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On two January evenings this year, the New York Rangers took part in the NHL 2014 Stadium Series with their own two-game series of outdoor hockey games held at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. At the matchup Sunday January 26th, the Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 7-3. The Rangers were triumphant again in the second of their two stadium games that Wednesday, beating the New York Islanders 2-1.

These two Rangers games were just two of a total of six outdoor NHL games planned for this year’s Stadium Series, which kicked off with this year’s Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The annual New Year’s Day outdoor matchup took place at Michigan Stadium this year, with Toronto winning 3-2 in a shootout.

Cabin fever is no joke, and at this point in the winter season it is becoming a very real sentiment for a lot of people. When it’s cold outside, it is hard to feel motivated to stay active and moving. Sometimes just leaving the house feels like a workout this time of year! So how can you fight the winter blues without turning blue?

Community sports facilities and recreation centers are a perfect solution for frigid couch potatoes. Have fun and stay active, without getting frost bite!

If you manage a facility like this in your town, you know the importance of gathering people together to strengthen the community. Organizing winter activities for kids and families at your facility does a great service to combat cabin fever.

For our friendly neighbors to the south, The Super Bowl is the sporting event to end all sporting events - and it comes but once a year! Everything about the Super Bowl makes for the ultimate sports experience for spectators. Whether you are die hard football fan, or just in it for the halftime show, the Super Bowl has a little something for everyone!

Super Bowl’s Roots

It all began in 1966, when the National Football League and the American Football League decided to put aside their rivalry, agreeing instead on a merger of the two leagues set to begin in 1970. To kick off this historic union of the two biggest football associations, the number one contenders from each league went head-to-head for a 1967 “world” football championship showdown, which later became known as the Super Bowl I.

The rest, as they say, is history. Since that first epic matchup in 1967, NFC and AFC champions have met every year to contend for the title of NFL Champions. During Super Bowl season, American sports fans pull out all the stops to celebrate this annual football contest.

It’s February, and Major League Baseball fans know what that means...it’s Spring Training time!

Our favorite MLB players have been working hard all winter long during off-season training.  Though they have been out of the sight of fans since October, our teams were always on our minds.  It is finally almost time again for nightly baseball broadcasts!

Spring Training is not just a time for Major Leaguers to suit up and take to the field for a new season.  It is also an exciting time for MLB fans to get a first glimpse of their favorite teams’ rosters, uniforms, batting orders, last-minute trades, and all sorts of surprises before opening day this year.

As we approach the start of the 2014 baseball season, it seems that Toronto Blue Jays fans in particular can hardly contain their excitement for the start of regular season games.  On January 31st, tickets for the Blue Jays home opener went on sale to the public, and on January 31st the tickets completely sold out.  

Contagious team spirit, bleachers full of school colors, marching bands - it’s hard not to be a college sports fan!  Whether you root for your own school, a hometown favorite, or your beloved alma mater, collegiate athletics give us all something to cheer about.

We all know the big favorite in the college sports world this time of year: men’s basketball!  Each fast-paced game is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, keeping sports fans always on the edge of their seats, if not on their feet.

For Division I basketball teams, regular season games are all played in high anticipation of the NCAA Division I Championship Tournament.  Eager college basketball fans are taking careful notes and tracking stats and rankings on all potential March Madness contenders, and anyone who’s watching has definitely taken notice of the Syracuse Orange this year.

With North American groundhogs recently predicting a longer winter season than we had hoped, even the idea of a mere six weeks, gives us all hope that we will soon be swinging the sticks.

Golf courses and facilities can certainly expect a quick start to the season when this long, treacherous and record breaking winter season comes to an end.  In addition to the spring thaw revealing the condition of fairways and greens, it is also an opportune time to get out and review other aspects of your golf course and facility that Jack Frost may have affected.

With high winds, ice and snow storms, the winter can often leave your beautiful course in disarray come spring. Making it not only important to check up on fallen trees and debris around the course, but to ensure any golf equipment left to the elements is still in good working order.

This winter season has been one for the record books.  The weather forecast has brought one polar vortex after another, sandwiched between bitter cold arctic blasts.  It seems like everywhere - even the southern US - has been buried with wintry precipitation this season.  Luckily, we will be rounding the bend into springtime soon enough!

After the Thaw

As many of us dig ourselves out of this particularly cold and snowy winter, it’ll soon be time to take to the fields again for outdoor sports.  The best way to shake cabin fever is to get outside and get moving.  With spring sports right around the corner, be sure your outdoor fields and nets will be ready to receive the warm-weather rush.

Extreme winter weather like this certainly takes its toll - on our sanity as well as our sports equipment!  Outdoor nets and goal posts are often left out in the cold during the off-season, allowing for a great deal of winter wear-and-tear. 

All of this arctic moisture can sneak into cracked paint, causing extensive rust damage on goal posts.  Not only is rust unsightly, it can compromise the structure and safety of your goal posts as well.  The wet winter weather along with biting winds rips at sports netting, often making them brittle and weak.  Once the damage of winter is done, netting is more susceptible to holes and tears.

Be Prepared!

Before eager athletes reclaim the field from Old Man Winter this spring, invest in quality goal systems that will last.  From goals and nets for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey to football and rugby uprights, Sport Systems has the long-lasting gear you need. 

Our goal posts and frames are sand blasted and powder coated for a chip-resistant finish, preventing against rust-causing moisture damage.

Knotless nylon netting can absorb the blows of athletic equipment as well as the winter wind.  Our quality sports netting installs in a snap, making it an simple part of spring field maintenance.  

Google Glass, the zealous new device from the folks at the world’s largest search engine, along with other forms of wearable tech, has come under heavy scrutiny by most industry professionals and analysts since its inception and release.

As with any new product or service, it will obviously take some time to determine the true success or failure of Google Glass. Over the past few months however, you might have noticed that more and more professional sports teams and athletes are beginning to experiment with Glass.  Could Google Glass eventually become a part of the sporting equipment world?

As the countdown to Sochi continues, the next sport in SSCI’s Olympic event spotlight is Speed skating!

World record holder and three-time world champion speed skater Christine Nesbitt is a top contender this year for Canadian gold in Sochi.  After she ascended the podium at the 2010 games in Vancouver, it is hard not to speculate whether Nesbitt will bring home the gold for Canada again in 2014.  

Christine Nesbitt is a long track speed skater from Calgary with two Olympic medals under her belt.  As a youngster, Nesbitt was a natural distance runner who also enjoyed hockey.  It wasn’t long after combining her skills from those two sports that she was nationally ranked as a speed skater.

A common question as most of us can recall a time or situation where we have seen both the diamond hung design as well as the square hung design with regards to netting. Here are a couple of ways to tell the difference, and the advantages to each:

Diamond Mesh

Because of the way this mesh is hung, it drastically reduces the amount of netting needed to cover a certain area, and hence, can often be the less-expensive option between the two. This being said, there are also problems that arise from hanging your net in this fashion.

Diamond hung meshed nets do not typically hang as straight, and it’s pattern will often cause the netting to be pulled in from the sides. This design often is equipped with poorer seams as well. The main reason for this being, the rope border has to be sewn diagonally across the meshes, which leaves an irregular net border to sew to.