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SLP hockey playoff game will be in Plattsburgh

500 tickets sold online in 10 minutes prompts move from Saranac Lake Civic Center to Stafford Arena

Players on the Saranac Lake Placid boys hockey team leap over the boards and onto the ice to begin celebrating their 5-1 victory over Saranac Central Tuesday in the Section VII championship game at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Stafford Arena. SLP will be back on the same ice sheet Saturday to host Section II’s Queensbury in a state Division II quarterfinal playoff game starting at 7:30 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — The venue for Saturday’s Division II state quarterfinal high school hockey game between Saranac Lake Placid and Queensbury has been changed.

The contest was originally scheduled to be played at the Saranac Lake Civic Center, but due to a huge demand for presale tickets on line, the game will now be played at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Stafford Arena. The opening faceoff is still slated for its original time of 7:30 p.m.

Brisk early online ticket sales prompted the site change. The Saranac Lake Civic Center can accommodate 500 spectators, and online ticket sales at the link https://gofan.co/nysphsaa7 began at noon Thursday. Section VII Executive Director Matt Walentuk said it took just 10 minutes for ticket sales to reach 500. The seating capacity at Stafford Arena is listed a 1,924.

“We don’t want to turn anybody away,” said Section VII Executive Director Matt Walentuk. “The solution we had in order to accommodate every spectator who wanted to attend the game was move it to a venue with a large enough capacity, and a venue where every spectator would be able to watch the game. First and formost our priority is the safety of spectators and the athletes. You don’t want to be jamming all these people into a building that can’t accommodate those numbers.”

Walentuk said it took quite an effort moving the game on a short notice, and he thanked the town of Harrietstown along with the directors of athletics from both Saranac Lake and Lake Placid central school districts, Eric Bennett and John Burdick. Beekmantown boys hockey coach Justin Frechette, who is the head of hockey in Section VII, was also involved in the effort.

Walentuk said the rinks at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid were also a possible site, but are in used on Satruday. He explained that having to move the game to a larger venue was actually a good thing.

“This has been quite the whirlwind for everybody, and I appreciate everyone’s patience with this, but it’s a good headache to have,” Walentuk said. “It just shows how much excitement is being generated for the athletes and their communities. This is what makes sports great.”

On-line presale tickets will be available until 5 p.m. Saturday at a cost of $7 per ticket, with a maximum allotment of 10 tickets.

All GoFan tickets purchased will be honored at the SUNY Plattsburgh rink. The GoFan tickets will be a “GoFan mobile only event” where spectators will use their smartphones to show their tickets to the event.

In addition to the hockey game, the SUNY Plattsburgh Fieldhouse will also host three Section VII boys basketball finals on Saturday at the gym next to the hockey arena, so fans attending the hockey game may have to use auxulliary parking lots near the venue.

Doors open to spectators with GoFan tickets at 6:15 p.m. Tickets at the door will go on sale at 6:50 p.m.

Saranac Lake Placid advanced in Saturday’s contest with a 5-1 victory over Saranac Central on Tuesday in the Section VII championship fina,l played on the same SUNY Plattsburgh ice sheet. Walentuk said attendance at the sectional final was around 1,200.

SLP brings a 15-6-1 record into the game.

Queensbury is the only Division II team in Section II and gained an automatic berth in the matchup. The Spartans currently have a 13-5-2 record.

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