How Fastenal and the NHL transform stadiums into hockey rinks
November 27, 2023
By the Blue Print Editorial Team
By the Blue Print Editorial Team
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Professional hockey doesn’t just happen. An impressive amount of work goes into hosting an NHL game. Now, imagine having to make all that work happen in an outdoor stadium. On New Year’s Day.
To pull it off, the NHL puts in a lot of work on the operations side to support their tentpole events. A ton of planning goes into physically moving all the materials and products needed to transform an existing venue into one that's ready for a nationally broadcast hockey game.
“I think one of the great things with Fastenal is that we're able to work really closely with them,” said Derek King, Senior Director of Hockey Operations for the NHL. 
"They look after a lot of the things that we used to look after, so we can focus more on the actual event build, which we weren't able to do before."
-- Derek King, Senior Director of Hockey Operations NHL 
As the Official Supply Chain Partner of the NHL, Fastenal's work starts as a consultant with the NHL operations group months in advance. The planning centers on the consumables that the build team will need to have on site. The goal is to have the right amount of everything there just in time and to have it last the whole event.
Additionally, local support is available during the event. How? Each Fastenal location in the area is ready in case a sudden need arises for something that hadn’t been planned for or if anything needs to be replenished. 
Every NHL team has access to custom Fastenal tool carts for game-day needs.
“Prior to our relationship with Fastenal, we used to do all that legwork,” said King. “So, we would source out all the supplies, we'd source out all the tools. If there was an issue on site where we needed something, we would be doing the running around. We would have to go out and get those products. There's a lot of man hours lost if we need to go out running around replacing tools, replacing parts or sourcing new supplies, so Fastenal has come in and they've taken care of all that for us.” When it comes to prepping outdoor events like the NHL Winter Classic®, the NHL has integrated Fastenal into the build process. They’ve come to expect and rely on Fastenal’s accessibility and efficiency. With more than 3,000 locations around the world, Fastenal has people ready to provide last mile support. “Working with Fastenal has been great because we know going from city to city, we have a partner that we can depend on that's reliable,” said King, “If we run into an issue with tools or with parts on the truck, we can reach out to the Fastenal group; and it doesn't matter what city we're in, we know we're going to have someone there to support us with whatever needs we have.” Watch the full videoNHL, the NHL Shield and the word mark NHL Winter Classic are registered trademarks, and the NHL Winter Classic logo is a trademark of the National Hockey League. © NHL 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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