Staples Center is not known for having the most pristine ice surface in the National Hockey League. When speaking with players and reading polls that have come out over the last several seasons, it is clear that many warm weather teams in buildings that see heavy non-hockey usage are challenged in maintaining a high-quality playing surface. The Tampa Bay Times Forum, BB&T Center, Honda Center and American Airlines Center are often included on these lists, as are Staples Center and Madison Square Garden.
In speaking about the quality of the Staples Center ice earlier today, Darryl Sutter referenced NHL ice guru Dan Craig as having visited the arena to work on quality control.
“…we haven’t played that many games here,” Sutter said about the team’s six home playoff games. “Certainly in the Anaheim series, both of us were complaining about our own ice. Hopefully it’ll be a little bit better again tonight. With basketball being gone, hopefully they’ve had some opportunity to do some work with it. I know Dan the Ice Man has been a frequent visitor.”
When speaking about the poorest ice conditions that the Kings have had to endure over the last several seasons, Game 1 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, played on a warm and humid May 30 evening in Newark, leaps off the page. The ice conditions were much poorer than the games in the 2012 Western Conference Final, when the temperature outside Jobing.com Arena well exceeded 100 degrees.
Of course, this is something that both teams have to endure, and as said, it will be interesting to see if the lack of basketball played at Staples Center over the last week will have an effect on the ice quality.
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