Monday, March 02, 2015

Last Flood of the Season

Team,

Kris, Austin and Kurt scraped the lower hockey sheet and put down two coats on 2/3 of the west end.
We were very surprised to find the west end of the ice in such great shape as we scraped.  Mother nature has been kind in terms of melting from the upper ice and providing a new layer on the lower when it freezes at night.

I have sausages and we will organize a wrap-up party in a week. How does Friday the 13th sound for everyone. I will make sure we can use the new basement for the event.

Hanging up the hose for the season,

Kurt





Sunday, March 01, 2015

Not Dead Yet!

Well it looks as though March is starting out as a Lion where as February was the Lamb and our ice has survived Mother Nature.
It would be great to keep it going for another week and to see you all for a last push on Monday.
Let's plan on a scrape and a flood tomorrow at 8 pm and raise a glass to the end of a very hard season.

Cheers,
Kurt


Thursday, February 12, 2015

Too Warm 2 Flood...

Wow what a ride this year with the weather roller-coaster!
Too warm to flood tonight and it may be just a nice break for all of us going into this long weekend. With matching temperatures tomorrow and snow over the weekend, it will be a real messy maybe flood Monday ( or MMFM ).

I was down this afternoon and took this photo.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday... maybe :)

Keeping the hose OFF the ice for now,

Kurt



Monday, February 09, 2015

Three IceGuys Two Coats...

Jeff, Ian and Kurt put down two coats on the lower and one generous coat on the upper.

Hope to see you more of you Thursday night at 8 PM.

Kurt



Friday, February 06, 2015

Number of Coats to Date...

51 coats on the upper
44 coats on the lower

Playing In The Snow...

We were keeping a watch-full eye on the flakes after John, Andrew, Biagio, Keith, Dave, and Kurt scraped both sheets.
Just after we hung up the shovels and unwound the hose, it started snowing. A light snow at first then heavy as we put two coats on the lower and one coat on the upper.
It was a bit of a battle, but the team managed to scrape while flooding getting the fresh stuff out of the way while laying down the water.

We just hope the snow didn't cause too much roughness overnight while it froze.

Keeping the hose on the ice and the tongue off the metal,

Kurt





Monday, February 02, 2015

Hard Night On the Ice Tonight!!!

Well gang,

With only three people showing up tonight- Ian, Brad and Kurt, keeping up with making ice was hard. We only cleared and put two coats on the lower sheet tonight. As always the hockey ice takes the worst beating.

The beating was taken over the weekend after the snow on Saturday where the public cleared the snow by pushing it aside only to make the sheet 4 feet smaller on the north and south edges. I took the blower and gained back the four feet.
The three of us spent a lot of time giving the ice a good scraping before laying down a thirsty and generous first coat, followed by a second finishing coat.

It would sure help if more of you are able to make it on a semi-regular basis. I know we are all busy, but "many hands make light work". Can I get a show of hands by an email to let me know who is committed to the program. I have 26 contacts that I communicate to by sending emails, and there is a hand full that email me back and/or show up. If you want to be removed from the email list please let me know. This way I am not bothering you and we can work with a concentrated group that is committed.

Maybe it is time to look at a different approach next year in terms of scheduling days that we all can commit to, something easy. For example dividing into teams, a Monday night team and a Thursday night team.  It is worth discussing at least to bring some ideas to the table.

Thursday at 8 pm we can talk about it further.

Keeping the hose on the ice...
Kurt



Friday, January 30, 2015

The Resurrection of ICE!

Well Gang,

We don't have to start over, but the rinks do need a lot of work.
Last night Ian, Chris, Dave and Kurt were down and worked on resurrecting the sad rinks. We put two coats on each sheet by being careful working around patches of run-off that made parts of the lower rink higher on the east end.

The mini nets on the upper rink are now a permanent fixer in the ice until thaw. They go submerged last week and are embedded to prevent any theft now.

Forecast looks like snow over the weekend and colder temperatures next week. Let's shoot for a big turnout on Monday to really whip the best-ice-in-Calgary into shape again.

Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt






Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Melting Away

We met last night and looked at the damage, over and beer and a slice of pizza. Grant has cancelled shinny this week and we took the goalies off the ice. The wood attached to the bottom runners of the goalies works well to insulate from the melting ice as you can see in the photos where the net left a deep impression in the ice.
We are most likely going to have to mend rinks by flooding and getting the bumps out. Thursday looks like the overnight temperature is good for a single coat.

Keep the warm weather away for a while,
Kurt
 



Monday, January 19, 2015

Fair Weather Flooding

Andre, Ian, John and Kurt did a scrape and a one coat on each tonight...
There were a couple of skaters that we had to turn away due to our efforts in preparing ice for tomorrow's shinny hockey.

I have made arrangements for next week, if needed, a heater for the tent. So far, tomorrow looks to be as fair weather as tonight.

Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt



Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Coach


Warm Night Tonight Makes Flooding Hard...

Kris, Ian, Andre, Jessie, Keith, and Kurt put on just one(1) coat on the upper rink tonight due to warm weather.  Although we are getting snow overnight and then rain tomorrow during the day... the upper rink didn't get any water on Monday.

Monday the team was Brad, Ian, John, Jeff and Kris. The put two (2) coats on the lower rink.

With warm weather over the weekend and double digits on Sunday, we hope Monday gets colder to put some water on the lower ice to get it ready for Shinny Hockey.

Kris organized a delivery of a tent for Shinny Hockey for the kids and their parents to keep warm. (not that they need it now). Due to the basement construction the kids will have a place to change and warm up as weather changes.  Grant started coaching the group of kid in the Shinny program this past Tuesday. Thanks to Jeff who has been helping Grant with the great turn out of skaters. Off to a good start in 2015.

Keep your stick on the ice,
Kurt