Talked to Joe Wooden earlier today -- he's the GM of SMG, which runs Sullivan Arena -- and he said repairs to the system that allows ice to be made in the rink were proceeding well, and we should know Thursday whether the Alaska Aces can play their exhibition games on the rink Monday and Tuesday nights.

Aces managing member Terry Parks, who seems to The Blog to usually have a good handle on these things and has been visiting Sullivan and staying in frequent touch with Wooden, said he is confident the matches against the Las Vegas Wranglers will be played at Sullivan.

If you're late to the party, corroded piping was recently discovered at the arena, and that problem made making ice a no-go. Which is sort of a big deal considering the Aces and UAA Seawolves have scheduled a minimum of 55 hockey games there this season and are the building's most frequent tenants.

Repairs prompted the Make It Alaska Festival, scheduled in Sullivan this weekend, to be canceled. The festival was rescheduled for Nov. 2-4 at Sullivan (The Aces are in Stockton, Calif., that weekend, and the Seawolves are idle).

Stay tuned.