ICE TO WOOD; STAPLES' QUICK CHANGE KEEPS L.A. FANS HAPPY.

Byline: Kevin Modesti

The stern-faced man in the suit and tie sounded like a coach as he praised his men after a strong, efficient effort Saturday at the Staples Center.

``It was well-organized,'' he told a small group of reporters. ``The guys all meshed together and did very well. I'm very pleased for them . . .''

But this was not the coach of the Kings, who played hockey against the San Jose Sharks Saturday afternoon at the Staples Center, or the coach of the Clippers, who played basketball against the Portland Trail Blazers Saturday night at the same downtown-L.A. arena.

This was Lee Zeidman, the Staples Center's vice president for operations, and he was speaking after the building's most anticipated event of the day - the no-time-to-waste conversion of the arena from ice to hardwood between games.

From the time the Zamboni began scraping the ice after the Kings completed their 4-1 victory shortly after 3 p.m. to the time the last portable seats were positioned at courtside, a 50-member ``conversion crew'' needed 2 hours, 3 minutes to make the Staples Center fit for the first of its six scheduled sports doubleheaders between now and March.

For the 50 men doing the heavy lifting, for the 235 workers who cleaned the arena between events, for dozens more who volunteered for double duty and for anybody who stayed for both games, the long day in the great indoors stretched from morning until after the Clippers' 88-71 loss to Portland ended at 10:14 p.m.

9:50 a.m.: A writer covering the whole doubleheader is assured he won't have to pay two parking fees as long as he doesn't plan to leave in between. ``No, we'll just tow your car,'' Staples Center publicist Michael Roth jokes later. That's OK - it might be cheaper than two parking fees.

10:45 a.m.: Merchandise concessionaire Thomas Fisk points out that the rink-to-court conversion won't be the only changeover between games. He'll have to take down the Kings gear and hang up the Clipperwear. ``We'll beat them (the floor crew),'' Fisk says confidently. ``They'll have a lot more to do than we have.''

11:25 a.m.: Michael Juarez, a recently retired Boeing accounting manager who's working as a Staples Center usher, says he volunteered to work both events Saturday, and not just for the time-and-a-half paycheck. ``If you like sports as much as I do, it's fun,'' Juarez says as he attends a suites-level doorway. As for the prospect of standing up for most of the day, he says, ``I've been working (at the gym) on my calves.''

11:55 a.m.: ``Ladies and gentlemen,'' the public address announcer intones, ``your Los Angeles Kings 

'' The team skates out for warmups led by goaltender Jamie Storr, a pleasant surprise considering he suffered a groin injury four days earlier and had missed a game.

12:15 p.m.: An elevator operator explains why he volunteered for double duty. ``Ca-ching

'' he says, referring to the time-and-a-half wage.

12:39 p.m.: The Kings and Sharks, two of the best teams in the National Hockey League so far this season, face off in front of a crowd announced as a sellout even though many of the 18,118 ticket-buyers are no-shows. Rule of thumb: The better the seat, the more likely it's empty.

12:46 p.m.: The Kings take a 1-0 lead on a goal by Glen Murray and the Kings, dominating the first-period action, are on their way to first place.

1:06 p.m.: Two Ontario grade-schoolers scheduled to play in a between-periods exhibition are interviewed on the video screen and asked to detail their game plans. ``Work hard,'' says the kid on the right. ``Have fun,'' says the kid on the left. Bigger cheers for the kid on the left.

2 p.m.: The afternoon's lone lusty ``boo'' greets a Shark's hard check on a Kings forward.

2:20 p.m.: A between-periods search for fans in Clippers gear at the hockey game turns up exactly none. Did anybody attend both games? Three young men from Reseda are found looking through Clippers stuff in the gift shop. ``Oh, we weren't shopping for Clippers stuff,'' Cody Hudok clarifies. ``We were laughing at it.''

2:28 p.m.: A young couple loaded down with hot dogs and Pepsi are turned away from the main elevator because it doesn't go to their seating level, not an uncommon problem at the Staples Center. ``There's a special elevator you've got to go to,'' an usher says.

``This place (stinks),'' the man replies.

2:43 p.m.: Murray's second goal puts the Kings up 3-1. Message board: ``Scream!'' Fans scream.

3:03 p.m.: An empty-net goal by Ziggy Palffy with a second left in the game seals the Kings' ninth victory against seven defeats and two ties. The miracle of turning ice into wood begins with the removal of the hockey nets.

3:15 p.m.: The carefully choreographed process of covering the ice with 530 pieces of 1-1/2-inch-thick panels of plywood and polyurethane is under way. It resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle.

3:20 p.m.: Slow-leaving Kings fans and employees on a break watch the process from the stands with evident fascination. ``We don't get out much,'' says a woman looking out from an A-level luxury suite.

3:45 p.m.: The first of 220 maple panels that make up the Clippers basketball court are laid down, while workers are still struggling with crowbars and mallets to fit the last ice coverings into place.

3:55 p.m.: A forklift brings out a backboard and its massive hydraulic support, and the scene is beginning to look like basketball.

4:25 p.m.: Courtside seats now obscure the hockey dasher boards, and now it's a basketball arena.

4:50 p.m.: The last pieces of the basketball court are bolted into place and, with the two-hour mark approaching, Staples Center executives check their watches.

5:06 p.m.: A final row of folding chairs is positioned at the court's northwest corner, marking the official end of the conversion. Clippers game time is three hours away and, except that some of the arena's radio and TV wiring needs to be re-patched, it's ready for basketball.

5:15 p.m.: Zeidman says the elapsed time is three minutes longer than the hoped-for two hours 2 hours, 3 minutes, but is a notable accomplishment considering the same crew had worked until 5:30 in the morning to make the change from basketball to hockey after a Lakers game Friday night. ``We're treating 'em to lunch,'' Zeidman says.

7:50 p.m.: Shortly before the Clippers-Trail Blazers tipoff, a fast-forward video of the changeover is shown to amused fans on the overhead screen. This way the whole process takes four minutes.

CAPTION(S):

photo, drawing

Photo: (color) The conversion from hockey, left, to basketball, right, took two hours and three minutes.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

Drawing: Thin ice underfoot

Bradford Mar/Staff Artist