This Week’s Red-Hot News: Vegas Golden Knights vs Montreal Canadiens and Las Vegas 117-Degree Weather vs T-Mobile Arena Ice Surface
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s a good thing Schneider Electric is a major sponsor of T-Mobile Arena. Technically speaking, Schneider Electric was the first founding partner of the arena, which turned five years old in April.
The folks who run T-Mobile Arena, which houses the home ice rink for the Vegas Golden Knights, will know who to call if there are any power or energy issues inside the venue on Monday when the temperature is forecast to soar to 112 degrees for VGK vs Montreal Game 1 Monday in Las Vegas and to an even more sizzling 117 for VGK vs Canadiens Game 2 Wednesday.
Add the fact that the arena doors will be open during the hottest times of the day to allow more than 18,000 warm-blooded fans into the building and you have yourself a situation where arena workers will be paying close attention to the thermometer to make sure it’s cold enough to have an ice rink playing surface that’s up to icy NHL standards. There are the temperatures of the building interior and the ice to monitor, plus the humidity level.
The spike in temperatures might end up shattering records for Las Vegas next week. There is an excessive heat warning from 10AM Monday to 8PM Friday — the entire week.
You might recall the ice conditions surfaced as an issue in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final when the Golden Knights hosted the Washington Capitals in Games 1 and 2 at T-Mobile Arena. Some Capitals players complained about the ice surface after Washington lost, 6-4, in Game 1. The Caps went on to take the next four games against the Golden Knights, including clinching the Stanley Cup in Game 5 on the ice that they complained had problems during Game 1.
The ice temperature before warm-up could be 18 degrees and it could warm to 24 degrees, though the NHL wants the ice to be no warmer than 24 at the end of the game.
LVSportsBiz.com asked VGK and MGM Resorts PR (MGM Resorts is part-owner of the arena) about the ice topic in an email and if we hear back we will share their responses.
Monday’s Game 1 start is 6 PM and game tickets went on sale Friday.
The same issue of ice surface quality could surface for the Tampa Bay Lightning’s arena in downtown Tampa in Florida, where the humidity and high temps are a challenge. The Lightning play the New York Islanders in the other semifinal.
It’s likely the Golden Knights will stick with Carnell “Golden Pipes” Johnson to sing the U.S. national anthem Monday. With Montreal as the opponent, the Canadian national anthem will have to be sung and that assignment will likely go to Lynnae Meyers.
Take a look at Johnson’s anthem when the word, “night,” is sung.
Former Vegas Golden Knights players who are now on the Canadiens, Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar and Jon Merrill, will be visiting Las Vegas next week.
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