Preparations are underway for the NHL’s 2022 Heritage Classic at Tim Hortons Field.
The “ice plant,” a 53-foot trailer that houses state-of-the-art ice-making and ice-monitoring equipment, arrived outside the gates of Hamilton’s outdoor stadium on Monday.
Mike Craig, the NHL’s senior manager of facilities and hockey operations, says they’ll get started right away to ensure the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres are ready for puck drop on March 13.
“Basically it has all the equipment that you would have in any NHL facility,” Craig says of the ice plant. “All our ice-making capabilities are here.”
“This place is going to be packed, it’s going to be rocking,” says Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger.
Eisenberger adds that he looks forward to visitors filling the city’s restaurants and hotels and “hopefully revive that hospitality, entertainment sector that has been hit so hard by this pandemic.”
The NHL’s Heritage Classic between the Maple Leafs and Sabres is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 13.
Tim Hortons Field will also host outdoor hockey the following night, when the Ontario Hockey League‘s Hamilton Bulldogs host the Oshawa Generals.
That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 14.