Mosaic Stadium slowly turning into Mosaic Arena for this weekend’s outdoor NHL and WHL games

Work continues on transforming the home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders into a hockey rink for Saturday’s Heritage Classic as the Calgary Flames meet the Winnipeg Jets.

Crews are going 24-7 to get the stadium ready for the weekend.

Derek King is the NHL’s senior manager of facility operation and says there has been no problems in getting things done.

“It’s been great! The weather has co-operated with us which we’re thankful for.” King said Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve shifted our focus from the rink build in the day to other jobs that need to get done prior to game-day. The schedule is to have the ice ready by Friday morning, but I like to be ahead of schedule and I think it will be done tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon.

Gate 3 at Mosaic “Arena” has a different look to it. #heritageclassic pic.twitter.com/c6Tzh5NqyU

— Mitchell Blair (@mblairYQR) October 23, 2019

While the weather is co-operating right now, there are some worries about the weekend forecast which could see some snow and perhaps some light rain. King says they dealt with rain during a game in Philadelphia last year and he doesn’t think it will be a concern as they will have plans in place and adjust their day accordingly.

“We can control a good portion of the rain.” King said. “We got hit with rain in Philadelphia on game-day last year and our truck can keep up with it so we will let it look after things. I don’t think we will have the warm downpour we had on that night, but we are confident the truck we have can get rid of any moisture that may be a problem.”

The Jets and Flames have plans to test the rink out Friday afternoon and Friday night before they get on the ice Saturday night at 8 for the NHL game with the Calgary Hitmen and Regina Pats coming back Sunday afternoon at 2 for the WHL’s Prairie Classic