Takin' Out The Pink

A little background for posterity, and readers from out of the area. Friday 12/16/07 was "Pink In The Rink" night for the Cyclones, promoting breast cancer awareness and women's health and raising money for the Patty Brisben Foundation for breast cancer research. They wore pink jerseys (that were actually pretty cool) that were auctioned after the game. It was the first ever professional hockey game to have all women for the off-ice officials. 25 ladies took care of the duties, 8 of them were breast cancer survivors.

And, as mentioned in the prior post, the ice was painted pink for the event. The game ended Friday night, and the ice had to be re-covered with the Pro-Deck and a stage built for NKU Graduation on Saturday morning. After graduation, the deck had to quickly be removed so we can shave off the pink paint, and then reapply some clear on top.

I'm doing this blog entry as a "photo essay" on the entire process:

2:45 PM Sat. 12/15/07 - First pieces of pro-deck removed:


2:55 PM Sat. 12/15/07 - Crew getting started on pro-deck removal:



3:20 PM Sat 12/15/07 - Pro-deck removal almost complete:


3:40 PM Sat 12/15/07 - Zamboni machines on-ice for shaving out the pink.

4:30 PM Sat 12/15/07 - Still shaving with the Zamboni (video):


6:00 PM Sat 12/15/07 - First appearance of the white below!


7:00 PM Sat 12/15/07 - Some big patches of white showing:


10:30 PM Sat 12/15/07 - Mostly white, still pink patches:


11:30 PM Sat 12/15/07 - The snow piles outside USBA:


12:30 AM Sun 12/16/07 - The pink is completely gone:


12:45 AM Sun 12/16/07 - First resurfacing with water begins:


1:00 AM Sun 12/16/07 - Restored! still need to add water for sufficient depth before the 5:00 PM hockey game:


1:05 AM Sun 12/16/07 - All the snow on the east side of USBA:




1:35 AM Sun 12/16/07 - 700 gallons of water have been dumped on top. Time to go home. The two of us working on the ice are exhausted and slap-happy.

11:00 AM - Sun 12/16/07 - Here is the snow pile in daylight:




2:00 PM Sun 12/16/07 - After an additional 1500 gallons, the ice is restored to normal depth of 1.5" - 2", leaving 3 hours to harden up before the game:


I hope you enjoyed this. Please leave comments...

Pink Ice

The pink ice went in on Wednesday 12/12. It was applied using the cart & wand device described in the icemaking post. It came out a little darker than expected but it's OK. Then an ample layer of clear water was applied over top. Then it was promptly covered under the "Pro-Deck" for the Hannah Montana concert on 12/13.

The concert will be over by 10:00, and her roadies will have all their equipment loaded out in a couple of hours. Then up comes the Pro Deck and back goes the removed dasher boards and glass to prepare for hockey on Friday.

After the game on Friday, the decking goes back onto the ice and the stage has to be built for NKU graduation Saturday morning. After graduation, the stage comes down and the Pro-Deck comes back up.

The full-time staff really has to hustle, don't they?

Your humble correspondent and Brandon the Operations Manager will then spend the rest of the day Saturday, and however late it takes Saturday night, shaving off the top clear coat and the pink layer, then replacing ample clear coat back above the hockey lines to have it all ready for Sunday afternoon.

Lots of quick turnarounds. I encourage everyone to give cudos to the full-time guys when yo see them at a game. Particularly, the maintenance guys wearing black polo shirts who you see down at the ends of the rink, moving the nets, etc. These guys are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Tell them all "Good Job."

Now that you've read my rant, here is a camera-phone shot of the pink ice, taken at ice level...