Going to Traverse City has become a fall tradition for the Detroit Red Wings, but it will take a lot of money for it to continue.
TRAVERSE CITY — Going to Traverse City has become a fall tradition for the Detroit Red Wings, but it will take a lot of money for it to continue.
The Wings have been notified by the NHL that the two ice sheets at Centre Ice Arena must become NHL compliant in order to continue to host the annual prospect tournament and training camp.
Asked whether holding future Wings events at Centre Ice is in jeopardy, Wings general manager Ken Holland told the Free Press he wasn’t sure. The Wings have been coming here since 1997. The prospect tournament includes teams from the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.
Upgrading the rinks to fit concussion protocols would cost around $220,000.
“The red cap that goes all around the top of boards, they have a new shock absorption system that would have to go in,” Terry Marchand, the executive director at Centre Ice Arena told the Free Press today. “The end of the glass, those four spots, there is a curved acrylic special, I don’t know what you would call it, that has to go in. And then we would have to replace all the netting with kevlar.
“And then we would have some annual maintenance costs to keep everything up, especially the new cap system, it is going to get degraded around the nets.”
The site has also hosted development camp annually in July, but the plan now is to have those at Little Caesars Arenas, since that facility includes a practice rink.
Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
