Did you ever wonder what happens to old sneakers?

Nike Grind is a product comprised of ground up basketball sneakers and that substance will be the final layer of rubber pellets that will be placed upon Husson College’s all-weather FieldTurf baseball and football field at the John Winkin Baseball Complex. A different compound of rubber pellets is currently being spread on the field, as is a compound of sand.

According to Harlan Michaud, the operations project manager for Northeast Turf, Hue Inc., the Nike Grind is “non-marking” which is why it will be the last compound applied to his company’s FieldTurf.

“The baseballs won’t pick up any black marks [from the Nike Grind],” explained Michaud.

The FieldTurf is currently in place and Michaud said it will take a total of “eight passes” on his tractor-like vehicle to apply the necessary mixtures of pellets and sand.

The FieldTurf is two and a half inches thick and Husson College assistant baseball coach and vice president for sports leadership John Winkin said he is optimistic that the project will be complete in time for the start of Husson’s fall baseball program early next month.

Michaud said the project has been blessed by good weather.

“We’ve been here eight days now and we’ve only been delayed four to five hours by rain,” said Michaud.

Sargent and Sargent of Hampden did the preparatory work.

Northeast Turf, Hue. Inc. then came in and laid the turf in 15-foot panels. They were linked together with double-stitched seams. Five members of the defending state Class A champion Bangor High School football team, which won the state title game on FieldTurf at Portland’s Fitzpatrick Stadium last fall, were hired to help with the installation over the 135,000 square-foot surface.

Then Michaud and some of his crew began applying the rubber pellets and sand compounds.

Eventually, the cut-out areas at home plate, the mound and around the bases will be filled in and stone dust will cover the warning track which will extend inside the fence around the field.

The fence will be installed as will the new scoreboard and flagpole. The fence will be four feet high along the side of the field and eight feet high in the outfield from foul pole to foul pole.

The project has been funded by a $1 million gift supplied by Waterville philanthropist Harold Alfond.

Winkin had donated $250,000 toward improving the facility to jumpstart the renovation.

FieldTurf is currently being used on 11 NFL practice fields and will be featured at the new stadiums for the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions.

The FieldTurf is also currently used at Tropicana Field, home of the American League’s Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

College hockey rule changes set

There will be several changes for the upcoming college hockey season.

The 15-second faceoff rule used in the Winter Olympics will be implemented. Teams will have just 15 seconds after a stoppage in play to line up for the draw. Unlike the Olympics, college will allow for TV timeouts. The referee or linesmen won’t be required to drop the puck during a TV timeout.

The goalie crease will be smaller. There won’t be a crease area outside the goalposts. This will eliminate some of the potential man-in-the-crease calls.

In addition, the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee has voted to add a clipping penalty assessed to players who hit an opponent at or below the knee and officials will have the ability to award a goal if a goal is imminent.

The committee also developed five points of emphasis: intent to injure, sportsmanship (i.e. diving and showing up officials will not be tolerated), obstruction, speeding up the game and checking in women’s hockey. The checking in women’s hockey has been revised to make it more clear.

Maine hockey coach Tim Whitehead said he is going to take a “wait-and-see” attitude about the 15-second faceoffs.

“It could be good if it speeds the games up,” said Whitehead.

He likes the smaller crease “as long as we don’t interfere with the goalies. The goalies need to be protected.”

In other news, next season’s Frozen Four at the 18,690-seat HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y. has already been sold out. It will be held on April 10-12. It is the sixth time in the last seven years the Frozen Four has been sold out.

Colby names Sodoma new SID

Bill Sodoma, who spent the last four years as the sports information director at Hartwick (N.Y.) College, has been named the director of sports information at Colby College in Waterville.

He had been a sportswriter and sports editor at the Oneonta Daily Star (N.Y.) before going to Hartwick.

Colby has 32 varsity sports.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.