Dodger Stadium ready for historic NHL game

January 25, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES

The Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks are skating on solid ice at Dodger Stadium. Southern California’s NHL teams held separate practices under cloudy skies in Chavez Ravine on Friday, testing the ice sheet for their landmark outdoor game.

The temperature was significantly lower than on the recent 80-degree days leading up to today’s meeting in the first warm-weather outdoor game in NHL history. The Los Angeles weather was practically ideal for this unlikely outdoor event — as long as no rain fell.

The boards, benches and glass were trucked in from the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Mich., but the ice has been built up patiently over the last 10 days. The league’s ice-making crew covered the sheet in a heat-reflecting blanket during the day and worked through the night to establish a game-worthy surface.

NHL facilities guru Dan Craig’s improbable ice sheet actually has been among the smoothest aspects of this strange chapter in the league’s expansion of its outdoor slate this season.

Shockstrip receives patent allowance

New York

Shockstrip, Inc., specialized exterior helmet pads has received a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. The patent is listed as Enhanced Impact Absorption Strips for Protective Headgear. This is Shockstrips’ first patent with additional patents pending.

Dr. Steven Novicky, a Canfield chiropractor, developed the Shockstrip concept, utilizing a proprietary medical grade material to reduce impact by absorbing shock from helmet-to-helmet contact. Founded in 2010, Shockstrips are specialized exterior helmet pads designed to give athletes an added layer of protection and reduce the impact of helmet-to-helmet contact. Helmets with Shockstrips have shown to perform significantly better than helmets without the product, in protecting the helmet from forces associated with helmet-to-helmet impacts.

For additional information about Shockstrips and product demonstration, visit www.shockstrip.com.

Penguins fall to Butler in tennis dual opener

Indianapolis

The Youngstown State men’s tennis team lost 5-2 to Butler on Friday afternoon at the Butler Bubble. Silviu Mistreanu and Zeeshan Ismail picked up individual wins for the Penguins. It was the first dual match of the year for YSU (0-1). Butler improves to to 1-1 with win.

At No. 1, Mistreanu won his team-high 11th match of the season by coming from behind to beat Pulok Bhattacharya 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. At No. 5, Ismail picked up a straight set win over Tommy Marx, 6-4, 6-5. Ismail is now 8-3 on the campaign.

No. 2 Sebastian Hagn, No. 3, Dawoud Kabli, No. 4 Max Schmerin and No. 5 Rodrigo Campos all lost in two sets.

Ganassi teams face challenges at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

Chip Ganassi Racing typically goes into the Rolex 24 at Daytona every year as the heavy favorite. Not this weekend.

Ganassi switched to Ford during the offseason, and a variety of issues have raised questions about the competitiveness of their two-car entry.

A rule change ordered by IMSA cost Ford valuable horsepower and drivers have complained they are down as much as 5 mph on the straightaway compared to the Corvettes. They’ve also said there’s a design flaw in their splitter that has created a downforce disadvantage through the road course portion of Daytona International Speedway. Ford is debuting its new EcoBoost engine package this weekend.

Poland, New Castle win youth tournament

CANFIELD

The Poland Bulldogs defeated the Youngstown Pride in the sixth-grade championship and New Castle topped Boardman in the fifth-grade final of the seventh annual Classic in Cardinal Country boys basketball tournament.

Staff reports/Associated Press