The Stanley Cup Goes to Some Weird Places

For some reason, I am on the media mailing list for KC ICE's Northland rink at Burlington Creek.  Yay!(?)

Anyway, the Stanley Cup – or one of the twenty replicas – is coming to the rink this Saturday, January 5th if you would like to see it.  Actually, it's coming to EnChamas restaurant, but, eh...close enough.  So, go see it if you want to see it.  It's worth the price of admission to see Anze Kopitar's name on there, let me tell you buddy.  BONUS: For a small fee, you can get your picture with the Cup AND 1980 USA Gold Medalist and local guy Ken Morrow.  Yay!(?)  Here's the promo flyer.

So, yeah, there's that.  It made me wonder what other random people charged you to take pictures with the Cup at random locations.

Construction Update: Burlington Creek Ice Rink Still to Open in November

Above is a not-so-good photo of the new outdoor ice rink coming soon to the Burlington Creek shopping district in the Northland.  As mentioned, this is a really, really small rink.  Like, think of a really small ice rink, and then picture it about half that size.  Yeah, muy pequeño.  Muy muy muy.

Basically, to the far left of the photo is the tower-thing (pictured below), which represents one far side of the rink.  If you click on the photo and make it larger, you will see the edge of the businesses on the far right, which is the other end of the rink.  I assume that tree isn't going anywhere, so the rink will shimmy into that space up against Em Chamas et al.  It's essentially going to be an ice covered patio.

But don't fret, Kansas City area ice sport enthusiast!  It is still an ice rink.  Plus, the KC ICE site – not updated since its creation – still boasts it is in some way supposed to support Russell Stover hockey.  Also, it's still going to open this winter, so says the banner on the tower-thing built (I assume) just to hold the banner stating when the rink will open.  So, that's good. 

ICYMI: Tickets Selling For Preseason Game Despite Lockout Worries, McGannon Hopeful for KC-Friendly CBA

What was the deal with the bow?

An article early last week in the Kansas City Business Journal took a look into ticket sales for October's preseason game at the Sprint Center.  And, hey, sales are good despite the looming storm clouds of a lockout.  Sooo, bully for that!

Of course, NHL21's own Paul McGannon was interviewed on the issue, and the most surprising thing about that is NHL21 still apparently exists despite not really still existing.  You may remember early this summer the formation of KCIce, spearheaded by McGannon and former KC Blade Ken Morrow, McGannon's foray into youth ice sports and ice rink management.  Perhaps NHL21 still does exist, it's just McGannon with a plaque above his bathroom door (or whatever) that says NHL21.  Anyway, he had something to say about the new CBA, and let me tell you, he's siding with the players on this one:

“We’re hopeful that the new collective bargaining agreement will be Kansas City-friendly, meaning we’d like to see some revenue sharing in there, like baseball and football, that would help a city like ours flourish in the NHL,” McGannon said.

Kansas City friendly?  Well, that depends on the owner.  David Glass takes the MLB's shared revenue and does with it what he pleases.  And Clark Hunt benefits as much as any other NFL owner in the league, but, again, that money does not have to go towards team salaries or stadium repairs, etc.  Obviously.

But, to be fair to the situation, McGannon is referring to the desire of the players and poorer owners to have revenue sharing – along with the current hard salary cap.  This, in turn, would disperse a portion of all league revenues to every team, instead of allowing the rich to get richer.  Sure, this would be great for a small market like Kansas City...if there were a team.  What McGannon is implying is that he hopes to see an NHL team in KC over the course of (let's say) the next six to eight years – the likely duration of a CBA.  And why shouldn't he?  As little influence as he may have over NHL ownership in Kansas City (which should be pretty obvious by now), he, like us all, expected to have a team shortly after the construction of the Sprint Center.

Is a team in the next six years realistic?  Well, the Coyotes are in an odd position with Greg Jamison right now as he keeps gaining and losing possible investors.  Plus, there is no guarantee that things will go smoothly with new ownership in Glendale.  A franchise like New Jersey is financially struggling.  Florida is always in a bad place because they are Florida.  There is always talk of expansion, but there's just as much talk of contraction.  Anything is possible, but it's not like McGannon is doing much to help the situation.  So, really, he's just like the rest of us.  Hopeful.  For now, let's just hope we have a preseason game to go to this season and just go from there.

So don't be afraid to buy tickets, because you will get a refund anyway.

Grainy Pictures of Dirt – KC Ice Center Pavilion Construction Photos

Click to embiggen

Here is the progress today on the KC Ice Center's new outdoor ice rink – also known as the Ice Pavilion.  It looks pretty smooth, and there is a lot of dirt.  So, yeah, construction hasn't actually started yet, other than the leveling process.  Hey, here's another photo!

Again, this project is reported to be done by this November, giving Shawnee's KC Ice Center a second sheet of ice.  The ONLY ice center in the KC area with a second sheet.

Meanwhile, Nutbush corroborates reports from Puckchaer that the Burlington Creek outdoor rink is small.  Like, much smaller than a standard size ice rink.  Which is strange, because that rink is supposed to somehow support the Russell Stover hockey program.

From KC Ice's official site:

The rink will help support and grow ice based sports, competition and activities in Kansas City, such as the nationally recognized Tier 1 United States travel hockey program, Russell Stover Hockey 

Really?  How?  Maybe for practices?  Broom ball?  Impressing the opposite sex on a date?  We will see.

Stay updated on the new outdoor rink on the Kansas side with KC Ice Center's Ice Pavilion updates page.  Though the progress on the rink is going a lot better than the progress on the updates page...