Of all the Southeast Division and “non-traditional” markets, the Washington Capitals might get the most abuse for having choppy ice. For a time, it flew in the face of the wide-open style they play; one can only imagine what the 2009-10 version of the team would have done on, say, Edmonton’s surface. Playing in borderline puddles sounds like something that would suit Dale Hunter’s hockey worldview just fine, but the Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno reports that the Verizon Center staff is doing whatever it can to avoid bad ice.
Most specifically, it means using “giant dehumidifiers” to combat the conditions, as Whyno captures in this photo:
That machine might as well gain the staff an alternate captain’s “A” for effort.
Here’s what the arena manager had to say about the machines.
“We decided because the weather’s been so wacky this year where we go from 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity to 40 degrees and threats and of frost, that we would be proactive and go ahead and get them for this round,” arena senior vice president and general manager Dave Touhey said. “It gives us one more tool to be able to control the climate.”
For more on the Capitals’ efforts, click here.