Centennial Classic rink build on schedule

TORONTO-- Snow fell on Toronto this weekend, but the team building the outdoor ice rink at Exhibition Stadium for the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 1 (3 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV), is on schedule and plans to begin installing the ice on Tuesday.

"Everything has gone fairly well," NHL senior manager of facilities operations Mike Craig said Monday. "We did have some weather events over the last few days but I think we've dealt with that fairly well as a group and overcome some of that and we're right on schedule.
"We built in some time for snow removal and some field prep. We had some freezing rain as well so we covered a bunch of things with tarps to make sure we didn't get slowed down the next day so that made a big difference for us to kind of stay ahead. We were able to see that weather, adjusted, and we're back on track."

The amour boards that protect the field have been laid, the ice trays have been fitted and the boards, apart from a section in the neutral zone on the west side of the rink that were being set up while Craig met with the media, have been installed.
"We're starting to fill the system, circulating and working through with some of our refrigeration equipment," Craig said. "All that is happening now so we are right on schedule and fully expect to be making ice by tomorrow [Tuesday] night."
The temperature on Monday reached a low of 15.8 degrees Fahrenheit but is expected to rise to slightly above freezing for the majority of next week. Craig said slightly above freezing temperatures present ideal ice making conditions.
"It is pretty nice actually to have those temperatures," Craig said. "We are able to keep good control of our temperatures that way and what we are monitoring. It allows us to really control what we are doing out there so that's not bad."