The facilities crew at the St. Pete Times Forum regularly pulls off a hat trick of its own, preparing the arena for hockey one day, football or other events the next. This week, after a Tampa Bay Storm game Sunday night, the Times Forum will be readied for Game 1 of Stanley Cup tonight, a graduation on Wednesday, Game 2 on Thursday and another graduation on Friday.
A COLD BLANKET: When not used for hockey, the surface is covered by $160,000 in polycarbon fiber panels that shield the ice from damage. It takes about two hours arrange the 400 panels.
CLOSE THE 'FRIDGE: The panels actually improve the ice. It's like "shutting the door on your refrigerator," said Tim Friedenberger, facilities manager and maestro of the changeover.
QUICK CHANGE: It takes six to 10 hours to transform the Times Forum. About 250 part-time workers and 40 full-time staff perform the makeover. It costs about $50,000 to go from hockey to another event, then back to hockey.
NICE JOB, NOW DO THAT AGAIN: The crews perform an average of 160 conversions per year.
WHILE THE ICE IS ON ICE: With the hockey arena indisposed, the Lightning and Calgary Flames are practicing at the Lightning's Brandon facility. Friedenberger's "army of ants" has had to gear up in Brandon as well, to make the Ice Sports Forum ready for major media coverage and maintain the ice for hockey practice.
ON THE WEB: Times photo technology director Jack Rowland set up a camera in the catwalk of the Times Forum and timed it to shoot a picture every 10 seconds. The camera started shooting at 8:48 p.m. Saturday and stopped at 11 a.m. Sunday. Over the course of those 13 hours, 5,114 images were recorded and downloaded onto the hard drive of a laptop. Rowland then converted them into a time-lapse movieTo see the entire time-lapse "movie," go to http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/25/hockeyvideo/video.shtml
