Flyers, Habs: Best ice in NHL
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Flyers, Habs: Best ice in NHL
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
In baseball, many top-flight free-agents have selected teams because they thought their ballpark was tailored to their strengths.
For the Flyers' sake, it's a shame that same thinking isn't applied by the premier NHL free-agents.
You see, the ice at the Wells Fargo Center was ranked No. 1 in the NHL on Monday, tied for the top spot with the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens.
We presume Zach Parise and Ryan Suter like the WFC's made-for-speed ice, but it didn't factor in their decisions. The marquee free-agents rejected the Flyers — and many others — and signed with Minnesota last week. (For what it's worth, the Flyers had one of the NHL's fastest teams last season.)
The Wells Fargo Center and Bell Centre each scored a 4.6 out of a possible 5 points. The scoring is based on reports filed by on-ice officials after each game. The gradings are done on the hardness (which translates to quickness) of the ice, snow consistency, ice rutting, ice edging, frozen puck, the officials' room, and the arena environment.
"Our ice crew works extremely hard to ensure the ice is the best it can be for the players," said Peter Luukko, president of the Flyers' parent company, Comcast-Spectacor. "With all of the events that we host at Wells Fargo Center, it is imperative that our crew pays close detail, including walking the ice twice a day to check dashers and glass to assure the best possible playing conditions."
Luukko praised Chris Jennings, the head ice technician, and his team for the high standards they have established.
Ah, Parise and Suter don't know what they're missing.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
MSG had to be the worst.— Sidewinder7- too much sodium in it? — Romus
- With the Officials anti-bias toward our fans you can only imagine how much higher the true grade could have been.— Earl J
- out of curiosity, what rating did the Excel Center get?— CT Flyers fan
- Who cares about those two, the Flyers will be fine. Of course I thought the Phils would be, too.— PhillySubsMac
- How do you know it didn't factor into their decisions? It may well have been a plus, but it still wasnt enough.— joho
- What does the official's room have to do with the ice?— C-Note
- If we could only get a number one goalie on that number one ice.....— Mike Boryla
- DUDE, Sam... let it go with the Parise and Suter thing. They are terribly overpaid and won't win a thing in Minnesota. It's the best thing for the Flyers that they didn't come here.— ragecage22
- Can we finally "ice " the freaking Devils Flyers score from the top of the page!!— barry1757
- Why do they freeze all teams last scores?
Do they like to rub it in?— Johnny Callison - Yeah, the frogs are tied for the best ice, but their sand filled hallways from the locker room to the ice rank as high as the team...last place..— dedhed
- I'd rather have the worst ice, that way you learn to be good on bad ice and other teams coming in wouldn't be able to adjust well. Even better is when you would travel to place with great ice, you'd be that much faster. The thinking is backwards IMO.— LAFlyer
- If only we had a goalie that was voted best in NHL.— farley
- But the final 4 was NYR, NJD, LAK, and PHO. I know MSG has the worst ice, and Prudential Center got some pretty big complaints in the playoffs. I'd guess Jobing and Staples have pretty bad ice too. So it would almost seem that bad ice can be an advantage.— Pelti
