DETROIT -- By Thursday morning, the fog had lifted.

But it wasn't Mother Nature at work. Instead, it was 300 tons of portable refrigeration positioned on the concourse of Joe Louis Arena by NHL ice technician Dan Craig.

The arena was muggy Tuesday afternoon before Game 1. When the doors opened to allow the 20,053 fans into the Joe, the temperature rose to 70 degrees inside, the humidity rose 12 percent, and two feet of fog formed on the ice surface. The fog lifted when the players started skating, but the ice quickly became choppy.

"The ice is terrible right now," Detroit captain Steve Yzerman said on television between the first and second periods.

On a hot, dry day, keeping a hockey arena cool is not a problem. But humidity is a Zamboni driver's worst nightmare.

"The ice surface in the middle of the building acts as a magnet for humidity. It settles at the coldest spot," Craig explains. "You get fog. The snow on the ice absorbs the moisture and becomes heavy, so the puck doesn't slide and skating becomes sluggish."

Players say publicly that the conditions are the same for both teams, and are therefore irrelevant.

"It can't be helped. It's 85 degrees outside and you play in a big building that's hard to keep cool," said Detroit winger Kirk Maltby. "Both teams have to deal with it, though, so it's not an excuse."

Privately, it is a cause for concern.

"I spoke to some of the guys on Wednesday morning," Craig said, "and they just looked me square in the eyes and said, 'Fix it.'"

So, he did. He contracted a local Detroit company that specializes in the dehumidification of warehouses to bring in the extra refrigeration units. The building's cooling system can adequately control the temperature on the ice surface and inside the bowl of the arena, but the extra units are needed to control the temperature on the concourse, which is in constant flux because hotter air from the outside is allowed in as doors are opened and closed.

"This building was not built for hockey in June," says Craig. "With this system, you can maintain the inside temperature, but with hot air coming in, you can't catch up."

Craig's refrigeration units have done the job. By Thursday morning, the temperature in the Joe had cooled off to a crisp 52 degrees.

"You could see your breath out there this morning," said Hurricanes center Kevyn Adams. "It's definitely chillier on the ice level, and the ice is good today."

Craig watches the morning skates to see how his doctored ice responds.

"I watch the traces of skates to see if the ice breaks away from the inside edge," he says. "I watch how much snow they kick up. You can tell a lot just by looking at it."

The ice at Joe Louis will be resurfaced six times on Thursday before Game 2. Twice in the early morning before practices, once after each practice, and two more times in the afternoon, with about an hour and a half in between each cut.

"You can't do two back-to-back because the heat and the hot water sits on top of the ice and doesn't get a chance to tighten up," says Craig.

Keeping ice hard and fast in old buildings during hot weather is a science, and Craig is the master. He controls the fog.