Somehow he managed to be beautiful, then silly, then beautiful again. You could have driven to Moab and back in the time it took for the Avalanche to defeat the Golden Knights. You could have seen “WandaVision”, cover to cover, twice.
“The strangest day of hockey I’ve ever been a part of,” Colorado winger Mikko Rantanen said of Avs 3, Knights 2, a contest that began at 1pm Denver time on Saturday and ended around 11:38. that night.
“It was unique,” said Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog. “And a game that people will remember for a long time, I’m sure.”
When fate throws curveballs, the good teams, the special teams, the ones with spines of steel and nerves of diamond, square them up and hit them. Hard.
OMG Gary Bettman brought his things to break. The setting was magnificent. The script was surreal. When his makeshift track began to melt, the NHL commissioner admitted that he had somehow failed to plan for sunny weather during a daytime game in Lake Tahoe. Ergo, the soft ice forced the contest to be called off after just one period of play, followed by loads of amused looks and then an eight hour delay.
“Sunshine,” Bettman offered on NBC as Avalanche and the Knights embarked on the longest intermission in league history, “has always been our enemy.”
Oh yeah. The rogues gallery of the NHL: Sunshine, logic and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Hi Gary. Come here. See that shiny thing in the sky? The big yellow? Does it look like the front of a Raisin Bran box?
At noon, on a clear day – deep breath, now – melts the ice in height.
I mean, who knew?
“Some spots on the ice (were) a bit muddy,” Landeskog told NBC when the incline in splendid Tahoe, with his team up 1-0, was thrown into the fridge. “But we were ready to go back. Or when they called us back. And we kind of wanted to go out again. ”
“Some spots on the ice (were) a bit muddy,” Landeskog told NBC when the incline in splendid Tahoe, with his team up 1-0, was thrown into the fridge. “But we were ready to go back. Or when they called us back. And we kind of wanted to go out again. ”
If they wanted this to end, could you blame them? Last year, traffic. This year, sun.
The next time Bettman asks the Avs to play outside, they should make a nice long hard pass. Next time Gary pulls up in the clown’s car, let some other suckers ride the shotgun.
“The cloud cover,” Bettman commented, eyes skyward as announcers Mike Tirico and Eddie Olczyk watched uneasily, “is everywhere except where the sun is.”
Again: Who knows?
Stay away, Avs.
stay away
Look, the NHL did the right thing. Finally. During warm-ups, Avs goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer wore goggles under his cage. Once the players made it clear that they couldn’t see the puck on the ice, we should have seen it coming.
And because the sun is Bettman’s personal kryptonite, things only got worse once the cookie was dropped. During any lull in action, crews scrambled to scrape off ice that looked like garbage from a snow cone maker.
Players and referees struggled a lot to keep their balance, especially around the logos. The surface was lumpy, forcing the puck to jump like a flat stone, perfectly thrown, across a pond.
Landeskog and the Avs took advantage of the ridiculous conditions first, when Sam Girard’s wrist took a fun jump across Marc-Andre Fleury’s five holes at approximately 2:58 in the competition.
The rest of the opening period felt awkward and wary for both sides like the sun: Damn you, science! – He continued hitting. Visits from maintenance teams became more frequent. And he panicked.
“We’ve always had a protocol if we completed two terms,” Bettman would later explain to NBC. “I never imagined it on a sunny day.”
Rich Pedroncelli, The Associated Press
A Zamboni machine exits the outdoor track where the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche will play in the Outdoor Lake Tahoe NHL hockey game in Stateline, Nevada on Saturday, February 20, 2021.
A sunny afternoon in Tahoe?
What are the chances of that?
“This has been the most difficult weather circumstance we have ever had,” Bettman continued. “And it’s a beautiful day.”
Baseball: rain delays.
Bettman: Sun is late.
Stay away, Avs.
stay away
When bringing a nationally televised party to Mother Nature, especially Mother Nature at 6,224 feet, the altitude at Edgewood Tahoe Resort, common sense suggests planning for any circumstance. You are proactive. It does not allow conditions to dictate terms. And you don’t point your finger at the big ball in the sky.
“You can’t be successful,” Bettman said, “if you don’t risk failure.”
You can’t have ice if you can’t read a weather forecast.
If Bettman were a wedding planner, he would probably book the edge of Mount Vesuvius. Italy, you know. The views!
“It will be one to remember,” Landeskog offered, diplomatically. “That is sure.”
Stay away, Avs.
stay away
“We knew,” the communist emphasized, “that the incessant sunlight was a problem.”
It’s not the only one. Yes, suspending gambling was the only prudent option, given the alternative of crooked knees, shattered ankles and litigation.
But when your second response is to wave a fist to the sky because You didn’t anticipate the sun on the Nevada border that says much less about what’s between the clouds. And more about what’s between your ears.