The West Coast of the U.S. and Canada bought hit with sub-zero temperatures over the weekend as a chilly entrance swept by means of the Midwest. Northern California and Southern Oregon reported uncommon seasonal lows round -5 and -10 C, leading to excessive chilly that even froze over Hayward Subject on the College of Oregon, remodeling some of the well-known tracks on the earth right into a skating rink.
As a substitute of carrying spikes for his or her Monday morning exercise, the Oregon Geese monitor and discipline workforce was seen skating on the monitor, turning their standard follow into extra of a speed-skating session.
You don’t see ice skating at Hayward Subject day by day.
🎥 Simeon Birnbaum’s IG pic.twitter.com/Wif8SlWi0J
— chris nickinson (@chrisnickinson) January 16, 2024
The video was posted to Oregon freshman Simeon Birnbaum’s Instagram story on Monday, the place he was additionally seen sporting a Crew Canada package T-shirt. Though Birnbaum is from South Dakota, he has Canadian roots, having spent his early years in Alberta, the place he discovered to skate, in line with Runnerspace. He transitioned from hockey to trace in his early teenage years and is now a sub-four-minute miler with the College of Oregon monitor and discipline workforce beneath coach Jerry Schumacher.
The sight of individuals skating on Hayward Subject has sparked a number of concepts. Firstly, envision an epic NHL Winter Basic recreation in that stadium. With a capability of as much as 25,000 followers and oval-shaped grandstands paying homage to an NHL area, the venue may present a perfect setting and environment for a recreation.
I do know the current Winter Basic between the Seattle Kraken and Las Vegas Golden Knights at MLB stadium T-Cell Park in Seattle on Jan. 1, accommodated far more followers than Hayward, however let’s get NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on the cellphone to rearrange a future Winter Basic matchup between the Seattle Kraken and L.A. Kings at Hayward.
The second thought includes Hayward Subject internet hosting a long-track pace skating World Cup occasion in January or February. This cross-up between two of the preferred summer time and winter Olympic occasions could be unreal. Whereas I’m no professional in pace skating, I might solely suppose that having monitor meet-style races could possibly be extremely entertaining, particularly if wind or snow turns into an element. Although the College of Oregon may not allow both occasion, it doesn’t damage to start out the excitement.
