Can you talk a little bit about what you do at the Penn Ice Rink?
My job is twofold. My main responsibilities are to make sure that everything in the building operates as normal as far as the equipment that we use, the utilities, the mechanicals, et cetera. Any issues with our electrical plumbing, our chiller systems, HVAC, or anything that involves the ice falls under my purview. The other main part of my job is as the lead ice technician.
What are your responsibilities as lead ice technician?
It varies throughout the course of the season because we have programming that spans from youth beginner hockey all the way up through NHL team practices. In a given week, we do anywhere from 100 to 130 ice resurfacings. That’s usually dependent upon how many college games there are, because we have four college teams that play here—two from Drexel and then Penn’s men’s and women’s teams. We follow the same cut schedule that the NHL does, so there’s a cut before warmups, after warmups, and in between every period. We also do edging every day, sometimes twice a day, depending on how busy we are programming-wise.
What is edging and what are cuts?
When ice builds up along the boards, it starts to create a bowl across the surface of the ice where your blade on the resurfacer (Zamboni) doesn’t scrape evenly. We use a different tool to bring down that outside corner so the resurfacer blade cuts nice and smooth. That’s edging. Cuts are ice cuts. Every user group that skates here is guaranteed a cut before they go on the ice, and we cut again after they’re done, so it’s ready to go for the next user group. Every time the resurfacer takes the ice from looking chewed up and having snow on it to looking nice and clean, that’s a resurfacing.
I imagine controlling the temperature of the ice is an important aspect of your job?
It is. Temperature and also humidity. Humidity can play a big, big role in the quality of your ice and, more importantly, the conditions of your building. For example, right now, the surface temperature of my ice is about 22°, which is perfect for hockey. It makes for nice playing conditions where the puck doesn’t bounce as much, which means players and officials are happy. If we have a figure skating event, most figure skaters, especially the competitive ones, like the ice to be a little bit softer, so we’ll raise the surface temperature to about 23° or 24°.
Do you get used to spending a lot of time in cold weather?
Yes, you become used to it. You learn how to adapt.
You worked at the Springfield Ice Rink in Delaware County before you were recruited to Penn. What do you enjoy about working at ice rinks?
I’ll put it this way: I’m 35 years old and I’ve been playing hockey since I was 3. There’s something about coming to the rink and just being in an environment where you know you’re welcomed, and people are grateful for what you do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had conversations with coaches, players, referees, NHL staff, where they’ve come in and said out of all the visiting rinks they go to, this is one of the most unique buildings they come into and some of the highest-quality ice in the area.
We had the Ottawa Senators here about two years ago and I got to chatting with their captain, Brady Tkachuk. They were coming off the ice and I said to him, ‘I’m just curious, how was the ice? Because we spent a lot of time prepping and getting ready for you guys to come in.’ And he actually told me the ice they were skating on that day was better than the practice ice at their Ottawa training center. It’s the little things like that.
What’s it like to drive the Zamboni?
There’s actually a lot behind it. The common misconception is that you get on the machine, you drive in an ellipse—notice I’m not saying a circle or an oval because of the shape of a rink—but you basically drive in an ellipse and throw water everywhere. The ice resurfacer is actually doing four different tasks: It’s cutting the ice with an 80-inch-wide stainless-steel blade; it’s collecting the snow that you’re creating; there’s also a wash system that helps remove contaminants from the ice, and it replaces the ice being scraped away with hot water. The water you see coming out of the back of the machine is what gets left behind, refreezes, and makes the ice look like glass. Another common misconception is that the water that gets left behind is cold. It’s actually hot, about 140° to 160°, depending on what facility you’re in.
Do you still skate and play hockey?
Oh, yes. Right now, I skate about three or four times a month, ironically, at my old rink. A group of guys who work at the Boeing plant in Ridley Park started a hockey league about 25 years ago. It’s every Sunday night, 8-9:30, four-on-four because it’s a small rink. There are no referees, because nobody tries to hurt each other during our games—that would make for awkward small talk in the office the following morning. It’s good to get out, get a skate in, and get some exercise. Depending on how busy we are, I do skate here sometimes with Shinny USA, an open hockey group that has a time slot here on Friday mornings at 6 a.m. I like early morning ice times because they match my work schedule. I still skate fairly regularly, but I would like to be able to skate more than I do. I have the fun job, too; I’m a goalie.
What do you think makes the Penn Ice Rink unique?
The biggest thing that makes this place unique is the fact that they don’t build new arenas like this one anymore. The newer facilities are nice, but there’s something about—especially as a player—when you come to a building like this, you feel like you’re in a fortress. When you’re a visiting player going into a building like this, it can be incredibly intimidating, even before you get on the ice to go up against whoever you’re playing. It has an old-school character to it that brings you back to the era of the Broad Street Bullies. This building has a very unique history of hosting NHL and AHL teams, special events for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Wharton School, NCAA Hockey, Visit Philly’s Rocky Fest, collegiate ice skating competition, Penn Live Arts shows ‘Le Patin Libre from Montreal,’ as well as a Prince concert back in the day. My team and I are also very fortunate to have colleagues within the Division of Business Services who go above and beyond to help our management team rink achieve new goals—what we refer to as MUBE Moments (‘Make Us Better Everyday’). It’s why I think we were recently recognized by Metro Philly as the ‘Best Ice Rink in Philadelphia’ for the first time in our history, which is a tremendous honor, as the newspaper’s readers vote on this recognition.
