Preparations continue to take place out at the New York State Fairgrounds. The track has been leveled and the crew is currently digging a trench which will house the pipes needed for the ice making system. The next big step is building the "sandbox," which will become the ice surface. That process is expected to begin as early as Wednesday. 

On Monday afternoon, Crunch Head Coach Ross Yates, along with assistants Trent Cull and Karl Goehring, met up with players Dylan Reese, Derek MacKenzie and Dan Fritsche to get a tour of the grounds from Crunch Senior Vice President Jim Sarosy and ice expert Jim Hartnett.

This historic project will continue to be documented throughout the process right here on SyracuseCrunch.com, as well as on Twitter at twitter.com/SyracuseCrunch.

Since January 4, barriers were moved into place to create a wall for the crushed stone to settle against, protective material was laid to protect the track and truck loads of crushed stone were delivered in order to level out the race track's 24 degree slope. As of Monday morning (January 11), the barriers were removed and preparation has begun in order to build  a "sand box" which will be built on top of the stone and will soon become the base of the ice surface.

To view today's progress at the Fairgrounds, click here to take a look.