The Calumet Coliseum will receive $150,000 to renovate their facility ahead of a September 26th exhibition game between the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings. The Marquette Mining Journal’s Jamie Glenn reports that the renovations are “just the start” of the planning process for hosting the game:
Planning is underway for a week full of fun leading up to the early fall game. Tickets for the main event will be free and will be offered on a lottery system.
“We’re planning a lot of the activities the week before the game itself,” [ Calumet Hockey Association board member and media relations coordinator John] Carroll said. “That has us really busy. As a committee, we meet every week and we’re in communication every week and are in communication with the NHL, the players association and the other partners almost daily. (We just met) to iron out details and put together events that we would like to have planned for that week.
“The tickets will be dispersed through a lottery system. As far as capacity for the building goes, we’re working with the NHL, the players association, NBC and Kraft, trying to figure out how many people we’re going to be able to seat. Right now we don’t know. We expect to have more information on that in (early) August.”
With the top Hockeyville prize came $150,000 in renovation money for the rink.
“What we were able to do is start work on a few things in the building, things that have been on our wishlist,” Carroll said. “We’ve already done a lot of work over the last several years, so we’re in really good shape to host the game. At this point, it’s just doing things that will keep the building (and) the ice plant going for the next (many) years.
“The great thing about winning this is that it gives us a jumpstart to make improvements and make repairs that will keep the building going long into the future. It takes the stress off the hockey association and the other users of the building.”
