“I don’t know if you were at the last game,” Cam Neely asked me of the Sept. 28 preseason finale at TD Garden. “It was pretty cold.”
“Freezing,” I confirmed, thankful for the lightweight down jacket that resides full-time in my backpack.
“Oh my God,” the Bruins president said with a smile regarding the chill. “That certainly would help.”
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Under Neely’s watch, players from inside the organization and out have expressed their displeasure with the Garden’s ice. On March 16, after the Blue Jackets dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Bruins, then-Columbus forward Matt duch*ene did not pull his punches about the building’s conditions. Earlier that day, the Garden hosted the Celtics’ 129-120 win over Atlanta.
“It was awful ice,” duch*ene told Columbus reporters. “It was probably the worst ice I’ve played on in this league. I don’t know what was going on with that tonight.”
One month later, Brad Marchand lobbed a cross-borders bomb at his home rink during the opening round of the playoffs.
“The ice has been terrible there,” Marchand said of the Garden while at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. “Might as well play with a tennis ball. Just skate around and see who bounces one in the net.”
Neely hopes he has heard the last of the gripes.
“That’s the hope. That’s our goal. That’s what I want,” Neely said of improving the Garden’s conditions.
“I don’t want to hear any complaints about ice. That’s something I’m on, on a regular basis with the group at the Garden.”
This year, chattering teeth may keep the players from voicing their dissatisfaction.
As part of the Garden’s improvements, the building will be kept colder this season. According to CEO Charlie Jacobs, the temperature will be in the high 50s before puck drop for Saturday’s home opener against New Jersey and for every other game on Causeway St. The NHL recommends each rink to be between 60 and 64 degrees at 40 to 44 percent humidity.
Tricia McCorkle, Garden director of marketing and communications, said the temperature will range between 58 and 64 degrees, which would be within league specifications.
The Garden is not set up for optimal ice conditions because of its multiple tenants. The ice especially suffers when the Bruins and Celtics play on the same day. The heat generated by the Bull Gang’s equipment, among other things, raises the building’s temperature. This promotes faster degradation of the ice under the strain of NHL skaters.
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Conditions were worse last year as construction started on the Garden’s makeover and temperatures rose in April, May and June. The Bruins rented a desiccant system to aid in the dehumidification process. But players were not satisfied with the ice.
As the Garden’s improvement project continues, operations staff have informed Neely that warmer air and humidity from outside will find the building more difficult to breach.
“Last year was a little challenging because there were so many open spaces leading into the Garden during construction,” Neely said. “Everything’s tight now. The building’s tight, from what I’m told. So that will be helpful.”
In theory, a colder arena will allow the ice to set quicker, form harder and not deteriorate as quickly.
“We’ve done a lot, a lot of work about trying to bring that temperature in the building down,” Jacobs said. “It’s going to be in the high 50s when you come in. It’s a work in progress. It’s very hard when you’ve got open doors or, in particular, when you’ve got walls that are knocked down and not finished.”
Jacobs estimated that most of the construction will be complete by Jan. 1. By then, Bruins fans might be used to keeping their winter coats on indoors.
(Photo: Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
