SEATTLE — In a fitting twist of fate, the world's most sustainable arena will host its first-ever NHL playoff game on Earth Day.
Climate Pledge Arena isn’t even two years old but operates like a well-recycled oil machine. The staff is working through the night to prepare the home ice but they won’t be able to get started until fans have all gone home Friday night.
Before the playoffs take over on Saturday, the arena is hosting an NCT Dream concert Friday night. Fans were lining up before the sun rose to see their favorite K-pop group and that means the ice is covered up by a stage.
“It’s not that hard to flip it back to hockey but you gotta have a good plan and stick to it,” says Tom Conroy, associate general manager of Climate Pledge Arena.
He says a team of 20-30 people will work to transform the floor back to ice and that’s on top of an estimated 8-hour arena cleaning effort. Making sure the arena looks perfect for the Kraken’s post-season debut is a point of pride for the team and Conroy says they are more than prepared for the team to play on the clearest and greenest ice in the NHL.
Approximately 150,000 gallons of rainwater is collected from the arena's historic roofline each year and that rain is transformed into the ice the team skates on.
Rosie Selle is the vice president of marketing for Climate Pledge Arena and says despite the arena's youth, the team is seasoned in quick turnarounds for competing events.
“We are just 18 months into this so we’ve gotten really good at this and just last week had several events,” Selle said.
The arena hosted WWE wrestling, then a John Mayer concert, followed by the Kraken and then two sold-out Phish shows.
“Our team is super dedicated and works through the night so we are built for this,” she said.
Tickets for the Kraken’s Stanley Cup Playoffs home debut are sold out but Climate Pledge arena is hosting a plaza party starting at 4 p.m. The event is free and features a beer garden, live music and family activities.
The game will also be shown on several large screens outside the arena. Seattle hosts Colorado for Game 3 on Saturday, April 22 at 7 p.m.