Ever wondered how an ice rink is made? Watch the video below to find out! I can tell you first hand (as an ice arena employee) that it is a very time consuming process. Though it gets frustrating at times and you often end up having a mild case of frost bite on your knees while painting logos, the end result is well worth it.
In Cedar Rapids the process of rebuilding ice on the NHL rink (where the Rough Riders rink) takes around 9 days, if everything goes as planned. The procedure is very similar as shown in the video, but there are some differences. When we (the rink operation's staff) paint the white base coat we use a large sprayer attached to a hose (which several of us hold up so it does not dip in the paint) to ensure an even coat. In addition, we use floss to ensure that our lines are straight. We spray the floss down onto the ice with water to make the lines freeze. Then, we paint the lines by hand. Circles are also made in this fashion. Logos are created by smacking paper stencils covered in blue chalk onto the ice surface and painted. Recently vinyl "decal" type logos have been used, but they don't look as nice in general. After all this is finished we spend several days with small hoses walking back and forth along the rink to keep it as even as possible until it is thick enough for the Zamboni to drive on.
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