Too bad John Facenda, whose sonorous voice gave extra impact to the phrase “on frozen tundra” died in 1984 and won’t be at Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Pay Packers, on Saturday.
That’s when the Wisconsin Badgers and Ohio State Buckeyes will meet in an outdoor college hockey game at Lambeau Field, with the rink and temporary stands configured to give the storied football stadium a capacity of 41,000. Though the schools have played many significant Big Ten Conference games in other sports in the past, this one will be a nonleague matchup because the Badgers are in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the Buckeyes play in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
A Texas-sized project: Yes, strangely enough, Ice Rink Events, the company that began putting down the temporary rink on the football field late last week, is based in Texas. The company lays down a level plywood base – a significant move because Lambeau’s field has a crown – and then puts down the rink. It involves approximately 32 miles of tubing, 2,200 gallons of antifreeze solution kept at a temperature of 10 degrees, and then applying the water that freezes to become the ice.
One quibble: The game should have been called “Ice Bowl II,” with Bart Starr and Jethro Pugh contesting the ceremonial opening faceoff.
The NHL precedent: The Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers played a regular-season game, the Heritage Classic, at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 22, 2003. Played in subfreezing temperatures and a chilling wind, the game drew 57,167. The Canadiens won 4-3 as Montreal’s Yanic Perreault and Richard Zednik scored two goals apiece and Patrice Brisebois – now with the Avalanche – had two assists. Because of the extreme cold, ice conditions were shaky because the surface chipped so easily, and the enduring memory for many is Montreal goalie Jose Theodore wearing a stocking cap over the top of his mask as his breath came in cloudy bursts.
The college precedent: The Avalanche’s John-Michael Liles was a junior defenseman for Michigan State when the Spartans and Michigan Wolverines played to a 3-3 tie before a world-record crowd of 74,554 at Spartan Stadium on Oct. 6, 2001.
It makes you wonder: What about a University of Denver-Colorado College or an Avalanche game at Invesco Field at Mile High? Sure, it would be a logistical nightmare. It would be financially risky for DU. But a Detroit-Colorado NHL game at the Broncos’ stadium, with a configuration similar to what is being done at Lambeau, seems feasible, but it also would require some imaginative accommodation of season-ticket and Pepsi Center box-holders. But if all works smoothly at Lambeau on Saturday, it’s worth a look.
