More than a few campus visitors have done a double take when they notice a pile of “snow” outside the Hart Center — especially when the weather is warm enough to go for a swim.
First of all, it’s not snow. It’s shaved ice from maintaining the Hart ice rink. Because the men’s and women’s hockey teams — and teams that rent the rink — are on the ice from early September through the end of March or beginning of April, there are plenty of weeks when that’s the only “snow” on Mount St. James.
The annual creation and upkeep of the rink requires skilled attention and regular maintenance.
“A compressor flows refrigerant with eco-friendly, biodegradable components under the rink, which is then sprayed with water, flooded to a quarter of an inch, and left to freeze,” says Bob Neville, director of the Hart Center.
And here’s a little known fact: the ice is painted with three coats of white paint to give it its sheen.
The goal and court lines are then hand painted with a bucket and brush, and “The College of the Holy Cross Hart Center” and the interlocking “H” and “C” are carefully stenciled on top of the ice. The painting occurs in August, when the rink is being prepared to reopen.
The hardest part of the process, according to Neville, is measuring the stenciling and sealing the paint in with a mist. “It’s a delicate balance; we can’t put too much water on too fast because the paint will run, so we build another quarter of an inch of ice on top of the paint,” he says.
A painting crew of five to six people spends 10 to 12 hours detailing the rink, while the entire process takes approximately three days to complete.
Following this process, the Zamboni — the classic symbol of ice rink mystique — shaves and smoothes the ice and raises the ice level to three quarters of an inch, which the ice hockey players perform on. The Zamboni is also used between game periods and otherwise when conditions call for it, says Neville.
Excess ice from the Zamboni is deposited outside the Hart Center to the bewilderment of onlookers during those snowless months in Worcester.
For upkeep, full time rink manager Dan Moriarty, along with two part time Zamboni drivers and work-study students, work to maintain the temperature and quality of the rink. Neville says HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) technicians in the College’s Physical Plant department are responsible for the all-important task of running and maintaining the compressors and chiller. “No chiller, no ice,” he says.
A laser detector that monitors ice temperature — which stays a chilly 21 or 22 degrees Fahrenheit — assists the staff in keeping the rink running smoothly.
By Claire Luke ’10
Pictured: Forming a good skating surface on the ice rink in the Hart Recreation Center involves numerous processes.
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