My buddy works for the facilities crew at Amalie Arena.
If you don’t know, that’s where the Tampa Bay Lightning play their home games.
Thanks to his connection, I get to see a lot of hockey. Although I didn’t grow up watching it, now that I can see it played live I have become hooked. Not enough to try and play it myself, heck now that looks far too dangerous for me, but I love watching the boys check each other and throw hands. Next to MMA hockey is the most brutal sport in the world. And next to the polar exhibit at the Tampa Zoo, the arena is the coldest place in the whole city. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for a game like hockey to be played in Tampa, which has temps that should prohibit the formation of ice for any substantial amount of time. To combat this, the Tampa Bay Lightning use an HVAC system that is so big they had to bury it under the arena. A lot of sports arenas have massive HVAC systems, but the Tampa one is so big the structure couldn’t possibly support it. All of the HVAC equipment is underground, and somehow it manages to make the Arena the coldest place in all of Tampa. I am not an HVAC tech I can’t explain how it works, but I see a lot of games these days, and that place is always ice cold. I can’t recommend the Tampa Bay hockey team enough, you have to go see them play!