It's true. We've re-tooled the podcast, changing names and topics. We love Minnesota hockey, so it only makes sense that we cover that, from the pros to the amatuers. You can find our new Minnesota-centric hockey podcast at Three In The Box.
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Brandi Brown, Wayne Burfeind, Tyler, Aaron, Kenney, and the Meat Beast get together to compare notes on Crashed Ice, and all the chaos that they could bring to the podcast about it. Why? Because we were crazy enough to go freeze our asses off for it, so we could talk about it for your listening pleasure. Also, we thought it would be sweet to get media passes, and get a look at what was going on. HUZZAH! songs from Blood Root Mother and Avian Sunrise.
Fun times to be had by all, when you listen to this one. A few stories, the rundown of the top of the league, and a new feature: The Weekend Blowout! We each pick which game will be a blow out on Saturday or Sunday. scoring +/-, versus our picks, agregaste for the rest of the season. should be interesting. Songs from History Repeating Herself, Beastface, and Farler’s Fury. Now with 33.3% less beer, since the Meat Beast had to work after recording the show.
Less than six months ago I had never heard of Crashed Ice. I happened to be sitting in the break room at my full time job with a coworker one night, when a story about this awesome looking event came on. I was hooked instantly. When we got back to the office, I immediately pulled up whatever info on this I could find- video, the main website, photos, anything. This event was Red Bull Crashed Ice, and I shared it with everyone I knew.
When we first arrived Thursday afternoon, I had no idea what to expect. I had watched every YouTube video I could find, but this course looked insane. The uphill sections from the videos didn’t look nearly as high as Pete’s Corner, and the You Betcha Hill looked a lot steeper than what I had viewed. I later learned that this was the most technical course built to date and it showed. Seeing videos of amateurs “skate” down previous courses, they would usually make it to the end of the course. Watching the American time trials on this day though, it looked like some of these (I’m presuming average to decent) skaters had strapped on skates for only the second time in their life. This course was tough. On this day, not a lot of the skaters made it around Pete’s corner on their first attempt. The ones that did, didn’t look graceful.
Friday afternoon was the International time trials. Now these skaters looked a bit more seasoned than our local guys. They skated faster, took the jumps and bumps better, and overall looked more graceful. But, they still ate alot of ice and took some nasty falls. We had an awesome spot at the bottom of Pete’s Corner, right after the Double Jump, about 1 and 6 made the Double Jump without going down, and not very many that made it looked pretty. It was very obvious at this point, this was not an easy course.
Later that night the qualifying heats took place to get down to 64 competitors for the main event on Saturday. Now we get to see some actual racing. The skaters are more familiar with the course and the lesser skaters have been weeded out. By the end of the night, 64 skaters who battled the hardest and some who received the luckiest breaks, made it on to the main event. At this point, not only was the course still technically challenging but the ice had taken a severe beating as well. Some areas had gouges from blades that looked to be an inch wide and up to an inch deep in some spots and that alone would be enough to take out an average skater. These guys are doing this at up to 40mph with three other people bumping into them on an enclosed course.
Almost right up to the time trials, we had an unusually warm winter here in Minnesota, with almost no snow. Mother Nature gave us the cold right when we needed it to help the ice stay hard, although they can apparently keep the ice on the track up to 60 degrees farenheit. Which brings us to Saturday. Mother Nature gave us another winter present, snow. If you have ever skated, played hockey, or watched hockey while it is snowing, you know that snow really slows down the pace on the ice. This could make things a lot more difficult. Luckily, just hours before the main event started, the snow let up and crews were on the track shoveling off the few inches that fell.
The main event started, round 1, 64 skaters, 16 heats, 4 racers per heat with the top 2 in each heat advancing. At this point, one really sees that the skaters know the course. The packs are tighter, the time between races are shorter and everything is moving at a faster pace. After round 1, there was an intermission period with a dj and a killer light show on the Cathedral. Round 2, 32 skaters, 8 heats, with the same 4 racer format. Even tighter packs and faster times. Now, quarter finals. 16 racers and 4 races. No down time between round 2 and the quarters. The crowd of 80,000 is loving it, braving the Minnesota winter outside and cheering on the racers. The packs of 4 racers going down are really tight by now, it really is down to whoever loses an edge first or doesn’t land a jump right. The semi finals start and it truelly is the best of the best. It’s at this point that the ones left are gaurenteed points for the overall championship. The top 2 in each semi advance to the big final, while 3 and 4 advance to the small final. Before the finals start a couple of guys from Nitro Circus raced the course on tricycles way to small for a grown man. I was in amazement as they had enough momentum to make it around Pete’s Corner. You Betcha Hill gave them problems. One racer threw his trike on top and climbed his way up along the boards. The other had less luck trying to carry it to the top, losing it over the boards. Both finished and it was impressive. On to the top race…
The championship race consisted of 2 Finns, including last years champion Arttu Pihlainen, and the Croxall’s, 2 brothers from Canada. It was an intense race, with an upset and slow-mo reviews (Aaron covered this really well, read his post below for details). I am really happy I was there to witness this first hand.
With the success the Red Bull Flugtag had and the 80,000 that turned out for Crashed Ice, don’t be suprised to see another Red Bull event here soon. This was the 3rd time Crashed Ice has been in the USA, all three times in Minnesota, 2 in Duluth prior. With Red Bull inking a deal with NBC to air Red Bull events and the success this past weekend, I expect to see more Americans invovled in Crashed Ice and hopefully start placing. As of now, the Canadians and Europeans are holding the upper hand. There’s enough hockey players and extreme inline skaters out there to help change that.
Let’s get Team USA on top!
It's the day after the Red Bull Crashed Ice Finals, and lordy, are we beat. In what has amounted to one of the coldest weekends of this winter, we got to witness some of the most daring/insane athletes in extreme sports, and we were not disappointed.
But let's backtrack a bit, to Friday night. As The Meat Beast noted, during the early afternoon on Friday, we were able to see the International Shootout, which whittled the international field from 75 down to 64. At night, came our first head-to-head competitions, the elimination round. Skating four at a time, with the top two skaters from each heat moving on, we'd see the number of skaters drop from 128 (64 Americans and 64 International skaters) down to 64 total.
From the very first race, it became obvious that the last two days of Shootouts had eliminated many of the underskilled and inexperienced skaters. While the Shootouts were filled with skaters unable to make it over Pete's Corner and the You Betcha Bump as well as wipeouts on the double bumps, the races had very little of this. We were now dealing with the cream of the crop, and it showed.
This is not to say that the Elimination Round was filled with perfect runs. About midway through the 32 Elimination heats, Jordan Miller, skating for USA, somehow managed to put half of his body through the wall near Pete's Corner. In fact of the 64 Americans going into the Elimination round, only 19 made it past the International field and into the Finals on Saturday night. One would guess that it's mainly due to the relative obscurity of ice cross downhill in the United States (however, now that these races will be televised on NBC, that will probably change).
Going back to the races, Red Bull made a very wise move when putting together this event. Seedings, on a per-race basis are very easy to understand, and make it particularly helpful when determining whether we, as inexperienced ice cross downhill spectators, just saw an upset or not. Each player gets a sleeveless "vest" (similar to what you might see a softball player wear, with a long-sleeve shirt (with your number) exposed underneath) that is color coded, with red being the highest seeded of the heat, blue being second highest seeded, yellow is third and silver is fourth. Not surprisingly, no silver jerseys passed the finish line first, and only three silver jerseyed players managed to finish in second and move on to Saturday night. Reds and Blues were able to win all but three races.
While Friday night saw a large attendance bump over Thursday and Friday afternoons (an estimated 10,000 people were on-hand for Friday night's "unadvertised" Elimination round), Saturday night was absolutely insane. An estimated 80,000 people were on-hand, and it felt like it. Event grounds that were relatively easy to navigate the previous two days had officially become a circus. The human density was on par with previous Red Bull Events in Saint Paul, such as the Flugtag, which I had the pleasure of attending back in 2010.
With the increased attendance came a glossier presentation. Friday had limited play-by-play from Rusty Kath, while Saturday had full play by play and included a live DJ as well as improved lighting (can you say "Cathedral Rave"?). Many portions of the viewing area became "off-limits" as the pre-game wore on, due to there being just too many people in any given section.
The racing also changed. The time between heats shrunk drastically, as once the last skater made it to the bottom of the track, almost immediately, they began the next heat. Predictably, the talent pool increased as well. The pack stayed together further into the course, and the spills weren't as devastating. It was fast, tight and ultra competitive. One equipment change did happen. Arttu Pihlainen, of Finland and the reigning Crashed Ice champ, was given a metallic gold jersey with the words "catch me if you can" printed on it. Apparently the reigning champ gets to wear this jersey all season (provided he's racing).
While Arttu blended in as one of the hundreds of runs we had seen over the past two days, it was obvious from the get go (he was in heat #1 on Saturday night) that he was going to be the man to beat. He easily won his first heat, and every heat after that, cruising to a spot in the finals.
Team USA had a tougher time, as only five Americans made it to the second round, and none of them were able to finish in the top two of the "Round of 32" to make it into the Quarterfinals. Hopefully they can do better at the next event in Valkenburg, Netherlands.
Much like the Elimination round on Friday, no Silver took first place in any heat, until the semi-finals, when Canadian Kyle Croxall skated to an upset win, to move into the finals with Paavo Klintrup of Finland. Clearly at this point, a silver jersey didn't mean you were some shlub coming off the streets of Minnetonka. This was was not Croxall's first dance, having won two events previously (Munich in 2011 and Quebec City in 2010) as well as finishing in second to Pihlainen in the 2011 overall standings. Rounding out the top four for the final race was Kyle's brother Scott Croxall, making for a Canada versus Finland matchup.
Straight out of the gates, Pihlainen looked like a man on a mission. He had a slight lead on the group after the Stair Turn and the Bridge Jump, when he came into the Single Bump and lost his balance. He tried to recover, but his skate caught a groove, and he tumbled headfirst into the boards, allowing then-secondplace Kyle Croxall to move into first and Scott Croxall into second. Arttu didn't give up though, as he set the throttle to full-blast, eventually catching up to Scott, and by the edge of a blade, managed to cross the line in second place.
And so it seemed that that was it. Kyle Croxall wins. But hold the phone, the officials needed to review the race, as there might have been some pushing. So we get to review the race, in it's entirety. Every cornering is slowed down. Then we come to the corner where Arttu goes into the boards, and it looks like Croxall may have pushed him. It's super close, and at full speed, doesn't look dirty. It's not even clear if there is any contact at all. Since there is nothing conclusive, Kyle Croxall is confirmed the winner, and Arttu Pihlainen second place. Later on, in interviews, Pihlainen confirms that he just had a rough landing after the Single Bump. An unfortunate turn of events that can easily happen in any of these ice cross downhill races.
All in all, this was a wonderful event, and I'm sure anyone who attended would confirm that we would love to see another Red Bull Crashed Ice race come to Minnesota in the future. While this was a first taste of the sport for many of us, it was entertaining and action packed, and did not fail to deliver a spectacle.
-Aaron
Stepping away from the ice, into the warming tent, pressing a hot cup of coffee into my hands. My fingers look bright red in spots, and bone white in others. There is constantly banter in quiet tones and a dozen languages. No, I didn't fly the coup for an international pick up game, I am sitting at Red Bull Crashed Ice in Saint Paul, MN. Aaron and Kenney are out on the course, taking photos of the international preliminaries, and I am enjoying the warmth to type.
It's an interesting coincidence that Tuesday it was 50 and sunny, and then Thursday it was 14 degrees F, with 22 mile an hour winds…. just in time for the U.S. Preliminaries. Once again the winter decides to show up when we need outdoor ice.
If you are not familiar with crashed ice, think of a downhill ice-cross race on skates, designed by a madman. Now, put four guys on this ice, and let them bump, deke, and scramble to be the first to the finish line. Repeat an insane amount of times until there is one clear winner. Fast paced, perilous, combining aspects of hockey, racing, roller derby, and riding ramps, this has got to be the most astounding skating I have had the pleasure of witnessing. Granted, I just saw the prelims, so there was only one skater on any given section of the course. Tonight the full tilt boogie starts up. Then all bets are off.
To say these skaters are tough is an understatement. Even during their qualifying runs, they are pushing the speed often to dangerous points, catching an ice mogul wrong, or a down hill turn, or a 2 foot drop followed by an immediate steep downhill…the crashes are epic, and sometimes hard to watch. But the racers shake it off, and keep going. To an outsider like myself, it appears that the ability to maintain your momentum while getting your skates back on the ice is second only to being able to balance through a hairpin turn on a 16 foot wall.
Seeing someone superman off of a bump, after navigating what they named “Pete's Corner” perfectly, you almost feel the physical and emotional pain. Add into that a crowd cheering, jeering, pounding on the boards, or heckling. There is no thought from the crowd about nationality at this point. Some of them are there for the great displays of athleticism, some for the wonder of something new, some for the amazing wipe-outs, Some just to see what all the hubbub is about.
It's great to see how many people are ready and willing to bundle up and watch these men barnstorming an Escher-esque carnival ride of unforgiving ice. Especially before any of the vendors are open, any of the cameras running, and the main event still more than a day away. Seeing other people with media passes practicing a 6 bladed remote control helicopter camera makes me think we should have done better than Aaron's Nikon and Flip, but live and learn, right?
I only had a brief idea of what this event would be like. It involved skating and racing, some hills and turns. And we were going to have media passes. Now I know I needed a clip board, and better eyes to read the numbers off the jerseys, so I could put names and countries to the helmets,sweaters, and breezers flying by for a second, maybe two. If you blink, your screwed. You hear the creaking as the skater is approaching the top of the hill, then a flash of color, then they are around the next turn and gone. Or they are climbing over the boards from taking a bad fall, and pumping their fists in the air to get the crowd to cheer louder for them, and their effort they just put in on that ice-way of chaos designed for the race. Sebastien Morissette skating for Canada did just that, as the whole hillside erupted for him, as staff were putting the guards on his blades, sitting at the top of the wall after a particularly nasty fall from gaining too much air.
It's not just the tendency to lose your ground from a jump. Losing an edge while coming down the winding slope can put you head first into the boards. Not having enough speed for an uphill segment, and still leaning in can shoot your feet out from under you. Misjudging a wall segment at the top of a hill… this is pure adrenaline as a spectator, and has to be amazing as a competitor.
I do not recommend just going out to try this. Chris Coleman, the mayor of St. Paul that helped bring the event here, attempted part of the course. Check the Pioneer Press for how that went, even though he had a blast. If you get a chance, go check it out. We will have more updates from more of our commentators as the next two day's events unfold.
Thanks to Red Bull for all the courtesy, and allowing us to help cover Crashed Ice Saint Paul 2012.
-The Meat Beast
Well, we are fast approaching Hockey Day Minnesota, and we are finally all back from the chaos of the holiday season. Join us for another hour of shenanigans and discussions on hockey. World Juniors, Winter Classic, and our new and improved standings, with Kenney, Aaron, and The Meat Beast. music from Kentucky Beltfight “The Benz”, Lazy Ike and The Daredevils “Steak and Eggs”, and The Throbbing Hot Rods “Tammy Sue Rides Terrance”.
Yup, not even numbering this one. You know why? Because it’s not our normal show. Brandi Brown and Wayne “Orange Luv” Burfeind sit down with The Meat Beast to talk about everything they haven’t had a chance to so far this season. Why? because Aaron was still in Vegas, and Kenny was working. I know, likely excuses, but still. We agreed to believe them, as long as they froze their asses off and covered Red Bulls Crashed Ice, so be expecting blogs, videos, and photos from them (and also any of our other great talent) on this sick ice skating race like none other. In the breaks we have Blood Root Mother “Possession”, GNP “gabber is dead”, and Sawbones “when I’m Gone”
Alright, it’s just after christmas, chanauka, kwanza, yule, all that BS. But Aaron and the Meat Beast still showed up to report in. AND they kicked ass on giving some new ideas to how we report drunkenly on the NHL, and all the love we talk about. Happy holidays! this episode brought to you with 30.2% less Kenney.
An odd story from a bar league, discussions on fighting and it’s status in the NHL, and all the usual shenanigans to be expected from the boys being fueled by Sambuca. This one is a long one. We went into overtime at the end. I blame the Sambuca. The songs in the breaks are GNP’s “Dutch Rudder”, The Rhythm Chiefs “Zombie Attack”, and Candystore “Jimmy and Johnny”. Christmas/Chanukah/Solstice/Yule/Kwanza wishes to everyone, from Aaron, The Meat Beast, and Kenney.
