Crews were laying down the ice stickers at the Saddledome on Thursday and have done a remarkable job getting the facility back up and running in time for the hockey season.
“Everything that could float, did float. So filing cabinets, desks, chairs, all our concert panels to make up the stage and they moved around and landed wherever so we had people’s desks up in the eighth row and filing cabinets on top of the exercise bikes and the exercise balls in the Flames dressing room got lodged up in the ceiling space and were stuck up there so it was like a bomb went off,” said Robert Blanchard, Director of Building Operations.
The Scotiabank Saddledome was a scary sight the day after the floods as silt, mud and brown water covered every inch of the ice surface in the 30 year old arena.
Most of the building’s mechanical and electrical infrastructure was wiped out and officials were not certain if the Dome could be repaired in time for the 2013-14 NHL season.
Blanchard says crews worked for 69 days straight to get the building back up and running.
“Seven days a week, two shifts of twelve hours, between 300 and 400 people on the afternoon shift and 150 to 200 people in the evening shift,” said Blanchard.
The remediation and recovery work has totaled 650,000 man hours in the last eight weeks but it has paid off.
Blanchard says they will be doing a dry run of the kitchen on Friday to make sure all the facilities are working properly.
The Flames were even able to hold a press conference in the building on Thursday to talk about the addition of Brian Burke to the management roster.
The Flames are scheduled to play four preseason games in the Dome is September and will face the Canucks in the home opener on October 6.
