Just days ahead of the NHL post-season, Rogers Place in Edmonton is repaired and ready to rock after suffering water damage during a storm last Thursday.
The failure of a couple of rain water pipes caused water to come pouring into the terminus of Ford Hall, along with water damage in other areas.
“We had a bit of a scare, for sure, but there are no issues at all. Everything has been repaired,” said Steve Mayer, the NHL’s chief content officer.
“The control room that had some significant damage, all the equipment that was damaged has been replaced. We’ve turned on the ribbon boards, the scoreboards, all of our data. All back to normal. No problems at all.”
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1:50 Rogers Place repairs underway after powerful thunderstorm caused damage
Rogers Place repairs underway after powerful thunderstorm caused damage
Mayer is stationed in Edmonton as Rogers Place is transformed to be one of the league’s two hub cities for the post-season.
The television presentation will break new ground for viewers. There will be 32 cameras, up from 20 for a normal game. With no fans in the building, there will be never-before-used camera angles.
The games will have a new sound as well. EA Sports will provide supplemental crowd noise. The league will try to simulate the video in different arenas with team-specific presentations.
2:04 Edmonton mayor explains how NHL bubble affects downtown core
“When it is their home game, we will lean towards their traditions and those sounds, those chants, those goals songs,” explained Mayer, who said they might use goal songs for the visiting team.
“That will feel a little neutral. When it comes to their fans participating, we are going to be taking into account which team is the home team.”
When not playing, teams will have to stay inside the “bubble” in downtown Edmonton. Areas will be fenced off around Rogers Place and their hotels: the J.W. Marriott, Delta, Sutton Place and Matrix. Players will be tested for COVID-19 daily with testing lanes set-up inside Ford Hall.
But what happens if a player tests positive? NHL medical director Dr. Willem Meeuwisse says the strategy is similar to what happens with health care workers.
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“You assume there’s a degree of exposure. In the health care setting, there are number of protective measures that can be taken, like we’re taking in the bubble. The one thing we cannot do with players is put masks on them when they play. But we’re mitigating that risk but doing testing on a daily basis.”
Meeuwisse says the NHL will do contact tracing depending on the degree of exposure. A high-degree of exposure could lead to quarantines.
“We don’t expect (the bubble) to be perfect,” Meeuwisse said. “We expect with the number of people that we’re going to have some positive tests, and we have a method and a process designed in advance to deal with that.”
The NHL, which reported two positive tests for COVID-19 among more than 800 players over the first five days of training camp last week, said it will use DynaLIFE Medical Labs in Edmonton and LifeLabs in Toronto for daily COVID-19 testing.
“We did not want to embark on a strategy that was going to take away protective equipment or testing from vulnerable populations and health-care workers,” Meeuwisse said. “We contracted companies … that we were assured had excess (testing) capacity.”
Exhibition games will start at Rogers Place on Tuesday. The Oilers will play the Calgary Flames at 8:30 p.m. Coverage on 630 CHED starts with the Face-off Show at 6 p.m.
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— With files from Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — No. 1 Texas will start Arch Manning at quarterback Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe while regular starter Quinn Ewers continues to recover from a strained muscle in his abdomen, coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.
It will be the first career start for Manning, a second year freshman. He relieved Ewers in the second quarter last week against UTSA, and passed for four touchdowns and ran for another in a 56-7 Texas victory.
Manning is the son of Cooper Manning, the grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the nephew of Super Bowl-winning QBs Peyton and Eli Manning.
Ewers missed several games over the previous two seasons with shoulder and sternum injuries.
The Longhorns are No. 1 for the first time since 2008 and Saturday’s matchup with the Warhawks is Texas’ last game before the program starts its first SEC schedule against Mississippi State on Sept. 28.
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