National Sports Center Blog

NSCwebcast.tv is up and running!

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

It's Memorial Day Weekend, and that means it's time for the NSC's first big soccer tournament of the summer season, NSC Cup. Today, 225 teams from all over the Upper Midwest and Canada are playing their first games of the tournament. Championship games will be played on Monday.

The big new innovation this weekend is the premier of NSCwebcast. NSC Cup is the first of 17 events the NSC webcast team will produce over the next year. In the past, the NSC has partnered with an outside vendor to webcast two events: Schwan's USA CUP soccer tournament in July and the Schwan Cup hockey tournament in December. Now we're bringing webcasting in-house, which will allow us to televise many more events, and improve customer service.

Below, the NSCwebcast team hard at work broadcasting the Bangu vs NSSA 19 boys game on the Exhibition Field on Saturday afternoon: left-to-right: cameraman Mark Cooper, NSC intern and production engineer Mike Babcock, and play-by-play Jeff Huffman.

Selected games will be available for viewing on your computer, either live or after the game on an archived basis. There is a reasonable pay-per-view fee, which was $6.95 per game for NSC Cup. To find all about NSCwebcast, check out this informational page on the NSC website. After NSC Cup, the next events available for viewing on NSCwebcast are the Fixed Gear Cycling Classic from the NSC Velodrome, June 8; and the the Wal-Mart All-American Cup soccer tournament, June 13-15.

Intern Orientation

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Today was a day we look forward to every year, the arrival of our new class of summer interns. The 2008 class of interns is typically impressive, with interns representing colleges and universities across the U.S. and even Europe. Every year, we get several hundred applications, and the 20 interns selected represent the best of the best.

Above: Schwan's USA CUP Director Teri Vogt briefs our new class of interns on the NSC Velodrome during their facility tour. NSCtv producer Greg Hutton, right, filmed intern orientation for a "meet the interns" segment of our weekly news show.

Today the interns spent time learning about the history and administrative structure of the NSC, took a facility tour, and of course, posed for the traditional opening day group photo. So without further adeu, we proudly present our 2008 class of summer interns:

  Front row, left-to-right: Mike Babcock, Michigan Tech, Anoka, Minn.; Jake Lunemann, St. Cloud State U, Clarissa, Minn.; Ryan Larson, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Little Canada, Minn.; Zachary Knight, James Madison University, Winchester, Va.; Kasey Grams, University of Minnesota, Fairchild, Wis.; Heather Holmes, Southwest Minnesota State U., Fridley, Minn.; Mikkala Korton, Minnesota State U, Mankato, Coon Rapids, Minn.; Clinton LaBeau*, Minnesota State U, Mankato, Cambridge, Minn.; Jami Steer*, Concordia College (Moorhead), Crookston, Minn..

Back row: Greg Hutton*, Slippery Rock State U & University of Minnesota, Stephens City, Va.; Claire Bouilleguet, IFI Rouen School of Management, Rouen, France; Erin Lammert, University of Minnesota, Luverne, Minn.; Taylor Kruse*, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio; Heather Anderson, Southwest Minnesota State U., Brooklyn Park, Minn.; Lizzy Snell, Boston University, North St. Paul, Minn.; Casey Allar, Bemidji State University, Sartell, Minn.

Not pictured: Pierre Bodin, IFI Rouen School of Management, Rouen, France; Lindsey Grauman.

* = returning intern

Skating show skaters span four generations

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

The NSC Skating School at the Schwan Super Rink is getting ready for our annual ice show this weekend. Performances of the show, themed "Hooray for Hollywood," are scheduled for 7:00pm on Friday, May 2; and 2:00 and 7:00pm on Saturday, May 3.

Jane Schaber, our skating school director, tipped me off to a unique pair of skaters in the show. Bev Eberhard, who lives in Fridley and will only say she's in her 70's, will skate along with her great grand daughter Haylee Zellner. Haylee, who lives in Ham Lake, proudly admits her age: 6.

The four generation span of the two skaters, if not unique, must be highly unusual in the youngish world of figure skating.

In addition to performing together this weekend, Bev and Haylee have competed in the same competitions, and are always there to cheer each other on.

If you're interested in seeing our cast of thousands -- all right, a hundred or so -- skate this weekend, tickets are available at the door for $6.00 for adults 17 and over, $5.00 for children 5-16, and ages 4 and under are free.

Stick It to Cancer hockey tournament goes pink

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Last night, in the dark of the night, the Schwan Super Rink went pink.

Thanks to a generous sponsorship from Farmers Insurance, the Schwan Super Rink's maintenance crew applied pink paint to the six sheets of ice that will be used for this weekend's Stick It to Cancer hockey tournament. The Stick It tournament, which starts tonight, April 18 and runs through Sunday April 20, is a women's and girls' tournament. It benefits breast cancer research by donating proceeds to the University of Minnesota Cancer Research Center.

Last year's tournament donated $45,000 to the cause, and organizers Jackie Olson and Sanya Sandahl expect to break the record this year -- with a boost from the pink ice.

Headed up by SSR Ice Operations Manager Brandon Radeke and Arena Director Pete Carlson, our dedicated crew started at 11pm and worked straight through the night. They put the finishing touches on the final sheet at about 6am.

Here are some technical details about how they did it.

The paint spraying machine was borrowed from the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. You may not know this, but ice can be painted just like any surface. After mixing red and white paint to make a pink tint, Radeke drove the sprayer around the ice, and laid down a pink tint on top of the regular ice surface. The paint takes only a couple minutes to dry. Once the paint was dry, workers sprayed water on top of the pink paint to build up about 1/8-inch of ice to protect the paint from the Zamboni shaving.

What's produced is a striking visual. The pink ice surface is stunning; the tint reflects off the arena ceiling and the air seems to glow pink. Photos don't do it justice. And if you see it first hand you'll notice that the pink shade varies slightly from rink to rink, the result of the SSR crew applying some artistic license. Either that or lack of sleep!

There are 96 teams playing in the Stick It Tournament. Most of the players know about the pink ice, but we're guessing many spectators will be caught by surprise. We're expecting more than a few gasps.

And on Sunday night, after the last championship trophy is awarded, the Zambonis will take the ice, shave off that top 1/8-inch, and the Schwan Super Rink will fade back to white.

Tinklenberg video talks about creation of the NSC

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

You find the most interesting things on YouTube.

I was checking that popular video-posting website today to make sure our most recent edition of NSCtv was posted correctly. (We're posting NSCtv both on the NSC's website and also on YouTube. So yes, it was work related!)

As any YouTube addict knows, one of the powerful and intriguing things about YouTube is the list of "Related Videos" that pops up just to the right of the video you're viewing. If you click on the April 17 edition of NSCtv, you'll find a related video that shows Elwyn Tinklenberg reminiscing about the creation of the National Sports Center in 1990. Tinklenberg was the mayor of Blaine at the time the NSC was built, and he is currently running for U.S. Congress from Minnesota's 6th district. This video was posted on his campaign website. El lives just a couple miles from the NSC, and he's still a frequent visitor to our campus for various different events.

It's a nice little video, only 2:17 long, with some interesting historical context, and also some talk about what Schwan's USA CUP meant to a city that back then didn't see many international visitors. Check it out by clicking here.

El has always been a big supporter of the NSC, and this video shows his pride in the leadership role he took to help facilitate our original construction.

Spring is here, so field rebuilding underway

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

If you're reading this from warmer climes that Minnesota, this has been the winter that seemingly will never end. And if you live in Minnesota, you know what I'm talking about. Every time we think spring is here, the temperatures drop and the snow flies again. In fact, just a week ago, we were facing blizzard warnings. In the end, the storm tracked just to the north of the NSC, but we did get two days of slushy snow, wind and below-freezing temperatures.

But four days ago, suddenly, the temperatures climbed into the 50's, then 60's, and now we think that, finally, spring has sprung.

With the ground thawing, it means is that we now can begin to work on conditioning our outdoor turf fields in earnest. This year we will be rehabilitating four fields on the north side of our campus -- M1, M2, I1 and I3. Two days ago we started regrading the fields. Irrigation will be added, soil correction made to eliminate holes and crevices, and new seed planted and sod layed.

Photo: Graders are moving dirt as part of the rebuilding project on fields M1, M2, I1 and I3.

"This year we are trying to be more proactive about turf care, doing all the little things to make our fields as safe as possible," said the NSC's Director of Turf Maintenance Neil Ladd. "In addition to the four fields under major reconstruction, we're working hard on all our other fields, doing what we call 'cultural practices' -- fertilizing, top-dressing, airification, and overseeding."

Ladd expects the four rebuilt fields will be ready for play by Schwan's USA CUP, July 11.

New book profiles U.S. Women's National Soccer Team

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Paul Phillips (photo right) is a Minneapolis-based freelance sports photographer who has covered many events at the NSC -- National Team soccer games, Minnesota Thunder games, velodrome races, among others. At our request once, Paul even donated his time to the NSC to shoot aerial photos of our campus from a helicopter. You can check out Paul's photo work at his website.

Yesterday we received an advance copy of a new book Paul has photographed, with author Gail Stewart. Portrait of Passion is narrowly a book about the U.S. Women's National Team, focusing on their journey through the 2007 World Cup in China. In a broader sense though, the book is about the love of soccer, growing up in the sport, the beauty of teamwork, and ultimately, about moving on to different things.

The book is strikingly photographed, beautifully designed, and would be a treasured read for any fans who've enjoyed one of the many games the Women's National Team has played at the NSC Stadium over the years.

There's one photo in the book that wasn't shot by Paul, however. We are honored that Paul picked a photo taken by one of our talented Schwan's USA CUP photo interns Dillon Berntson. Dillon's photo of Julie Foudy accompanies Foudy's forward to the book. The picture was taken in the NSC press box before Foudy went on the air as color commentator for ESPN's coverage of the USA vs. Sweden game at the '06 Schwan's USA CUP.

The book can be ordered through portraitofpassion.com. We are also talking to Paul about autographing books at Schwan's USA CUP this July, or at other NSC soccer events this year. So stayed tuned.

Lights, camera, action!

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Last summer, the National Sports Center tested a brave new project -- video production. At the Schwan's USA CUP soccer tournament in July, KickTV was the daily video journal of the tournament. Interns Tara Durheim and Taylor Kruse put in 16 hour days to produce a new five-minute show every day. And it was undeniably popular, with over 20,000 views to date.

Fresh off the success of KickTV, we've now made the commitment to get into video production in a big way. We've invested in new equipment and staff training. Coming in late March "NSCtv" will be the weekly video journal of everything happening at the NSC -- interviews and stories about the people and events at the NSC. It'll be available to view for free every week on the NSC website. If you play or spectate at the NSC, keep your eyes open for the NSCtv crew. You might even end up on camera!

But even with the premier of NSCtv a month away, the NSC's new video production team has been hard at work. To get warmed up, we're busy producing two special video projects for the Herb Brooks Training Center (HBTC) at the Schwan Super Rink. Last week NSC staffers Greg Hutton, Angie Bertrand, KickTV veteran Tara Durheim and myself went to the Sports Institute in Mankato to shoot footage of the Woodway Blade skating treadmill, a high-tech piece of hockey training equipment that has been purchased by the HBTC and will arrive in April. The Sports Institute is the only location in Minnesota with this amazing piece of equipment, so that's where we had to go to shoot footage.

Above: Greg Hutton and Tara Durheim set up a shot at the Sports Institute in Mankato.

We've also been spending a lot of time at the HBTC taping interviews to use in a promotional video about the facility, and the video team spent the entire weekend editing the footage we had shot.

Above: This is where the hard work of video production happens, in the editing room! Greg Hutton puts his artistic talents to work.

The goal is to finish the video projects so the HBTC can show them at their booth at the Let's Play Hockey Expo, at RiverCentre in Saint Paul, March 7-8. Then, look for us at the Oscars. Just kidding!

And in case you're wondering KickTV will be back for its second season at the 2008 Schwan's USA CUP.

(Sung to the tune of "Silver Bells,"): It's Christmas time at the Sports Center ...

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

If you're one of our many summer visitors from far-flung locations all over the world, you might wonder what happens at the NSC in the winter. Well, in two words: A LOT.

Christmas week is one of our busiest times. There won't be many NSC staff taking vacation days. In fact, some of us will celebrate Christmas with our families in January. Here's a snapshot:

On December 22, hundreds celebrated with our "Santa Skate," a public skating session at the Schwan Super Rink. Kids could take a break and have their photo taken with Santa, on (what else?) a bright red Schwan Super Rink Zamboni!

Above: Ms. Claus and Santa took time out of their busy holiday schedule to visit the Schwan Super Rink for the Santa Skate.

The day after Christmas, we start two major holiday tournaments. The 5v5 Holiday Classic soccer tournament takes over the indoor Sports Hall for three days.

Also on the 26th, we kick off our most visible hockey event of the year, Schwan Cup. A total of 164 teams from youth to high school divisions will compete through Decembe 30. The high school divisions get major media coverage, sometimes even live television coverage. The marque division is the eight-team boys' gold division. Each year Pete Carlson, our tournament director, invites what we hope will be the eight best teams in the state. Teams like Holy Angels, Centennial, Hill Murray, Duluth East and Moorhead -- legendary programs in a state that reveres its high school hockey. Second, the gold division is played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, home of the Minnesota Wild.

The 44-team high school girls division will take over all eight sheets of ice at the Schwan Super Rink for three days. The girls will play their championship games at Ridder Arena, home of the University of Minnesota women's hockey team.

High school hockey is a big deal in Minnesota, and Schwan Cup is the most important high school holiday tournament in the state, in any sport.

Above: Holy Angels beats Centennial 8-2 in the championship game of the 2006 Schwan Cup, the NSC's most visible hockey tournament.

So if you're reading this in balmy Florida, Southern California or Hawaii, we invite you to visit the NSC in the winter one of these winters. It's hot!

And if on cue, it's been snowing all day today.

Sage and Malcolm skate to Midwest Sectional title

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Congratulations to National Sports Center figure skaters Sage and Malcolm Kelner, who skated to the championship in the juvenile ice dancing division at the USFS Midwestern Sectionals over the weekend in Rochester Hills, Mich. Sage, 11, and Malcolm, 15, are from Minnetonka, but they have recently started skating at the Schwan Super Rink under NSC Skating School coaches Pamela O'Connor and Jonathon O'Dougherty, former British ice dance champions.

At the Midwestern Sectionals, Sage and Malcom won both their compulsory dance events and then finished 4th in the free skate. Those results were good enough to edge the second place pair, Mallory Detota and Thomas Ontko, of Strongsville, Ohio, 59.96 to 58.18.

The next event for Sage and Malcolm is the U.S. Junior Nationals in Salt Lake City, Nov. 26-Dec. 1. We'll update you on their results at that event here.