Today, 29 March, Rob Dunn wrote (in part):...
>required net pegs have been around for more than a couple years.  So why
>wait until the day of the first game to drill the appropriate peg holes?
>It appears to be a simple, but costly oversight on the part of the arena
>and event staff.
 
Actually, Rob, the holes had been drilled a week before the accident which
caused the leak.  I saw the ice several days before and it was beautiful; in
fact, the ice was great right up to the time the leak occurred, thanks to the
professionalism and expertise of the arena and event staff.  Unhappily, as a
worker was drilling out the new ice which fills those holes whenever the
Zamboni does its thing, a tiny nick in a pipe resulted in the ice hockey
version of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," you know, "bubblin' crude."
 
I have been impressed by the fact that very few individuals have attempted to
point the finger of "blame" at anyone for this accident.  Most arenas were
probably designed to avoid having any pipes (these happen to have been PVC
plastic) buried under the goal pegs, but has already been mentioned, the goals
were eventually moved to new locations after Riverfront's system was built.  I
have also seen workers drilling and siphoning ice out of the peg-holes at
several arenas, so I don't believe anyone at Miami was at fault for doing
exactly what they have done in Oxford and at the Cincinnati Gardens hundreds
of times before.
 
The host staff from Miami have literally worked for years to plan this event,
and you might be interested to know that a backup Zamboni is standing by; and
virtually every contingiency has been thought of...except a leaky pipe forty
minutes before the puck drops.  Hooray for those people in attendance who dont
boo announcement of a delay when it's obvious that the ice surface is still
unplayable.
 
FWIW, as the crew worked feverishly to chisel out the cement under the surface
between games, the jackhammer hit and ruptured a second pipe nearby.  It only
took an extra few minutes to repair the second leak, but it demonstrates the
power of Murphy.
 
My .02 cents worth.
 
Scott.
 
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