» Fenway Park

My Experience at the 2010 Winter Classic

Jeff Sinkiewicz — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:57:05 +0000

A story written by my 10 year old daughter, Lydia Sinkiewicz

The Winter Classic was a great experience to anyone that was fortunate to be at the game and we have seen thousands of stories, images and video clips from the press. What we haven’t seen is a kids point of view on how it was to witness history, so I asked my daughter who has been begging to help on this blog to write a story for everyone to see.

Let me get started by saying that it is a Boston sports fan’s dream for a Boston Bruins hockey game to be on the Boston Red Sox baseball field, Fenway Park! Now I was one of those people that were on the train on the ride in. Now the first train it was perfectly fine, but then we had to get off and on to another one that’s when the train ride wasn’t fun. Everyone was trying to get on the first train they saw. So the next one was smaller than the last and they were PACKING in like it was the last one of the day. And I swear that the train driver was taking sharp turns and short stops on purpose! And it is just our luck that there were Flyers fans in front of us.

Now the day can start. The game was at 1:00 so dad being dad we were in there about 11:30 once we got off the train all you could hear was the music blastin’. All you could see was the back of people’s heads. We waited about 20 minutes to get to the festival. We FINALY got in and it was totally worth the wait. There was a band, blow-ups, games, the people that walk on those tall stick things, concession stands and not to mention the best part of all the ice sculptors.

We took a walk to the park and we went to the shops in there. Dad got some things they didn’t have what I wanted. So we went down the hall but then someone who worked there didn’t let us go so we had to take the long way. So we went up the stairs and some wise guy pulled the fire alarm. We finally got up the stairs. Then we had to walk the perimeter of the park to get to our seats. Once we got to our section we had to go down the stairs and down to a little walk way. Were there was some lady was walking like 2 miles an hour. So the husband was right behind her. I grabbed my dad’s hand and went like 25 miles an hour right past them. But then we hit another thing of traffic so there we were 2 miles an hour pushing away. If we didn’t find our seats in the time that we did I probably would have started to elbow people to get by! I am soooo not kidding!

Alright we are at our seats, let me just say it kindda is not my dad’s fault that we probably got THE WORST sets ever!!!! And not to mention there are like two people in front of us. My dad and I called them the twin towers I swear they were like 7 feet tall! So for the first period we were miserable because of the seats but then my dad said I could stand on my seat. I asked the people behind me if it was ok they said it was fine. Now isn’t it funny that not to mention the bad seats but that we were surrounded by what else stupid flyers fans. THEY MAKE ME SICK HOW ON EARTH PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY LIKE THE PHILLIDAFIA FLYERS! Any way now that I got the anger out of me, I can continue on with my story! First we were down by 1 but if Thomas hadn’t been so worried about crosschecking every one he would of made the save. See I like Thomas and I love seeing people get nailed but I think that was just so stupid! And then he gets mad at everyone that he let it in! That makes sense right!? Then we were tied. So for the rest of the game the Bruins fans would say “LETS GOT BRUINS” then it got hilarious the flyers would say right after that “LET’S GO FLYERS”. I had a great time .but my favorite part is when the buzzer rang the place went WILD. Then with 3 minutes and 27 seconds left on the clock in overtime, the BRUINS SCORED. The B’s fans were psyched!

On the way out there was a TV thing on the stair case because we went down the back way, and I could not believe my ears! Tim Thomas made the Olympic team.

That was the best experience of my life. Even though I am only 10 years old, this will be the first story I will tell my kids. Because you know that was like a once and a lifetime chance.

Visit the photo gallery from Frozen Fenway here

Preparations underway at Fenway Park

Jeff Sinkiewicz — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:57:12 +0000

The ice for the 2010 Winter Classic has arrived at Fenway Park as the trucks rolled in this morning to the legendary ball park. With the big game just three weeks away and there is a lot of work to be done. So who is responsible for the construction of this winter wonderland?

Meet Dan Craig, the NHL facilities operation manager. Dan brings 38 years of ice making experience to Beantown and assures the hockey community that they will not be disappointed. Here is a few questions and answers about the ice that will be constructed on the infield of Fenway Park. The NHL has set up a live web cam from the park, see it live here.

Transcript – Dan Craig, NHL’s Facilities Operation Manager

Q: How does this work from the truck to the ice?

“What it is… is it’s similar to your freezer. This is similar to the little compressor in the back of a [refrigerator] and the coils on the back of the fridge are the piping that goes into the floor. What we do is we take the truck and we park it out on the street and then we put the pipes down to the floor and we have a portable floor that we put together. And all the solution from the truck flows down into the floor, turns around and comes back and we make sure that the floor is nice and cold.”

Q: So the truck essentially makes the ice?

“Well, it keeps the floor cold so that we can put water on it to freeze it. That’s what it does. This is the largest portable refrigeration system that is known to us in the world.”

Q: Was this system designed specifically for the Winter Classic?

“Yes it was. It was designed over the summer after the Buffalo game basically because there was a certain situation that happened during that particular event. The National Hockey League and I sat down and we just said that it would be better for us moving forward that we had our own equipment. I was able to have my own crew that we were able to bring in, so that I would not have such a high stress level.”

Q: How much did this unit cost?

“This particular unit, the truck it self was $800,000 and the portable floor was about $600,000. So we’re over $1.5 million. And then the floor, we bought that. We also had our own boards. The boards that we used in Buffalo belong to us. We’ve had our board system for 10 years and we’ve also now purchased two smaller zambonies to go with the system we have.”

Q: Have you done anything… is this system different than the first one you used in Buffalo?

“This is totally different from Buffalo. It’s exactly the same as the one used at Wrigley Field, so from Wrigley Field on – we’re using exactly the same system every year.”

Q: And this is a better system?

“Oh very much. This is state of the art. Everything is computerized on it. If we had the system set up right now, we have a system that we put within the floor that sends a signal through a Blackberry or a computer, wherever we are, I can help prevent it if I have a problem with the system, it will signal me that I have to leave now or I can stay here and I can eat.”

Q: Are there any unique challenges that Fenway Park poses compared to other sites in the past?

“No, it’s fairly similar to what we had last year at Wrigley. The run from the truck to Fenway is going to be a little bit shorter. So if we have a warmer day we will be able to have a quicker recovery on our system, compared to what we would have if it were warmer at Wrigley. We had had quite a run, we had over 450 feet of run on.”

What if it’s way above freezing on New Year’s Day?

That’s an envelope we haven’t pushed yet. We want to make sure the system we have engineered and designed will get us to what we need to have. For me saying that we won’t have a problem at 50 (degrees) I know in my heart of hearts, but until we get there and we push the system, what to we really have.

What kind of challenges do you have in the event of rain or snow?

That will depend on how much rain and how much snow. In Buffalo we had a lot of snow and from there we developed a program.
As for rain, that would be a game day decision by Gary Bettman and Colie Campbell. They would come to us on the hockey operations side and ask us how it’s impacting the ice surface and how we can keep up. For me, we have the machinery and the personnel to stay on top of the problem.

Could heavy rains postpone the event?

It will impact the play of the game faster than it would impact the condition of the ice because of the speed that this game is played. We’ll be able to freeze the rain that falls. But a player playing the game with a visor and skating as fast as he can – if it’s 38 degrees and raining, that’s cold. It’s like pins and needles. That would be one of the things between Colie Campbell and the commissioner as to when we delay or when we cancel.

source: NHL Network

BU Ranks 2nd in Preseason poll

Jeff Sinkiewicz — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:19:25 +0000

It has 6 months since Boston University won their 5th NCAA Title after defeating Miami (Ohio) last April. A new season is upon us and the preseason poll is out with the defending champs ranked 2nd behind Denver. Massachusetts has a strong showing in the top 20 with Umass-Lowell (11), Boston College(12) and Northeastern (20) joining BU in the top 20.

Last season BU had a impressive 35-6-4 record , setting the school record for wins and will begin their 2009-10 campaign on 10/16 at Umass-Amhearst. The Terriors most notable scheduled game will be the much talked about outdoor game on Friday 1/8/2010 vs cross town rivals Boston College at historic Fenway Park one week after the Winter Classic with the Bruins facing the Flyers on New Years Day.

When you hear the term double header at Fenway Park one would think, who are the Red Sox playing? This time we are talking about NCAA hockey with the women kicking off the day with a showdown between UNH and Northeastern University marking the first time in history the NCAA Women will play an outdoor ice hockey game.