Monday, January 30, 2017

Three Coats Tonight...Need Help Wednesday

We were hoping for a bigger turn-out tonight, however Andrew P., Austin, Craig and Kurt put down 3 coats tonight.

Total number of coats 43 on each.

I was able to manufacture new "toes" fore the steel goalies. It was becoming unsafe to have wood toes get damaged to the point where the goalies could tip over and hurt someone..
I installed them while Craig, Austin, Andrew P.,  prepared the ice.

Hope more of us can make it tomorrow. Please confirm...







Saturday, January 28, 2017

City of Calgary Winter Fest 150 Years!

Here are some photos from today's Winter Fest.
Craig and kids, Dave and kids, Jeff and kids, Bud walking his dog were down to enjoy some Tim Horton's and warm up by the new fire pit. The City also gave us 10 new lodge pole pine chairs!










Monday night MIGHT be cold enough for a flood. We could try flooding a couple of extra times next week to keep the ice up. Let's keep in touch for Tuesday and Wednesday as well as Thursday night.

Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt



Thursday, January 26, 2017

Squeezed a Heavy Coat Tonight

Special thanks to Ian, John, Jeff, Jamie and Kurt tonight putting down heavy single coat during this warm night. If was -3ºC when we started flooding.

Total Coats = 40 on each.
The City of Calgary has pointed out our community center as a spot to visit this Saturday. The weather is going to be warm and people are going to be out it large numbers visiting out ice and hall.

The City dropped off a very nice fire pit that will be used for the first time this Saturday 11 am to 3 pm.  Feel free to grab the skates and bring the kids to witness a great event.

Hope to see everyone on Sunday night for a good flood.

Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt



Tonight at 8:30 PM

It's a go tonight bet let's meet at 8-830PM
Let it get cold and we will do one medium coat tonight.
Cheers
Kurt


Monday, January 23, 2017

Two Coats Tonight. Hopefully Two Coats Tomorrow night TOO!

Total Number of Coats = 39 on Each

Thanks To: Craig, Keith, Andrew P., John, Austin, Larry (Skater and Resident), and Kurt for scraping, blowing the edges on the lower ice and carving out the benches.

This week is going to start warming up and we are looking to get another flood in tomorrow after shinny. Please make your way down, let me know if you can help Tuesday night around 7:30-8 pm.

Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt








Sunday, January 22, 2017

Snow Got In The Way Tonight...

Usually we get rid of the snow before flooding, but tonight before we could flood the snow falling made us pause. After accessing, Claire, Craig, Ian, Adrian, Dave, John, Jamie and Kurt could only look up and watch the snow continue to fall.

No water on tonight, so we are going to have to go tomorrow night MONDAY and may Tuesday after shinny.

We will need help, so see you tomorrow.


Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt


Saturday, January 21, 2017

Friday night Flood

Great day,

BIG Thanks to the team last night!
TWO COATS:
Total = 37 on Each.


Andrew G., scraping like mad.
Ian, slinging the hose and quality control
Craig, making sure the beer is up to standards and chilled.
Austin, keeping the pace.
Claire, working circles around everybody as usual.

Let’s go tomorrow, Sunday night at 8 pm.
If you haven’t brought beer down in a while, feel free. (hydration is important)

See you tomorrow night.

Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt


Thursday, January 19, 2017

Thursday Night's Team

 This is what one heavy coat looks like.
We were hoping to have more help tonight, but Kris, Ian, Craig and Kurt managed to scrape both sheets and put down ONE heavy coat on each.

Total Number of coats = 35

There needs to be more water put on... tonight's ONE coat is not enough. Can we get a Friday team tomorrow night to put on Two more coats. Weather looks colder tomorrow then gets really warm again next week.

We are also talking about moving the Monday night flood to Sunday night (like we did a few years ago). We would like some input on Sunday night versus Monday night. Please email your preference.

Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt



Wednesday, January 18, 2017

First Day of Shinny

John took this photo on Tuesday night. Grant coaching the new squad.
Thursday's flood looks too warm. Not sure if we can flood I will send out an email tomorrow.

Kurt



Sunday, January 15, 2017

Setting New Records!

Well first of all, it was a record turnout tonight...

Dave, Craig, Keith, Bud, John, Jamie, Ian, Claire, Adrian, Kris, Andrew P., Glenn and Kurt turned out on what seemed to be a mild and fair weather flood on a rare Sunday night (typically Monday night floods). We are considering making Sunday nights our regular flood nights again... we will keep you posted.

We scraped and flooded one coat on each and had to hydrate and wait for the first coat to freeze. Temperature was around 0ºC when we started flooding. As we determined that the surface was ready to receive a second coat, like hundreds of times before, we pulled the hose out to the limit on the upper ice and called out for someone to turn on the water.
To our amazement, the front end at the nozzle was frozen. - during our break we failed to get a the flow of water higher to prevent freezing.
It was a good thing we had a large crowd of people to all contribute into how to thaw the semi-frozen hose. After numerous debated thoughts, ideas and theories, it was HOT water and some patients that prevailed.  Only after trying to ram pipes in the front end and stomp on the rubber.

We can't remember the last time the hose was frozen. Some say it was sub -24ºC a decade ago. We were flooding last month in sub -20ºC and kept the hose flowing just fine. It was our beers that we had to pay attention to in December from freezing.

Well, we were eventually able to apply two coats tonight bring the
Total = 34




Finally after about 30 min we were able to set the H20 free and point it to the ice!
 

Keep the "flowing" hose on the ice,

Kurt




Saturday, January 14, 2017

Girl Skating the Morning After...

Bud snapped a shot of a girl out for a Friday morning skate Jan. 13th after Thursday night's flood.
Looks like it is a GO Sunday night!
See you down there around 8 PM tomorrow.

Keep the hose on the ice,
Kurt



Friday, January 13, 2017

Thirsty ICE

It has been a week since the ice took on some water. Jan 03 was the last flood (3 coats). With last nights 2 coats
Total = 32 coats on each.

Ian, Bud, Craig, Austin, Jeff, Mark (the new iceguy) and Kurt helped to scrape and flood.
With all the cold weather, it has remarkably preserved the surface of the ice... while also keeping the fair weather skaters off the ice.


 Remember this guy?
 Benchs are getting buried.
 View after the work last night
 Austin getting some tribal knowledge on snowblower from Kurt.
Ian on the nozzle laying down a glassy finish coat.


See you all again Monday night at 8 PM.

Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt





Monday, January 09, 2017

This Afternoon, Kris used the Blower and clean most of the Lower rink. Tonight; Kris, Andrew, Wayne & Bud cleaned both Rinks.

Sunday, January 08, 2017

Cold is Making for Good Ice

The weather is preserving our work and preventing most from skating.
We are in a full-on "winter" these days and it looks to be as cold for the next week. Not sure how it is going to snow on Monday at sub -20ºC, but the forecast is projecting it.

We can use the basement to warm up as we clean up the rinks... I will check the beer supply since I have been away I have no idea. If you can bring some ale to share you will be a really nICEguy! Because it's all about sharing cleansing ales afterall!

I am going to manage my way down tomorrow night, drive down. Looking forward to seeing everyone.  See you around 8 PM.

Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Thursday's Flood

A skeleton crew turned out Thursday.... (might have been the hockey game?)

But thanks to Jeff, Austin, Andrew G., and a dude from Thornhill named Milton they were able to carve back the encroaching edges and did a great clean.
footnote; Milton "likes to skate on all outdoor rinks". He goes on to say, "ours in one of the best!"

Two hours later, by the time the 4 of them finished the lower, the upper received another 5 cm.

Cheers to you guys.
Kurt


Tuesday, January 03, 2017

First Flood in 2017

Bone chilling temperatures and a tonne of shoveling didn't keep away Craig, Andrew G., Andrew P., Ian, Jeff, Keith, Claire or John. At -17ºC and feeling more like -22ºC, the team managed to push back the edges of the rink and scrape after the busy New Year's weekend. Putting on THREE coats while warming up at the fire pit, the Valiant team finished around 10:15 pm last night.

We haven't heard from the Shinny Hockey organizers yet, but Tuesday (today) would be the first day of the kid's shinny program. Ages 7-12, boys and girls get coaching from Grant Parks every Tuesday night from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm.

Monday nights are important now that the program is under way, so thanks again to the team last night!!!

We plan to be there Thursday night at 8:00 pm to get the rinks ready for the weekend. Craig and Kurt will not be able to make it, but we would like to know who can make it down. Jeff will be there.
Buddy took this photo on Dec. 29th showing a very impressive LARGE area of ice. The holidays would not have been the same with out it!




Keep the hose on the ice,

Kurt