By By Dave Diamond
Aside from the privacy of your own home, the freezing temperature last Saturday night made it nearly impossible to imagine a warm place anywhere. Unfortunately for the Pride ice hockey club, it found one. It was underneath the Long Beach Arena ice.
“There was blue water coming up, but I didn’t think anything of it,” Pride goaltender George Lorenz.
The blue water he spoke of was the paint indicating the goaltender’s crease, which is usually quite a few inches below the layer of ice the players skate on. In this case, the referees noticed that the ice was melting in that particular area during the first period intermission and decided there was not a sufficient amount of ice safely separating the playing surface from the concrete underneath. As a result, a 2-0 Pride lead over St. Thomas Aquinas was put on hold.
“The ice got worn down so much because it is too warm in the rink right now, that the cement was either showing or in danger of showing,” head coach Brian Ferrara said just after the referees deemed the ice unplayable. “And that’s something that can harm the players.”
It was later revealed that the temperature compressors underneath the ice were accidentally turned off, and it became apparent as more spots on the ice visibly melted as the players finally went into their locker rooms, more than a half hour after the first period ended.
The problem probably should have been addressed before the game had started, as many of the Pride players said at Tuesday nights practice when they were virtually skating through water.
“I didn’t really think it was a problem, I thought we could get a game in on this ice,” Lorenz said. The goaltender played the entire first period in the crease where the cement problem first persisted, but claimed he had no problems. “Just a little slow,” he said, referring to the slush the melting had created.
Indeed Lorenz showed no ill effects, making 14 saves and allowed St. Thomas Aquinas no goals in the first period. The Pride led 2-0 on a power play goal by junior Joe Balabous at 6:15 and a goal by Brian Mazliach only 1:39 later.
The highlight of the shortened game came when the Pride’s Rich Hackford received a six-minute penalty for roughing, instigating and unsportmanlike conduct, giving St. Thomas Aquinas an extended power play. The time also included a full two-minute five-on-three opportunity, after the Pride’s Chad Goldman went to the box at 13:51.
With Lorenz standing strong, the Pride killed the entire advantage, taking the steam out of its opponents and hoped to ride the momentum throughout the game until play was stopped.
“Given the situation, we obviously would have liked to keep going,” Ferrara said of his team’s 2-0 lead. It is still unclear whether the game will resume from the point at which it was stopped or if it will be restarted.
“We will hear from the league, hopefully soon, about what the situation will call for,” Ferrara said. “The referees didn’t want to make the decision either way, it’s not their decision.”