When a professional hockey team moves to a $375 million state-of-the-art arena, the ice is included in the deal. Right? Through the New Jersey Devils' first 10 games at the new Prudential Center, I was starting to think that they were playing at the former Continental Airlines Arena.  Players were falling, tripping, slipping, and the ice was not looking as the best surface in the NHL.

Devils GM and President Lou Lamoriello was posed this question, concering the Rock's ice, designed, manufactured, and installed by CIMCO Refrigeration.

Lamoriello said that there had been a malfunctioning computer problem and that regulated the temperature, which can be affected by a variety of different factors, including having many different events on the ice in a short period of time.  Seton Hall, Bon Jovi, and the Devils occupied the arena in October and maybe the ice didn't have time to adjust to the changes.

Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record said, "For Sunday's game against Atlanta, they turned off the computer and changed the settings manually. The idea, however, is to get the computer working properly."

Gulitti broke this story yesterday as he does for many Devils news, rumors, etc.  TG said that Lou and team principal owner Jeff Vanderbeek still believe that they have the best ice system in the country and the problem will be resolved.

Dude Joel attended the game Wednesday night, which Bill recapped for us, and told me that the building felt like a million degrees on the inside.

I am confident that Jeff and Lou have hired the professionals to fix the refrigeration system and that the Prudential Center's ice will be the premier in the league.  For the time being, the Devils will continue to skate and hopefully maintain their balance.

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