Laying the ice one layer at a time

New arena ice a painstaking process

By Jim Holland, Journal staff | Wednesday, November 26, 2008

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RAPID CITY — Nobody can say that Chris Weinert shied away from a challenge.

Not this week.

Weinert, the new ice specialist at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, is originally from Detroit and learned his slippery trade at the Michigan State Fairgrounds and at the Joe Louis Arena, home of the National Hockey League’s Detroit Red Wings, as well as with the Central Hockey League’s Bossier-Schreveport (La.) Mud Bugs.

Weinert hit the ice running on his first day on the job in Rapid City Monday, getting the most important final touch in place for Rapid City’s newest professional sports team.

The Rapid City Rush is scheduled to play its first-ever home game at the soon-to-be-finished arena on Saturday, but not before thousands of gallons of water are painstakingly applied frozen layer by frozen layer to form the hockey rink for Rush home games and other ice events at the new multi-purpose arena.  

“I’ve worked in existing arenas before, but this is my first time putting ice in a brand new building. I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said.

And there certainly have been challenges. Weinert first came to Rapid City just in time to get caught by the early November blizzard that virtually shut down the region for several days.

Weinert had hoped to start making ice on the arena floor at that time, but workers had to first locate, then repair a blockage in part of the more than two miles of refrigerant piping embedded in the arena’s concrete floor.

Then on Monday, one of two primary pumps that circulate 3,200 gallons of glycol refrigerant through the piping failed, forcing use of a third backup pump until repairs can be completed.

“I had hoped to see frost on the floor when I got here (Monday) morning, but that didn’t happen,” Weinert said.

Hockey rink ice is normally no more than 1-1/4 to 1-3/8 inch thick.

With the concrete surface cooled to about 15 degrees, the first layer of ice is built up to a thickness of one-fourth of an inch, then painted with water-soluable white paint, then sealed with more ice to a level of one-half inch.

Lines demarking the goal lines and neutral and attacking zones, face-off circles, sponsor, league and team logos are located to their proper positions, then applied.

Civic center manager Brian Maliske said team and sponsor logos were made from vinyl.

“If there is a problem with the ice, then we can roll up the vinyl and re-use it, instead of hiring an artist to come in and repaint it again,” Maliske said.

The vinyl decorations are perforated with hundreds of tiny holes to help seal them to the ice, Maliske said.

Once the logos are down, the arena is a flooded with more water to further build up the ice. A Zamboni is used to put a smooth surface on the rink.   

Weinert has put new ice in existing arenas in as little as 10 hours. He plans to take more time with the first installation here to avoid taxing the new refrigeration equipment.

“I’ll be here all night until it’s all ready to go,” he said Monday. “We hope to let the hockey team skate on it for the first time (today), but that’s up to (civic-center manager) Brian (Maliske).

Weinert learned of the opening in Rapid City through Rush general manager Jason Rent and assistant GM Tim Hill, both formerly with Bossier-Schreveport.

“It sounded like a great job in a place I’ve never been before,” Weinert said.