Arena crews stripe new ice

Construction at the new Lucas County Arena downtown is winding down.

Crews were seen striping and painting the blue lines, center red line, red goal lines, goal creases, and faceoff zones on the rink surface on Friday.

Earlier this week, the arena team started making ice for the rink surface. The sheet of ice will cover an estimated 15 miles of tubing, which freezes the water to make the ice.

"We're into August and we have two months to go," said Joe Zunk, arena project manager with Lathrop Corp. "It's hockey time, so I'm sure coach (Nick Vitucci) will be over here looking at his ice and getting really excited."

Nearly 1,300 employees have had a hand in the construction of the arena, which is on schedule to be finished in September.

Outside of the around grounds, the city of Toledo has been repaving the streets surrounding the arena. New sidewalks, lighting, landscaping and the Art Tatum Memorial near Key Bank are also finishing up.

FOX Television's So You Think You Can Dance Tour is scheduled to be the first-ever event at the new area. The tour stops in the Glass City Oct. 10. The Walleye hockey team will open its inaugural 2009-10 season with a three-game weekend series against the Florida Everblades, Oct. 16-18.

The Walleye will play its first five home games at home in the new Lucas County Arena before playing its first game on the road - Oct. 29 against Reading.