Keystone Centre accepts blame for fog

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This article was published 27/09/2016 (3626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After an embarrassing early end to the Brandon Wheat Kings’ home opener on Saturday, the Keystone Centre’s general manager is promising action.

What he can’t promise, however, is a solution.

The game was called off in the second period when thick fog made playing conditions unsafe. While it looked OK from above, the fog was so thick Wheat Kings goalie Jordan Papirny said he was watching the screens on the score clock when the action went to the far end of the ice because he couldn’t see the puck.

Keystone Centre general manager Neil Thomson said the facility accepts the blame.

“It was just really a combination of different factors coming into play that one time at the home opener to come together to do it,” Thomson said. “It’s our responsibility. It’s the Keystone Centre’s responsibility and I know that. We certainly apologize to the city, to the fans, to the Wheat Kings organization, to the Moose Jaw Warriors. We’ll do what we can to have it hopefully never happen again but we can’t guarantee it.”

Westman Place has two banks of dehumidifiers, exhaust fans and heaters in place but the rink doesn’t have air conditioning and isn’t likely to get it any time soon.

Thompson said the struggle for the facility is in balancing how it spends the capital funding that it receives. Air conditioning would remove much of the humidity but just outfitting Westman Place would likely cost more than $1 million.

The Keystone asked for $2 million in capital funding this year from the city and received $500,000. Thomson noted that for funding on a project like air conditioning, the city has to balance the probability of the issues cropping up again versus all of the competing interests that also need money.

It was certainly an unusual day in weather on Saturday, with an active thunderstorm passing through earlier in the day.

On Saturday at 3 p.m., it was 16 C, with a humidity of 94 per cent. An hour later, the temperature had risen to 18 C, which felt like 24 C due to the humidity of 100 per cent.

The temperature kept rising to 19 C at 10 p.m., with the humidity fluctuating between 94 and 100 per cent. On Monday afternoon, the humidity was down to 28 per cent.

“On top of that, there was a great crowd obviously of over 5,000 people, we had pyro and smoke and a fog machine or whatever on top of that, not that that really did a huge amount,” Thomson said. “It was a whole combination of factors. We don’t want this to happen again, believe me.”

During the Memorial Cup in 2010, the building leased an air conditioner to prevent any possible issues from playing on warmer days.

But Thomson wasn’t trying to pass the buck.

“No matter what happened, it’s our responsibility,” he said. “It’s the Keystone Centre’s responsibility to provide a safe environment for clients, and in this case, players, for guests, all that sort of our stuff. There’s no doubt. The question is, why did it happen? It’s never happened before. We’ve had fog before I’m told, but it’s never had to become a safety issue or cause a cancellation of a game.”

Thomson said he and his staff are creating a snapshot of all things that happened that day, plus the factors out of their control, as part of an organizational post-mortem on the evening.

He also reached out to the WHL after speaking with commissioner Ron Robison during the game on Saturday. The facility is working with the league to see if there is a third party that can provide answers about what the facility can do in the future if the fog problem happens again.

Thomson said staff members discussed measures they could deploy during the game that could potentially help the situation.

They got a couple of barrel fans from another part of the building and began blowing in air from the top of the ramps to see if they could get air circulating.

They also opened the doors on the north side of the ice surface, delaying play, to let air flow but it didn’t work. As soon as the skaters began moving again, the fog returned.

Rick Dillabough, the Wheat Kings’ director of business operations and sponsorships, said with the delays prior to the cancellation, the news wasn’t a complete shock. But he was impressed with how the large crowd accepted the news.

“I think the players were very appreciative of the fact that the fans gave them a really great ovation following the announcement,” Dillabough said. “Did it soften the blow somewhat? Maybe to a degree. It certainly didn’t eliminate the disappointment that we all felt.”

The league, Wheat Kings and Warriors are working together to figure out when and where to finish the game. Fans who attended Saturday’s home opener are asked to keep their ticket stubs so they can attend the conclusion of the contest when it is made up.

The Wheat Kings return to action on Saturday when they host the Red Deer Rebels at 7:30 p.m. The current forecast calls for a high of 21 and a 10 per cent chance of rain.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson