Thank You "IceGuys"...

 Grant, the head coach of the shinny program, wrote;

"Hello Ice Guys, thank you for resurrecting the ODR over the Family Day weekend. It was in sad shape and I know you put in a lot of work to bring it back to life. Shinny was cancelled on Tuesday because it was too cold. It’s been an odd winter. We rescheduled it for tonight and the ice was fantastic!

 

There are 34 kids signed up for the shinny program this year and about 13 kids participated tonight. There was a lot of snow on the ice and the parents basically cleared the entire rink. It was very kind of them and greatly appreciated.

 

Your efforts have brought a lot of joy to the public and to the kids participating in the shinny program.

 

I have attached a few videos to this note to say: THANK YOU ICE GUYS!"

To all of the volunteers that make Rosemont's Ice the best in the city, and who have sacrificed there time by braving the cold temperatures at night... Put down your shovels and take a bow.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Better than Ever...

 3 Coats tonight brings the grand total to 48 coats on the lower.

Mother nature is giving us a second chance.

Big thanks to Daniel, Bill, Andy, Kris, Craig and Kurt for laying down the water tonight. Shinny was moved from Tuesday night to this evening. The snow was removed by the parents and we cleaned it up  before the H2O.

Its all ready for the weekend now. Nice job everyone!!!

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

It's ALIVE again!...

 We have successfully brought the lower rink back to life. Upper is dead!

Lower rink 45 coats (laster year 75) at -20ºC

The the surgeons that helped to keep the ice alive broke in to two teams. The first team was Peter, Kurt, Bill, Chris, and John. Peter and Kurt got down early to start blowing off the packed down snow from the night before. Then incomes the two specialists, John and Bill. It took the four of them another two hours of prep. Foot by square foot, with shovels sometimes upside down to get off the caked on snow that stuck to the surface.

Peter in the background and Kurt blowing off .

We needed to get something to eat after 3 1/2 hours of removing the snow. 

Second team arrives at 8 pm.  Like clockwork this team of specialists,, Bill, John, Daniel, Willem, Craig, Chris and Jeff managed the freezing temperatures by the fire and laid down 4 coats of H2O to bring the total this year to 45 coats.

The second team got close to the fire and also got close to freezing the nozzle at -20º C.

Shinny is supposed to be tonight with 24 kids that last week could not skate because the ice was melting. Tonight it is -25ºC and too cold to skate. CRAZY weather we are having. 

They should move the shinny this week to Thursday at -5ºC.

Well done everyone!

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Before Easter, Resurrection...

Upper 38 ice and is not good, toast, bye bye, next year...

Lower 41 coats at -10ºC 

Resurrection is the word!. We almost gave up on the season, but we have another week of weather that is looking good to keep the frozen water together.

Bill, Andrew P., Craig, Chris and Kurt were very happy to find the lower ice was cleared. Peter, and his wife Elizabeth, came down early in the afternoon to blow off the 5" of snow that fell the night before. THANKS!

We put down two coats on the lower and managed to salvage it on the west 2/3rds. The run-off from the parking has left it lumpy. Good news is the drain gate that we have maintained over the winter is working to let the run-off flow down to the creek. Good Idea... I think it was Kris'.

Calgary Flames on the radio and another win. Solid first in the Pacific Division.

Looks to warm to flood tonight, so lets keep on alert for a weekend clear of snow. Sunday may need some help blowing and scraping.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

kurt

Dave the New IceGuy....

 Upper 38 Coats

Lower 39 Coasts

-16ºC

Great turnout tonight 

New IceGuy DAVE (welcome)

Bill (Making the rest of us Look Bad), met with DAVE (the new iceguy) this afternoon. Both of them cleared off the snow to give us an easy scrape tonight THANK YOU!!!

Crew; Jamie, Craig, Andrew P., Peter, John, the new iceguy Dave, and Kurt.

Looking back this season, we have had a challenge every week to keep the ice skate-able, so thanks everyone for he great commitment.  We have the best ice in Calgary thanks to you.

Left to right;

Jamie, Craig, Andrew P., Peter and the new iceguy Dave.

Let's keep an eye on the weather next week. Hopefully we can flood again soon.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Ready for Shinny. Shinny is Cancelled!

Upper = 36 coats

Lower = 37 coats

-15ºC..

Big thanks to Chris, Bill, Craig, Peter, and Kurt for laying down 3 COATS on each. Seems like it's been a week of just ONE coat a night due to the warm climate this past week. Barely freezing at night.

Now, a we are getting winter back. Great for the ice, but not for shinny unfortunately. Tuesday, tomorrow, will get to -16ºC, but the wind chill @ -26ºC. Too bad cause the ice looks great. 
Then, the following week is plus+ temperatures again and sun is high in the sky. 

First coat to fill in the cracks.

Parking lot run-off actually levelled out pretty good.

Very focused team tonight, from left to right (cause they are so layered up);

Chris, Craig, Bill, and Peter laying down the first coat on the lower.

Lets go Thursday night at 8 PM and get it ready for the WARM weekend.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

 
 

Ready for the Weekend...

 Great turnout tonight, Adrian, Jamie, Kris, Peter, Chris, Andrew P., Craig, Bill, and Kurt helped to clear the leaves and sticks by scraping the fairly good ice after the hot days with sun.

Total Coats (-3º C if we are lucky)

Upper = 33coats

Lower = 34 coats

Fairweather IceGuys...

We figured we'd have a better turnout tonight with such warm weather. The Skeleton Crew tonight;

Craig, Chris, Peter, Andy and Kurt cleared the rinks with the poly shovels with metal edges. We used these shovels in oder to scrape the ice as clean as we could before laying down ONE medium coat. Overnight temperatures are just -7ºC.

Shinny will be good tomorrow. 

Total Coats (-7º C if we are lucky)

Upper = 32 coats

Lower = 33 coats

 

First flood in a week.

Kids had fun making an island.

11 am this morning.

Melting run off from the parking lot on Sunday.

Let's plan on Thursday night at 8 PM.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

We Made the Newspaper...

 

Our hard work is not unnoticed.  This weekend will be busy, let's plan to clean and see what the weather is like tonight at 8 pm.

Way to go everyone.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

It Was Cold Enough...

 Craig, Peter, Andrew P., Kris, Chris, Bill, John,  and Kurt cleaned and flooded tonight, by laying down 3 coats on each ice.

Total Coats (-17ºC felt like -24ºC)

Upper = 31 coats

Lower = 32 coats

Closer look at the condition of the ice today before shinny.

We were lucky that it froze last night before the wind.

You find all kinds of things on the ice.

We need better shovels to clean with.

The metal shovels are leaving ridges on the ice that are hard to level when flooding.

Finished coat is a beautiful thing.

This was in a bookstore:

Big topic tonight around the fire was how much we are tired of Covid Talk and when are we getting back to normal. (As are most people in the world).

We will continue to keep an eye on the weather but shoot for Monday if we can GO Thursday.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Correction! Today was the Warmest Day of the Year...

 No coats tonight due to the Global Warming.

But big thanks to the GANG that came out tonight. 

Daniel (cameo appearance), Bill, Peter, Kris, Craig, Jamie,  and Kurt cleaned up the surface ready to take a BIG beating on the weekend with +temperatures Saturday and Sunday.

Photo taken this morning around 11 am from the main hall.

The iceguys working on the strategy for Monday night.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Warmest Day of The Year...

 Posted 3 days ago... -23ºC on Thursday. Tonight plus 3ºC.

So we, Bill, Peter, John, Andrew P., Craig, Chris, Kris, and Kurt did a good clean and scrape for the shinny tomorrow night. Too warm to flood unfortunately. 

John pointed out on Thursday last week that the goalies runners are all busted up. So, Kurt made some new and improved ones with puck board laminated to the bottom. John and Kurt installed tonight. Should be good for years to come.

Not too busy tonight considering the weather is so warm. A skater that we talked to, his name was Marcus, comment how nice our ice is. We told him we make it by hand and he said, "Outdoor rinks with Zambonis aren't as nice"! Great to hear that our hard work is noticed by skaters that appreciate it.

The crew hydrating after a scrape.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

Many Hands Made Light Work...

 We attacked the ice tonight with all we could throw at it.

Total Coats. (-23ºC)

Upper = 31 coats

Lower = 32 coats

Thanks to Bill, Craig, Peter, Chris, John, Andrew P., and Kurt for layering up and clearing the snow and flooding.  The condition of the ice took a beating since we haven't flooding for three weeks.

Both rinks were very thirsty for the H2O. Well done everyone. The weather is getting more bearable this weekend so this flooding is going to be perfect. 

Let's go again on Monday night at 8 pm.

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt

First night back on the ice in 2022...

 Well, it's great to get the gang back on the ice after the holiday break, BUT wow, what a cold night!

Thanks to Bill, Peter, Craig, Chris, Andrew P., and Kurt for getting out there and getting it done. A wee bit cold to flood tonight at -24ºC without the wind, so we did a good blow and scrape to keep the rink from getting any smaller. Cut back the banks and as you can see in the photo, we are good to go.

Kurt took this shot at 11 am this morning at -20ºC. People still love to strap on the blades.

Nice and clean tonight ready for the week of sub zero temperatures.

Let's plan to flood Thursday night at 8 PM.

See you all then,

Keeping the hose on the ice,

Kurt