Science/Technology

NHL Transforms Fenway Park Into an Ice rink

In a New Year’s Day snow flurry, the Boston Bruins took the ice against the Pennsylvania Flyers…at Fenway Park. Many rejoiced as the Bruins won in a spectacular over time goal by Marco Sturm. Among those many were the technical crew. Over the past few weeks preceding the game, the tech crew was faced with the enormous task of turning the normally green Fenway Park into an ice rink suitable for NHL hockey play.

Dan Craig led the task of making Fenway Park an ice rink. Craig is known in NHL for being the ‘ice man,’ the head of the technical support in keeping an ice rink frozen. He and his crew used 20, 000 gallons of water, 3,000 gallons of coolant for the machines used to keep the ice cool, and 350 gallons of white paint to paint the rink.

Turning a baseball park into an NHL rink suitable for professional hockey play isn’t an easy job. For one, there always has to be a truck carrying the necessary equipment to keep the ice on the rink from thawing. In that truck are cooling equipment, and pumps; just some of the 53 tons of equipment used for the game. The pipe connecting the truck and the rink, which is six inches in diameter, caries 1,000 gallons of coolant a minute.

The actual rink is raised six inches above the centerfield grass, so spectators from all over the stadium can see the rink without too much difficulty. Directly on top of the centerfield grass, is a protective tarp; on top of that is high pressure Styrofoam, and plywood; then, 32,000 feet of DuraDeck material. Finally, layers of aluminum are placed; the 20,000 gallons of ice will be on the aluminum, 2 inches thick.

This, however, isn’t just it. Every precautionary step must be taken to keep the rink in good shape, at least until the game is over. If the humidity, pressure, or temperature changes in the slightest, this information is immediately sent to Craig’s Blackberry. The start time of the game (1:00) was chosen because there would be the least amount of sun during that time due to the placement of shadows.

Though much credit goes for the Bruins for their spectacular game play, especially Marco Sturm for his overtime goal, but let’s not forget the 200 people who worked tirelessly to turn one of baseball’s famous cathedrals into an ice rink.

© 2010 The Daytime.