game called

[scamperdog]

Game Called After 2nd Period
Third Period to be Played at a Later Date
Everett Silvertips Press Release

Prince George, BC - Tonight the Everett Silvertips faced off against the Prince George Cougars in Prince George, BC. The game was called due to unsafe ice after the second period. Team records and statistics will not change until the game is completed. As of now, the third period will be postponed until Tuesday, February 27th.

In the 40 minutes both teams played, all the goals were scored in the first period. Zach Hamill struck at 8:11 on a power play, extending his point streak to 13 games. Kyle Beach scored the lone assist. The Cougars bounced back with two more goals to jump ahead by a score of 2-1. Devin Setoguchi and Eric Hunter tallied the markers for Prince George.

The Everett Silvertips, continuing on the road, will face off against the Saskatoon Blades on Wednesday, November 1st. The puck drops at the Credit Union Centre at 5:05pm.

[Coyote14]

I was watching that on the internet after the Bruins game was over. What a strange thing to happen, and am I correct that they plan on playing four periods on Feb. 27??

The players on both teams must have been angry, not to mention the fans that waited over an hour just to have the game called.

[KBF]

How embarassing, but if the game isn't techincally over, then why has it counted on the WHL site?

[Cougar Guy]

Based on what they said on the post game show, they will play 4 periods on the 27th. It sounds like they will play the 3rd period first (picking up with the score 2-1 PG) and then play the second game after the finish of the first has been taken care of. I think the league was going to put out a statement on Monday as to what they have officially decided.

For those that weren't there, there was a problem with one of the on-ice adds behind the Everett net. When the Zamboni did the flood after the 2nd, it looked like it removed too much ice and it ripped up part of the add. This particular add looked to have been on a thin plastic sheet beneath the ice instead of having been painted on before the ice was made. I was told that one of the refs then grabbed the exposed part of the add and pulled on it, which made it worse. So in effect, part of the add was exposed on top of the ice, while some of it was still burried beneath. They tried for an hour to fix it, build ice on top of it, etc., but it wasn't working. Rather than risk injury to the players, they made the right decision and called the game at that point.

It sure looked like Dallas Thompson was a wee bit angry and I can't blame him. I don't know what the Cougars pay for a lease agreement, but it would be allot of dough and the City has come through with absolutely HORRIBLE ice this year and now this incident. I think they've had to redo the ice at least 2 or 3 times since the start of the year. I assume the plastic add was a case of trying to get the adds on the ice without having to do a total install of fresh ice (since that would likely mean that everything would have to be repainted). C'mon guys, we have a 20 million dollar facility, live in Northern BC and can't even make ice? Unbelievable. I assume there has been some turnover in the staff there or something else because this year has been a nightmare thusfar. I'd be asking some serious questions to the City if I were in Cougar management.

On the bright side, I suspect I'll eventually get to watch 2 games for the price of one :D

[old_time_hockey]

You guys should call up the ice maker in Kitimat that puts the ice in the Tamitik arena. Trained under the best in the business Fred Marsh. Yes - the same Marsh who invented the Marsh Peg that holds all nets in place now.

[Sput]

This is getting ridiculous. This will be the third time the City staff has had to replace/repair major parts of the ice. Once when they had an oil leak on the zamboni, major repairs needed after the pro rodeo (for those who don't know....someone decided not to put plywood down on the ice before covering is with wood chips and sand for the rodeo. When they were cleaning that up they couldn't understand why/how the sand worked its way through the wood chips and gouged the ice. Major repairs were needed again and the ice is still a horrible patchwork and has some huge gouges and chunks in the ice surface.) and now this. I'm glad the coaches and refs were able to make the league officials understand it was to dangerous to risk playing the rest of the game.

It was the first time I've ever seen two head coaches on the ice at the same time, and not be chirpping and screaming at each other. When Mike, Kevin and Matsuoka all walked off and went down the Cougars tunnel, I thought they were going to order in beer and pizza so they could play rock-paper-sissors to see who wins. :D

On a serious side though....finishing this game on Feb 27th/07 is going to have some major difficulties. It is after the trade deadline, so who knows if these teams will look the same at that time, how do they make allowances for injury to this games starting players (and still make it fair for both teams) and how much is playing four periods of hockey going to affect the actual scheduled game on that day? What time does the game in Feb. now start? Will they have to clear the arena after thr third period is played, then let everyone back in for the regular game? Right now this is all up in the air, and the League, the Cougars and the City are going to have some major logistic problems on their hands now, not to mention the damage control that needs to be done now.

[Beaner]

Im perplexed as to why the game couldnt have been finished this morning.

Neither the Tips nor the Cats play again until Wednesday November 1st. PG at Home, Tips in Saskatoon.

Should have been no reason that the Ice couldnt have been repaired if they worked all night to get it done, and then quickly finish off the game say starting at 10am. No fans probably to make the reschedule but waiting 4 months is ridiculous.

I guess the only reason would be was the Tips were planning to travel to SAS last night, but something could have been done to get this done asap.

--

PG comes to Everett in November - why not finish off that period then when there is more of a chance that rosters of both squads will be close to be the same as last night?

I know thats punishment to PG for a home game, but its PG's crappy ice that caused the cancellation. Maybe that would get the Arena to address their obvious Ice problems.

They could still play that final period as though PG was the home team with last change etc.

[Sput]

Im perplexed as to why the game couldnt have been finished this morning

PG Minor hockey was booked for CNCenter ice starting at 6AM and the minor hockey sched is pretty tight as far as who gets ice when. PGFlyfisher....was the ice fixed for your guys this morning?

To me it isn't so much trying to get the game completed, but who has accountablity for the ice conditions. As I posted earlier, this is the third major screwup with this ice this sesaon, and we are just barely over a month into the season. At some point the Cougars will be beating on City council to get this problem fixed. There are a lot of events scheduled for this winter that could have drastic affects on the ice conditions, so I hope they get this figured out now, and that they do it right (for a change).

[Sput]

Oct 28 2006

Cougars and Everett Postpone 3rd Period by PG Cougars
Due to unsafe ice conditions at the CN Centre on October 28, the Western Hockey League, the Prince George Cougars, and the Everett Silvertips have postponed the 3rd period of their October 28 game. Team records and statistics will not change until the game is completed.
The Western Hockey League, the Prince George Cougars, and the Everett Silvertips will be issuing a release early next week to confirm plans to complete the 3rd period.

The Cougars apologize for this major inconvenience and embarrassment. All questions, comments, and concerns regarding the ice conditions can be directed to Phil Beaulieu, CN Centre Manager, @ 561-7648.

Questions regarding tickets can be directed to Cougars Business Manager Brandi Brodsky after Wednesday October 31.

[PGFlyfisher]

PG Minor hockey was booked for CNCenter ice starting at 6AM and the minor hockey sched is pretty tight as far as who gets ice when. PGFlyfisher....was the ice fixed for your guys this morning?



Both teams were out there this morning bright and EXTREMELY early! :dead: Needed a few extra cups of coffee.

Couldn' t tell if the ice was fixed 100%, but the kids were skating around the net at that end. Sure hope it' s good to go by Wednesday!

[Sput]

From: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/


Monday, October 30, 2006
Poor ice puts freeze on game
by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff

The Prince George Cougars and Everett Silvertips — not to mention faithful hockey fans — were unwilling victims in a version of ice follies Saturday night at CN Centre.

With the Cougars leading 2-1 after two periods, players and spectators were forced to endure a 65-minute delay at the start of the third period while building personnel worked to repair a patch of ice behind the Everett goal at the east end of the building. The problem spot was a portion of an in-ice mesh logo that was protruding from the surface. Finally, after the teams and the Western Hockey League agreed conditions were too unsafe for the game to proceed, it was postponed. The Silvertips will be back in town on Feb. 27 for a scheduled game. Saturday night’s third period is set to be played at that time. The WHL, the Cougars and Silvertips will confirm the plans for Feb. 27 early this week. Team records and statistics will not change until the game is completed.

The incident was a black eye for the City of Prince George, which owns and operates CN Centre.

“Certainly it’s disappointing, most of all it’s embarrassing,” said a livid Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson after the game was halted. “It’s totally unacceptable from our side of it.”

The skating surface at CN Centre had to be completely replaced once this season after a Zamboni coated it with oil. On a second occasion, the ice was patched after cleanup from the West of the Rockies rodeo caused damage. Those patches, from one end of the rink to the other, were clearly visible Saturday night.

In the days following the rodeo, a home show was held at CN Centre, as was a Bonnie Raitt concert. Last week, one of the Cougars players told The Citizen “we have the worst ice in the league, no question.”

The Cougars are CN Centre’s major tenant. Thompson’s frustration with the city is building.

“It’s been a disaster with the ice all year, starting from Day 1,” he said. “We’ve mentioned to them that it hasn’t been good, but this is downright unacceptable.

“I want to pass along our apologies to the fans and the Everett organization, who were put through the 65-minute delay,” Thompson added. “I’m getting sick and tired of calling the league and letting them know that we have bad ice or no ice. This problem has to get fixed, soon.”

Counting the 20-minute break between the second and third period, players sat cooling off for almost an hour and a half before the game was finally postponed. After being held hostage for that long, the remainder of the 2,810 fans who had been in attendance filed out to the parking lots.

Everett coach Kevin Constantine, known for his often-fiery demeanour, was surprisingly calm after the postponement.

“It’s kind of hard to have a reaction because it’s just so unusual,” he said.

“Most situations in hockey you can have kind of a plan for because you’ve got history or precedent to know what to do. Our big thing was, we were just concerned about the health of our players. (There were) two concerns obviously — that’s a real tough part of the rink to navigate. You can’t hide from that area, there’s no room. And the other thing was just that our players had sat for so long we were real concerned that coming back without a good warmup and a stretch, that’s when groins get pulled.”

The Silvertips left Prince George after the game, bound for Edmonton. They play in Saskatoon on Wednesday. Constantine said the incident would not affect his team’s travel plans but will have an impact on the return journey to Prince George in February.

“It will affect our next trip up here because we’ll have to play four periods, but we’re more comfortable with playing four periods than we are to put our players back into a bad environment after they’ve sat so long,” he said. “I think that (four-period night) will be the lesser of two evils.”

Eric Hunter, who assisted on a first-period goal by Devin Setoguchi and then scored one of his own later in the period to give the Cats the 2-1 lead, said he was “a little bit in shock” at the game being cut short by substandard ice.

“I’ve never seen anything like it — I don’t think anybody in the building has probably ever seen anything like it,” he said. “It’s a very interesting situation but we have to take it as it lies and take as much out of this game as we can. I thought we played two pretty solid periods and unfortunately we don’t get a chance to finish it off until February.”

Phil Beaulieu, CN Centre’s general manager, did not return Sunday phone calls seeking comment. Diane Rogers, CN Centre and community arenas manager, said in a media release city staff is researching why the logo became exposed.

[Beaner]

Phil Beaulieu, CN Centre’s general manager, did not return Sunday phone calls seeking comment.

Maybe Phil didn't return calls because his voicemal was full after the team published his phone number for fans to lodge complaints. :laugh: