Dear Committee,
For your consideration, I present another potential regional, and dare I say, national host site. This nomination comes from over 30 years of extensive touring of ice facilities in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba (as well as having seen various facilities in New York and Massachusetts).
Given the lofty criteria you have generously laid out, I hereby nominate the North Dakota Winter Show Building in Valley City, ND. It annually hosts, well, the "Winter Show" which features PRCA rodeo and various farm and agriculture related events.
Although it no longer serves as the indoor rink for the city, it has served as the city indoor ice facility before completion of a new dedicated two-sheet center.
I will address the nomination criteria point by point.
1. Ice. Altho we would prefer the quality of ice surface to be inferior, we may consider locations with decent ice, if other criteria are met.
Please note that this ice would be on top of a dirt rodeo arena providing no support that a concrete-backed artificial surface would normally give.
2. Must be indoor, or at least under roof. Several have suggested outdoor locations, but we feel that 'outdoor hockey' events have become too 'chic', and are therefore inappropriate for an event of this calibre.
3. No site that is home to any existing NCAA D1 or D3 team is eligible, nor are the practice rinks of any current NCAA team.
4. While no 'carved in stone' standards exist, the committee has usually shown preference to sites that are inconvenient for travel, and are located in areas with little or nothing else to attract visitors.
Nearest commercial airport? Fargo (60 miles).
And with a rink in the facility there would be no ability to host crop shows or a PRCA rodeo in the arena.
Although, ice rodeo could be entertaining.
5. Special consideration is normally afforded to venues that: are in poor repair, have limited (or no) seating, have inadequate locker room and team facilities, are either uncomfortably warm or cold...especially if the building has unpleasant smells.
Unfortunately, the rodeo/ice arena can seat 5000. However, it is all aluminum bench seating and flooring so with natural ice (doors open) that could be a positive to the nomination.
Locker rooms do not exist. In the past modified trailer houses serving as locker rooms have been pulled into the area where livestock are kept during rodeos or livestock exhibits. Being trailer houses they have little to no insulation and inadequate heat. (Remember, we're doing natural ice and this trailer house will be in the cold.)
Smells? You did see the part about "locker rooms have been pulled in to the area where livestock are kept" right? Those smells also easily reach the ice cold aluminum grandstands.
The boards in this facility were originally 4'x8' sheets of plywood (uncut, so the full 48" height) with chicken-wire for "glass". Replication of those boards would be the goal should host status be achieved.
It should be noted that the rodeo arena and grandstands are such that the rink was about 168' by 78'. This makes the DECC in Duluth seem like a glacier by comparison.
6. Pictures of the venue or a link where pix can be found would be appreciated.
Additional information for committee consideration:
1. There is only one lavatory facility (per sex) in the arena. In the mens facility urinals are of the "cattle trough" type: "Line 'em up and bleed 'em out, boys!" (Ladies, you'll either have to wonder or dare ask.) It should be noted that these are the lavatory facilities the teams use as the trailer house locker rooms do not have running water or sewer systems attached to them. That means no showers either. Maybe this could be added to the "arena smells" criteria as well.
2. Given the potential March (or dream April) tournament dates, natural ice would need to be created in February. However, the late March or early April play dates may cause rain, yes, rain, onto the indoor surface during play. In March and April they open doors at night and shut them in the day to trap cold air *in*. During the day the cold interior roof steel (versus the warm exterior) causes intense condensation and "rain".
This will make bad, late season natural indoor ice (supported by rodeo dirt and bovine feces) far more unstable and unpredictable.
I thank the nominating committee for its valuable time.
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