A single weekend of ball hockey appeared to age the new hardwood floor at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.
The nearly $670,000 floor was left scuffed, stained and scratched in some places following the under-11 and u-13 ball hockey bronze- and gold-medal finals at last weekend's Western Challenge Cup championships hosted by Burnaby.
"They can play hockey anywhere they want, but not on a wood floor," said Burnaby junior A lacrosse president and general manager Richard Appels. "It's a bit disappointing. Look what it does to the floor. It's a shame."
Following the four-day tourney, which wrapped up Sunday morning, the surface of the 17,000-square-foot floor appeared dull and extensively marred.
But after consultation with arena staff, a City of Burnaby spokesperson believes the floor surface actually looks worse than it is.
"When (staff) rubbed those marks with their fingers, they came off, and they are not penetrating the varnish or the wood," said Burnaby Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services assistant director of recreation Wendy Scott.
Since the floor was first installed last summer, arena staff have been monitoring and checking the condition of the floor weekly, Scott said, adding some of the alleged scratches were made earlier during lacrosse matches.
"It looks pretty bad right now, but we'll know better by tomorrow," Scott said Monday.
A maintenace crew will do a cleanup of the wood surface according to manufactor's specifications on Tuesday, and, if necessary, do a followup on Wednesday and the next day, said Scott.
"If there is damage, and if it doesn't come back to its beautiful look, then we will schedule minor maintenance by the end of August," Scott said.
When the ball hockey organization came to Burnaby, prior to the installation of the wood floor, with its proposal to host a tournament, it needed three floors to accommodate the 34 invited teams. "I think we took a calculated risk," said Scott.
The City of Burnaby website describes the maple wood floor as an enhancement to the game of lacrosse, establishing the city as a premier location for hosting local, regional and national lacrosse tournaments.
