Staff at the myFM Centre in Renfrew have to answer an age-old question: How do you develop a perfect pad of ice in the middle of summer?
The town’s Recreation Operations Specialist, Shawn Eckford, says the annual installation of ice inside the arena’s main rink got underway when they turned the ice plant on last Friday, bringing a chill to the myFM Centre that has not been felt in a few months.
Eckford and his team build those thin layers of ice by “boom flooding,” dragging a long hose and nozzle system up and down the length of the ice pad for as many as 45,000 steps a day. It’s being done with a sense of urgency as the team keeps pace with the increasingly muggy weather outside the myFM Centre.
He adds that their fight against the elements has been helped by a recent fix inside the main rink, as the town’s recreation team was able to figure out what was ailing one of the two arena-sized dehumidifiers keeping the moisture in check.
The crew just recently took a break to paint in the lines for hockey and ringette, as well as the logos for this upcoming season’s sponsors, before another round of boom flooding to seal everything in. Once that’s finished, they’ll bring out the arena’s Olympia ice resurfacer for another 20 to 25 layers of flooding and freezing.
Eckford explains that going from bare surface to a completed sheet of ice takes around 10 days total, and the main rink should be ready for resident use by the first Tuesday of August.
They also plan to have the myFM Centre’s second ice pad ready by the end of August and are currently waiting on the installation of a rubberized surface along the walking track overlooking it.
(written by Kasey Egan)
