Local Video
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| Managing a crisis: Local hockey figures reflect on Minnesota Wild equipment disaster |
By: Jeff Wald, Sports Editor
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Posted: Tuesday, January 5, 2010 11:41 pm
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NORTHFIELD — The Minnesota Wild made national news a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t for anything good.
The team held a practice on Dec. 18, to gear up for its game against the Ottawa Senators the next night. Somewhere between the end of practice and the team showing up to the Senators’ arena, the Wild’s equipment van caught fire.
After the smoke settled, most of the team’s equipment was completely destroyed. It sent the team into a panic as they had a game in a little more than 24 hours and no gear to play with.
Team equipment managers got new gear overnight and had it flown to Ottawa so the Wild could play. Not surprisingly, the Wild lost the game.
Local coaches and players say they weren’t surprised that the Wild lost the game given how essential it is that players — whether bantam or pro — have broken in equipment.
“A lot of guys have their things with their equipment,” said Raider boys hockey coach Bryce Barry. “Some of those guys have probably had the same pads since they were bantams. Getting new equipment like that is tough. It takes a while to get that feel back where everything is comfortable.”
St. Olaf men’s hockey coach Sean Goldsworthy agrees.
“I can’t imagine trying to play with new equipment,” Goldsworthy said. “It’s stiffer and it throws you off. Skates are the most important, but guys are finicky about their gloves and sticks. It’s an extension of their body, like baseball players with a glove.
What if it happened here?
Activities Director Tom Graupmann said there isn’t currently a plan in place if something similar to what happened to the Wild happened in Northfield.
“I don’t know what we would do,” Graupmann said. “We would scramble with the resources that we have.”
Many high school teams use a trailer attached to a bus for away games. The Raiders don’t. They put their equipment on the bus, or if they use a coach bus, it would go in the side closets.
If a fire or something similar happened, Benjamin Bus Co. out of Northfield has the insurance, Graupmann said, to cover the cost of the equipment.
“It would depend on how the gear is lost as to who would cover it,” Graupmann said.
Graupmann said the school would also rely on local vendors, wholesalers and retailers to come up with equipment for teams.
Since local teams don’t have the budget that the Wild do with new equipment and shipping it, if hockey equipment was destroyed in an accident, games would be postponed.
“For something that catastrophic, we would have to do that,” Graupmann said. “We don’t have 20 sets of extra gear laying around that could be used right away.”
At the collegiate level, it’s different.
“The NCAA and wouldn’t let us cancel a game for that reason,” Goldsworthy said. “We would have to make due with what we have. We’ve got enough back-up equipment that we could survive and play within 24 hours.”
How does it affect players?
Raiders junior captain Jared Docken said he hates breaking in new equipment. He’s not alone.
It takes up to a month for hockey players to break in and be fully comfortable with a lot of their gear.
In the Wild’s incident, skates, masks, pads and sticks were all completely destroyed. Docken said to turn around and have to play the next day would be tough, but manageable.
“You don’t hear of something like that ever happening. It would be tough,” Docken said.
Senior Alex Pumper echoed Graupmann’s feeling of a scramble in the situation.
“Having gear that is broken in is pretty crucial,” Pumper said. “I’ve had all my gear for five or six years. I would have a tough time with new gear because you need stuff that feels the same every day.”
Raider girls hockey coach Brent Bielenberg said his team would be scrambling if what happened to the Wild happened to his team.
He also said, among the gear, skates are the most crucial piece of equipment.
“It takes at least a few weeks to get the feel of skates and get the blades right,” Bielenberg said.
“It’s everything,” Docken said. “Without a good skate, you can’t do much.”
In his high school days, Barry was a goalie. Niklas Backstrom had all of his gear destroyed in the fire, and Josh Harding had most of his. Barry said it would be a long process to get comfortable with new equipment.
“That would be a tough process. There’s no more mentally unstable position than the goal-tender, and it takes a while to break stuff in,” Barry said. “You want equipment that is broken in so you’re comfortable and you can move around in it.”
The cost
Minnesota is the “State of Hockey,” but the reality is it’s a very expensive sport to play.
Hockey is one of the most expensive at NHS in terms of activity fees, and at the youth level, costs are extremely high between equipment, paying tournament fees and ice time.
Most players are responsible to pay for their own skates, sticks and pads. NHS provides gloves, socks, skate laces, breezers, helmets and jerseys.
Top of the line skates go for $600 to $700. Hockey pads go for between $300 and $400, and high-quality sticks go for around $150 to $200.
What happened to the Wild is likely random and unlucky, but anywhere else it’s an expensive and frustrating fix. Local coaches and players are very picky about their equipment and hope they never have to ponder trying to fix what happened three weeks ago.
— Jeff Wald covers local sports. He can be reached at 645-1111 or jwald@northfieldnews.com. |
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