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Thursday 17 February, 2011

Mother Nature's obstacles aren't any match for Dan Craig

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NHL Facilities Operations Manager Dan Craig was confronted with just about every element imaginable during his rink build at McMahon Stadium -- intense sunlight, heavy winds, light snow and extreme cold.

But inside the finish, Craig's crew could finish the coming of the ice Thursday and definately will develop the rink built on agenda for Sunday's 2011 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic relating to the Calgary Flames Jerseys for sale and Montreal Canadiens Jerseys for sale(6 p.m., Versus, CBC).

The thing left to perform is install the Plexiglass, which is completed either Thursday night or early Friday morning prior to a Canadiens and Flames practice here Saturday.

Each of the logos and lines happen to be added to the ice, but Craig couldn't use paint. With the temperature sitting at freezing Thursday morning, the water-based paint was useless. So as opposed to using paint for your lines and logos, Craig were required to use tape, and that is submerged beneath about three-quarters inch of ice.

"Everyone's offering my trade secrets," joked Craig.

That it was -4 degrees Fahrenheit to the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton, but even then Craig weren't required to employ his tape tactic to produce the rink ready for an NHL game.

"We had good days. We had been above the freezing mark when we painted there," Craig said. "We a bright, sunny day. It had been a fantastic day to paint."

Here is the sixth Heritage/Winter Classic rink that Craig and his crew have built since 2003. Inspite of Wholesale NHL Jerseys the obstacles Alberta has thrown out him, he doesn't rate this as his toughest rink-build.

"It's about the same, other than it's bitterly cold each day," Craig said. "We just layer up and go advertising online. It's the same as when you're in Pittsburgh where when it rained, you put on a poncho and go to work. There's not much more that can be done."

Maybe Mother Nature is out to get Craig?

"Yeah, but on gameday, she always comes through," Craig said. "She loves the game of hockey jersey wholesale."