It would be nice to get the real story on the ice once and for all.
Tonight the Pens broadcast crew mentioned the great ice in Edmonton. They referenced the fact that it has slipped in quality from what it once was, but they said in spite of that the Pens players were all raving about the ice after their skate, presumably that morning.
Surely the broadcast crew wouldn't reference conversations that never happened. Maybe the ice here isn't as bad as we think?
I've been attending some games again this year. You can see big ruts from the nosebleeds. Ruts that are pretty much unaltered after the ice is flooded. Alternately theres areas of soft ice, and areas that chip excessively.
You see many other things too. The ice being scraped, repaired at every commercial timeout or other break. You also see several players a game "blowing a tire" unexpectedly due to ice conditions. You see more of this at the game because you are seeing the whole ice all the time vs televised where some of the falls would go un noticed and out of camera view.
I even think the ice is contributing to injuries due to players awkwardly twisting, falling, when they hit a rut or bad patch of ice.