Weather looking favorable for UMass hockey game Saturday at Fenway Park
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After the first Frozen Fenway in 2010, Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna promised himself that he wouldn't be obsessed with checking the weather leading up to the second set of outdoor Hockey East games that will be played at Fenway Park Saturday.
"I said last time that I wouldn't do that again because I was driving myself crazy, but I am checking," Bertagna said. "Every morning I'm looking at the 10-day forecast. The Red Sox subscribe to a weather forecasting system that they use during the baseball season. They have more detailed stuff than I'm getting online."
So far he's been getting good news about the two games - the University of Massachusetts faces Vermont at 4 p.m. Maine plays New Hampshire at 7:30 p.m. According to Weather.com, Saturday's temperature ranges from a low of 32 to a high of 49 degrees with just a 10 percent chance of precipitation.
"It's not like a backyard rink where you're completely at the mercy of freezing temperatures. There are pipes. That's what chills it. The ice can hold into the lower 50s. Looking at the forecast, temperature is not going to be the problem," Bertagna said. "Last time we had light snow through almost the entire game.
"The one thing you can't have is rain, which affects the movement of the puck and the integrity of the game," he continued. "They had some rain last year at the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. We're just keeping our fingers crossed. Of all the different weather, that's the one thing that can really cause a problem. ... These are league games. They're not exhibitions. If you lose a one-goal game and you finish a point out of eighth. ... There's a lot of things riding on it. We want to do it and do it right so it's a memorable experience for the athletes."
SIXTEEN DAYS OF ICE - The ice will be down from Jan. 1 to 16. Rink Specialists, a Virginia-based company, began installing the temporary sheet in mid-December.
"They have to put a base down and plastic roads so all the vehicles that are coming in from outside ride on that instead of tearing up the dirt," Bertagna said. "Once the base is down, the boards go up and the pipes are underneath. They started putting water down last weekend."
The National Hockey League handled most of the logistics in 2010 as the event centered around the league's Winter Classic featuring the Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. This year Hockey East and the Red Sox have taken charge using a similar blueprint to the one the NHL used.
"There are a lot of things we're repeating, because we had a set operations manual last time," Bertagna said. "But on the other hand there were things the NHL (brought) last time that we don't have (this time). Schools will have to bring their own skate sharpening machine and riveting machine. But having done it once does make it a little bit easier."
The Red Sox have the majority of the financial investment. Bertagna didn't know the exact cost but knew the price to lay down a rink on the ballfield would be over $1 million.
"I'm not sure but I was told it was over $700,000 and that they would have to resod the field, which would cost over $300,000," he said. "The Red Sox knew they were into it for over a million dollars before the other revenue poured in."
While there could still be standing room seats or stray single tickets available for Saturday's doubleheader, the event is essentially sold out as an attendance similar to the 38,472 that saw Boston College and Boston University play in 2010 is expected. The BC-Northeastern game on Jan. 14 has sold about 25,000 tickets according to Bertagna.
UMass, like the other three Hockey East teams, will have a unique uniform for the event, but it hasn't unveiled the design yet. Replicas will be sold to fans through the Pond Club, the program's booster organization. Bertagna said there will be pregame ceremonies, likely with a good deal of pageantry, but he kept the details under wraps.
"The Red Sox do like to do things big," he said. "Some of these things are still coming together."
FROZEN FENWAY EVENTS - The rink opened for a private reception on Sunday. On Monday it hosted the first of two Mayor's Public Skates. The second will be the final event on Jan. 16.
Games began Monday with three high school games. Rhode Island powerhouse Mount St. Charles beat Springfield Cathedral 4-2 in one of them.
There will be four prep school games Wednesday.
UMass, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire will all practice on the ice Friday prior to Saturday's games. If conditions make the ice unplayable, those games would be pushed to Sunday at a time to be determined.
There's a women's game between Dartmouth and Providence on Jan. 10 and an ECAC Division III/Division I doubleheader on Jan. 13. On Jan. 14 Boston College will play Northeastern after BC High faces Catholic Memorial.
FROZEN FUTURE - Bertagna expected that the success of Frozen Fenway II would likely lead to a Frozen Fenway III, but he wasn't sure when.
"You definitely can't have it every year. And after two of them we'll probably have a good conversation about whether bringing it back in two years is too soon. There's an interest there as you can tell from these events," he said. "It's been a partnership between the Red Sox and us. We'll get together and determine what's in the best interest of both. The third partner is the city of Boston. The mayor really enjoys this. Last time there was one Mayor's Public Skate and this time there's going to be two. Each of these events brings people into the city at a time where it's not usually that busy. He'll be another voice I'm sure at some point so he'll be a voice asking the Red Sox to consider it."
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
