29th. The NHL preseason usually lasts until October 5-6th. That's plenty of time for conversion.
Its possible, but according to a lot of hockey people, the ice would be terrible. The clink laid the ice one day before a game this year. Granted it was also an exhibition game after the tore the ice out for state wrestling...
7 Days (the 30th to the 6th), isn't enough time for the ice to cure? I would think it would be enough, as I thought they've done a turnaround like that already? Â Oh well, I've been wrong before.
Simple solution, just make the rodeo on ice. It might make it interesting to go to.
Its just not "setting up time". They like it better if it have been Skated on then Zamboni, Skated on then Zamboni, Skated on then Zamboni, and over and over. Hockey Powers like North Dakota keep the same ice down from late summer all the way to the end of the season. The Century Link removes the ice once or twice a season to accommodate other events as needed. Basically anything needing more than an 85' wide arena, aka Rodeo and State Wrestling.
They also did something to it for the US Figure Skating last year. Â I am not sure if it was removed all the way or ground down enough to paint over the logos.
For the US figure skating championships, they ground down the ice to just above the UNO logos, repainted it white with figure skating logos ,then relaid ice on top. Afterwards, they ground it down again to remove all of the figure skating logos to uncover the UNO logos, then redid the ice to the proper depth.
A rodeo adds additional complexity because you need to convert from dirt to concrete to ice. So you've got scrape off all of the dirt, clean the entire arena (because dirt gets kicked up into the stands), then put down ice. You can't have all that dirt and dust flying around when you put down the ice.
If you check UNO's hockey schedules, they usually have to wait over a week after the rodeo to hold their exhibition game.
I suppose it might be possible to put down ice for hockey then set up for the rodeo. Cover the ice with insulation, then tarps, then plywood, then the dirt for the rodeo. And hope that the ice makes it through unscathed. But I suspect nobody wants to take a chance on that failing. Â And if any condensation problems emerge, the dirt in the arena becomes ... mud.
I suspect that while MECA could offer up the idea, the rodeo folks will say "No Way" and the NHL would also say "No Way". Â Neither organization would want to expose their participants to this level of risk.
If it were possible, we would have seen an NHL exhibition game in Omaha by now.
