Wow, I’m on a roll this weekend, ain’t I? Anyways on we go……
There was a posting this past week on the official forum from ‘Fan Liason’ (aka Tambo with his official hat on), which dealt with the significant amount of bitching and moaning on the forum regarding the poor state of the ice in the Dome. Effectively it told, not asked, the fans not to complain on the forum as it caused problems between the club and the rink.
Fair do’s.
Problem is, the ice at the Dome is piss poor at best. Holes in open ice, a bloody big gap around the base of the boards, and more liquid water than solid ice most of the time. Hardly condusive to putting on a greta game of hockey.
Now, Fan Liason reccomends complaining direct to the rink. Which we could do, but in all honesty (having seen rink management and staff in action), this would be like pissing in the wind.
Also, the thread has been locked before I could launch one of my infamous rants on it, so I will now address a few points from the posting:
1: ‘ What people have to remember is that people see the ice at its absolute worst after 500 or so public skaters have done their damdest to cut holes in it or make pretty patterns. When there are these mega skates, it does turn the rink into something resembling a swimming pool but there is no chance for the ice crew to do their job while it is being used in this way ,so they have to wait until after the paying public have gone home. This often means working very late to prepare for the next day. If you go to the dome early morning before the masses I think a lot of you would be pleasantly surprised.’
Err, I’m sure the ice is pretty good at 6am. Problem is, we don’t face off til 5.30pm, which is 11.5 hours later….after the ‘500 or so’ public skaters. And as for the staff only being able to work at night….absolute bollocks. Anyone can look at the Domes timetables and see clearly marked times during the day when the staff are supposed to do ice cuts, etc between sessions. This is where the ice marshalls (you know, the teenagers in the Silver Blades jackets having a laugh with their mates who are spraying novice skaters with ice, and flying past them at speed trying to make them fall over) shpould do their job and get everyone off the ice. But they don’t. I’ve even seen one state that they don’t want the hassle of people complaining that they are being taken off the ice so the cut can happen…err, its aafter the session has uspposedly finished, moron. Of course, if you have been and arrived st the start of a session, you will often see skaters from the previous session still leaving the ice after the new session has started. Shit, we even had a the doors delayed a few times last season as the Phoenix volunteers were clearing public skaters out, whilst the rinks staff did bugger all.
2: ‘ I can assure everybody that the staff are working on it nearly every night and are hell bent on providing ice up to the standard required. ‘
What they should be doing right now is a full melt and relay of the ice pad. The sand base needs releveling, the markings need repainting, and the ice needs freshening. It should not be a case of trying to mend the current ice.
Phew…thats it I think…..for now!
The pad being relaid should have been done months ago. God knows Silver Blades aren’t going to give up a week in the middle of the school holidays to do it.
Oh, and its been over a year later, and still no logos on the ice. Well done to all concerned.
And even more annoying, the paint, etc for the logos was waiting at the rink over a year ago, ready to go as it were.
I dared to leave a comment on the official forum yesterday after I had been to the rink to buy a ticket for Sunday’s game. I said that I was shocked by the poor state of the ice and that it did not reflect well on the club given they have had around 5 months to put the problem right.
Within minutes of my post not only was the post deleted but also the entire thread. It seems that you cannot say anything negative about the state of the ice and if you want to post anything it mustn’t be negative or criticise the club! Pathetic!