Yesterday was the first day that the media could access Ralph Wilson Stadium to observe the progress on transforming a football stadium into a hockey venue.

The last scenes we saw were on television Sunday night, dramatic images of workers struggling to lay a tarp on the field in the teeth of horrific winds and precipitation which followed the Bills/Giants game that afternoon. But considering the crummy conditions that night and through Christmas, things are actually moving along quite well.

The National Hockey League has set up its operations in a trailer adjacent to the Bills Fieldhouse, and they are conducting daily briefings at 2PM in the press box, open to the media. This afternoon Dan Craig, NHL Facilities Operations Manager, and Don Renzulli, Senior VP for Events and Entertainment, made a presentation to outline the work that has been performed so far.

“We’ve compressed about 72 hours work into 48 hours” said Craig, who admitted that the weather was an impediment on Sunday night but the work that needed to get done got done. Craig bears a great deal of experience in managing and orchestrating an event of this magnitude, with the experience of running the outdoor games at Michigan State and at Edmonton.