Rink 101: How the Stadium Series ice at Carter-Finley Stadium is made, and maintained
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Hockeytown, USA
On Feb. 18, the Carolina Hurricanes will host an NHL outdoor hockey game for the first time at N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. Whether you’re a hockey fan or not, don’t miss out on the festivities surrounding the Carolina Hurricanes outdoor game.
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Derek King figures he has been a part of 20 outdoor hockey games with the NHL, so he has the logistics down to something of an art form.
King, the league’s senior director of facility and hockey operations, takes 3,000 gallons of glycol coolant and 20,000 gallons of water and a crew of about 200 workers and builds a hockey rink in an outdoor stadium, one fit for a game in any temperature.
The NHL has played an outdoor game at Dodger Stadium, in warm, sunny Southern California. It once staged a game in Michigan where it was so cold at night, heaters were needed to keep the ice surface from cracking.
Odds are, holding a game at N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium in February isn’t a bigger challenge. When the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals face off Saturday at 8 p.m, in the 2023 NHL Stadium Series game, the stadium’s playing rink and ice surface should be much like the one nearby at PNC Arena.
The building of the rink is an interesting if complex process. It began at Carter-Finley on Feb. 6, when the NHL’s Mobile Refrigeration Unit, housed in a 53-foot-long trailer, arrived at the stadium.
“We have two compressors and about 300 tons of refrigeration, more than enough capacity to build an outdoor rink,” King said.
First, workers installed armor decking the length of the football field at Carter-Finley, end zone to end zone. Then comes the building of the “stage decking” where the rink is positioned on the field, with more than 240 aluminum ice trays put into place before the ice-making begins.
Pipes are extended from the refrigeration unit at the “Ice Truck” to the stadium field level. More than 10,000 gallons of water is needed for each inch of thickness, and the ice surface is constantly being sprayed.
King said the ice at the Carter-Finley rink would be two or more inches thick, thicker than in PNC Arena, to guard against the fickleness of the weather and King said to “be on the safe side.”
Keeping the ice from melting
The ice temperature: 22 degrees, which the NHL maintains with 3,000 gallons of coolant from the refrigeration truck that is recirculated through the trays. Sensors are used to monitor the temperature and keep it at 22.
The NHL, to protect the ice sheet against the sun, often uses inflated tarps. The ice work is done at night.
“We’re really not going to fight Mother Nature because she’s going to dictate what we do throughout this build,” King said.
Add in the advertising dashboards in the stadium, the boards around the rink, team benches, penalty boxes, et al., and it looks like a regulation NHL hockey rink. The game at Carter-Finley will be the 37th NHL regular-season outdoor game — the first in North Carolina and for the Hurricanes.
“Obviously it’s going to be lots of fun,” Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “The crowd is going to be so big and I’m sure they’re going to cheer very hard. For us, once you step on the ice, you just play your game.”
Having the ice ready for the players is King’s job.
“It’s definitely exciting,” King said. “This is what we do. We love building rinks in different venues. It’s really cool.”
Carolina Hurricanes outdoor game rink by the numbers
2 — In inches, thickness of the ice for outdoor rink
14 — Members of NHL ice crew
22 — In degrees, the temperature of the ice
66.67 — Length, in yards (200 feet) of regulation NHL ice hockey playing surface
120 — Length, in yards, counting the end zones, of Wayne Day Family Field at Carter–Finley Stadium
200 — Workers needed to install rink
3,000 — Gallons of glycol coolant used.
20,000 — Gallons of water needed for two inches of ice.
This story was originally published February 13, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Rink 101: How the Stadium Series ice at Carter-Finley Stadium is made, and maintained."
