Saturday night’s game between Denver and Omaha hockey at Magness Arena was going to be a test of wills. After a Friday 8-4 blowout of the Mavs, two questions remained: Would Omaha come out with more fire and battle for the split? Would DU build on their prior night’s eight-goal scoring binge?
Fans will have to wait until Sunday to find out.
After a scoreless first period, a slushy puddle formed over the NCHC logo behind the Denver goal – apparently the logo protruded through the ice following resurfacing from the Zamboni. Officials and arena personnel worked furiously to cut away the logo and patch the divot but a puddle of water remained over the slushy patch-job. After a delay of an hour, the schools’ athletic directors and NCHC commissioner Heather Weems met on the ice to assess the situation. Ultimately, the decision was to postpone until Sunday to ensure player safety.
Due to ice conditions, tonight’s game is suspended. The game will resume tomorrow at a time to be announced.
Tickets from tonight will be valid for tomorrow’s game or can be exchanged to a future game.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) November 19, 2023
The game will resume at the beginning of the second period at 2pm MT Sunday.
Top Photo: Courtesy of Pio Pack
A similar thing happened at DU in the 1986 WCHA playoffs against Michigan Tech. The Zamboni made a divot in the ice, and the Saturday game was postponed until the following day. About 1,000 people came back to see DU win the game on Sunday afternoon. DU went on to beat UMD and Minnesota to win the WCHA playoffs on home ice (there was no neutral site league tourney back then), and then beat Cornell in the NCAAs at DU to go to the Frozen Four in Providence, where they lost to Harvard.
That was such an amazing third period in 1986. Electric building.
Swami- Was the jeep Zamboni still running at that game?
No. it was a regular 1980s Zamboni that broke the ice.
The jeep Zamboni (DU’s first and the 11th Zamboni built by the company, produced in 1953) lives on, restored, at Paramount Ice Arena in California in DU Colors. Zamboni HQ is there…The link below has more…
https://zamboni.com/zamboni-company-completes-restoration-of-historic-machine/
Hahahaha
Two game total goal series to move on in the playoffs of 1986