Hockey: Workers scramble to complete arena for Rush debut

By Jim Holland, Journal staff | Tuesday, November 25, 2008

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RAPID CITY — Rushmore Plaza Civic Center manager Brian Maliske is going through much the same last-minute crunch as a bride endures in preparing for her wedding day: The planning is one thing, but the details will get you.

In this case, Maliske’s big day involves approximately 5,000 guests to be seated, entertained and fed in a brand new building, and the sports equivalent of two groups of in-laws that are expected to get into a fight at some point during the event.

A phalanx of construction workers is jamming to put the finishing touches on a new $24 million addition to the civic center that also includes home ice for the city’s newest pro sports franchise, the Rapid City Rush of the of Central Hockey League, scheduled to play their first-ever home game on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. 

Maliske said the usual glitches, tweaks and headaches involved with new construction will keep workers busy almost right up to the time the doors open on Nov. 29 for the 2:05 p.m. showdown between the Rush and CHL Northwest Division rival Colorado Eagles.

“We’ve had some issues here and there, but nothing that’s going to push back our scheduled opening date,” said Maliske on Monday.

One of the biggest hurdles faced by arena crews is getting the sheet of ice installed at the hockey rink.

Minor but nagging problems with the refrigeration system Monday again delayed the start of the more than 24-hour process of building up the approximately 1-3/8-inch thick frozen playing surface

After repairs to one of three pumps which circulate thousands of gallons of glycol refrigerant through miles of piping imbedded in the arena floor, workers hoped to be able to start forming the base layer of ice late Monday, with vinyl logos and game markings, including blue lines, face-off circles, goal lines and creases installed on Tuesday.

Also on Monday, workers were putting down carpeting and trim, cleaning restrooms, stocking concession stands and installing and testing the final sections of the 528-feet long “ribbon wrap” electronic sign built and installed by Daktronics of Brookings.

Late Saturday saw the installation of 31-foot tall protective netting at each end of the ice rink to protect spectators from flying hockey pucks.

Maliske said workers had started last week on a “punch list” of items to be fixed or completed before the opening.

Included was the replacement of a cracked window pane in a third-floor mezzanine overlooking the east entrance of the arena.

“That’s how this goes, you put something in and if you’re careless, and then you get to do it again,” he said.

Overall, however, the final phase has gone smoothly, if hectic at times.          

“It’s been crunch time for about a month now,” Maliske said. “Every day it’s another something-that-must-be-done-today thing, and then you just move on.”

Once the ice arena opens, the Rush will play seven consecutive home games after starting their inaugural CHL season last month with a league-record-tying 14 straight road games.

Another challenge for the civic center crews comes after the Dec. 16 CHL game between the Rush and the Mississippi RiverKings.

The ice rink will be covered and the arena set up for the 32nd annual Lakota Invitational basketball tournament, which runs Dec. 17-20 and will be played in its entirety at the civic center for the first time.

“That’ll be our first true test,” Maliske said. “We’ll start taking down the ice arena after the hockey game and we’ll put the new basketball floor in.”

But that’s still a couple of weeks down the road.

Maliske just wants to get the new arena up and running.

“We’ll still be working on things for another couple of weeks, even after the first game on Saturday,” he said. “But to the general public, it’ll look like it’s all finished.”