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Ice and cold--prized commodities at UD arenas
Yet, that’s the teminology rink supervisors use when discussing the two elements that make UD’s Fred Rust and Gold ice arenas the top places to hang out during winter break. And, according to James Kaden, manager of the ice arenas, keeping both the ice and the chill maintained is a full-time, high-wire balancing act. “Good ice is a commodity, and a lot of time and training go into maintaining it,” he said, “because if you have bad ice, people won’t come.” Machinery--entire rooms of it--back his claim up, along with two $70,000 carefully-monitored Zamboni ice machines and a staff of four full-time and 15 part-time employees. “We invest heavily in training,” Kaden said, adding that more than 400 people use the ice on a typical afternoon public skating session during winter break. “All our Zamboni drivers and ice supervisors go through at least 20 to 30 hours of supervised driving on the ice before they’re qualified to run the machines, and they have to be skilled in a variety of different [surfacing] techniques.” These techniques, though mostly driven by careful vigilance and timing on the part of the ice supervisors, vary from knowing which activities chew up ice the fastest to understanding how summertime temperatures and humidity can affect even a carefully controlled indoor environment. “UD’s precision team cuts up the ice pretty badly, because the routines require that 15 to 20 skaters cluster in one particular area of ice,” Kaden said, “while little kids just learning to skate hardly cut up the surface at all.
Derek Dohring, a part-time ice supervisor and Zamboni driver who’s also a member of UD’s recreational hockey league, said that “knowing the ice” is crucial to successful ice resurfacing, and that being mechanically and spatially inclined also help. “Skaters can always tell when the ice driver does or doesn’t do a good job,” he said, “and when you’re on the machine you really do have to be able to juggle four or five things at once.” Steering, of course, is critical, Dohring said, as is gauging when and how fast to cut a turn. (The Zambonis don’t have brakes.) But, he added, having a good handle on the inner workings of the machines also is necessary for laying good ice, and occasional mechanical troubleshooting is a job requirement for all drivers. “The warm water that comes out the back has to fill in the cracks, and the wash water has to provide enough moisture to turn the scraped ice into snow so the system doesn’t get clogged,” Dohring explained. “Then the main auger has to throw the snow to the center where the vertical auger throws it into the tank, so driving and monitoring are two things you need to do in tandem when you’re on the machine.” Though certainly the most visible, and, some would argue, the most fascinating, component to ice maintenance, the Zambonis aren’t the only pieces of machinery requiring close watch and special maintenance skills at the UD rinks. Both the Olympic-sized Fred Rust Ice Arena and the NHL-sized Gold Ice Arena are equipped with their own compressor-refrigerant systems and temperature gauges, as well as 1,670-gallon-capacity water purification/de-ionizing tanks. Explaining that the ice is kept at between 20-24 degrees Fahrenheit and the rinks between 50-55 degrees year round, Kaden said that the dual thermometers in each of the rink’s compressor rooms measure the temperature within the ice and on top of the ice, and are monitored carefully.
Rink use, too, influences temperature fluctuations, and although the busiest season for the arenas is winter, when ice sports are most popular, the arenas get plenty of use in other seasons, too, and according to Eric R.Nelson, ice arena service supervisor, the maintenance is nonstop. “Some days are fairly routine, but with so many different groups using the ice, there are always a lot of different things to do,” he said. “It’s the different people who use the arenas who keep my job interesting.” Dohring, whose job also entails skater interaction, particularly before Zamboni runs when he clears the ice, agreed that patrons were central to keeping his job interesting and said that he relies on his people skills as much as his mechanical skills. “It’s a huge status symbol to drive the Zamboni,” he said, “but even though it’s fun work, and we’ve got an easy-going supervisor, it can sometimes be stressful, because you’re dealing with the public, and they are the only x-factor. They’re either having a good day or a bad day when they walk through the door, and because this is a recreational facility, it’s our job--and we do our best--to make it a place where people come to have fun.” Article by Becca Hutchinson |
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