Upgrade drawings

Getting ready to take a few days of R&R, but I stumbled upon some photos on my phone of the drawings of the hockey part of the Verizon Wireless Center upgrades that were shown to members of the legislative bonding committees when they visited Mankato last fall.

Gov. Dayton signed the construction projects bill on Tuesday, meaning the project is a go. When I return from vacation, I plan to do a more detailed story on the hockey portion of the civic center project. Meantime, here's how it's supposed to look:

This is the arena floor level, which, on the west side (left) of the rink, where the current locker rooms are, will have men's and women's locker rooms, a trainer's room, coaches' film room, equipment and laundry, players' lounge, coaches' offices, hockey operations office and recruiting area. The east side (right) will have visiting team locker and coaches rooms, youth locker rooms and what appears to be dressing rooms for other events.

Here's a closer look at the west side.

A new second floor on the west side of the rink will have a training/conditioning (weight room) area, as well as a kitchen and dining area for the hockey teams.

Read my column from Tuesday's Free Press about the long wait for state funds here.