CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS BUSCH, FACILITIES MANAGER
The Berry Events Center is a busy place at Northern Michigan University, hosting both the hockey and basketball teams.
This past weekend, the men’s basketball team hosted a two-day tournament during the afternoon, and the hockey team hosted games at night? So how do they do it?
Chris Busch is the facilities manager there. He says the ice always stays in place, with the basketball court put on top of it, and his crews go to work quickly, in about two hours or so, with the help of about 30 NMU students.
“We put down an ice cap product,” Busch told RRN News. “It covers the ice. It’s an insulated floor product. Those are 600 pieces of 4-by-8 sheets. They go down first. And then we lay a flooring on top of that. Those are 240 pieces of the wood floor that are connected.”
He says in his years at the Berry, they’ve only “cut it close” one time in converting the arena. The basketball team went to four overtimes in an afternoon game, which sent his crews scrambling to get the arena ready for the hockey game that night. But, he smiles, they got it done.
Incidentally, Busch says that he needs some college students to come and help out this holiday weekend, when many students go home but there are still games going on.
“I don’t know how many I need right now,” Busch said on Saturday, “but if you don’t mind heavy work, hard work, in a fast-paced environment, give me a shout, and we’ll see if we can put you on.”
If you’re an NMU student and want some cash, email CBusch@nmu.edu. Before 1999, Northern played its hockey games at Lakeview Arena and the basketball teams played at the Hedgcock Fieldhouse.
