[MUSIC] Mike, thank you so much for inviting us to the ice arena today. >> My pleasure. >> Having ice arenas is a wonderful activity and a wonderful thing to have on college campuses. How old is this place? How long does this go back? >> This was first built in 1931. >> 31. >> And by George Huff, actually. >> As in Huff Hall? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Old athletic director. >> Okay, and is the same building and ice we're going to see from the 1930s? >> Well, we've gone through a few renovations, thankfully. But we're known as the big pond and it used to be 130 feet wide. Now we're 115 feet wide. But most ice rinks are only a 100 feet wide. So it looks much bigger at our facility. And we're just under 200 feet long and that's how long most rinks are is 200, some might be 180 feet. >> Okay, is there a regulation size for hockey? >> NHL now goes by 85 feet wide and 200 feet long. >> Okay, so you need to squeeze in your side boards or something or- >> Yeah, but I think if we do a renovation, we'll still stay 100 feet wide. International play is 200 by 100. And we like the larger ice. The more people that can be on the ice, the more cardio you're going to get. >> That's right and the fun the more students can take part in the activity. >> Exactly. >> Now I understand that, because my son used to be on hockey teams, that ice time is really valuable. >> Yes. >> Practices at 3 AM. Are people still doing that? Are they still crazy and using this place 24 hours a day? >> We are open as late as 2 AM on the weekends, not always, and then as late as 1 AM. Students have to go home and sleep, right? So we open as early as 5:30 in the morning. So you could say 5:30 AM to 2 AM but that's really stretching it. >> Yeah. >> We do have a packed schedule. We serve not just the university students and all the clubs and organizations but the community as well. And I know they appreciate the university having an ice rink for them. >> Absolutely, ice rinks are rarer than you think. It's not every university that has one. >> Right. >> In fact, down state, south of Chicago it's here. I know there's one in Springfield, right? >> In Bloomington. >> Okay, Bloomington. >> And Decatur. >> And Decatur. >> Peoria. >> Today it's cold outside, but you're always open, or almost always open except in the middle of summer. So how do you keep it frozen? >> Well, we have pipes running across the cement floor inside the cement. And it's through a brine water solution that runs much colder than the freezing point of ice water. And that runs at maybe 10 to 15 degrees and it freezes the surface and then as we lay water on top, it freezes the water. >> Okay. >> The ice is only an inch to two inches thick and the less ice, the cheaper cost to freeze. The thicker the ice, the more it's going to cost. So we don't want to get it too thick. >> Okay, that's great. So I noticed you brought in some ice skates, right? >> So we have two different kinds of ice skates here. This is the traditional Riedell Ice Skate that we've for many years. And then this is a softer boot and people seem to really like the new modern looking boot. But if you notice on both, there is two edges on the ice skate. So you'd push off on the ice, one way or the other to get a little traction, to be able to move forward. So it's not just moving forward like this. You need to be able to turn your ankles just a little bit and dig into the ice and push off. >> So, if you look at the cross section, the edges stick out farther. So it's like a little hollow- >> Yeah. >> Between two edges, right? It's flatted with a hollow in-between. >> And we can tell if it's balance when we put a penny or a quarter on top and if it sits there, balance is great. If it actually is not, you can really tell and you can actually see a little bit of a hollow in there when you lay a coin across. >> Okay. >> If you have roller skated, similar concept. If you have skied, skis go very fast down hill. But sometimes you have to go across the terrain or maybe even up hill a little bit. And the only way you're going to be able to do that, is if you turn your skis or your skates outside a little bit to gain a little traction. I always like to tell people it's like dancing with Axl Rose, the way he used to. I don't know, that may be before your time. >> So let me take this opportunity to tell a little bit about the physics of ice skating, the science of ice skating, why it actually works. Now many people think, and this is actually in older books. That what happens is when you have pressure, you actually lower the freezing point of a material. And that is true. But if you do the math, you shouldn't be able to ice skate most of the time. If it's right near freezing, if your ice was right at 32 Fahrenheit, right at 0 or a little below, obviously so it was frozen. That pressure hypothesis would actually work. You would actually end up melting the water because of that additional pressure. But it turns out that the reason ice is slippery is that there is a thin layer of water on top of it, very thin, nanometer thin. Always, whether or not you're putting a skate with the extra pressure. And you might ask why? Water is an unusual molecule. Water actually expands when it freezes. Everybody knows that, right? Every time you put a beer or a bottle of pop, leave it outside, right? Pop, top comes off or the bottle breaks, right? Or bottle of milk, right? We all know water expands when it freezes. But that's not normal. Most liquids, freezing means you increase in density, right? The molecular motion gets slower and slower and slower, and it freezes and it contracts, it actually gets smaller. So water's ability to do this, to expand when it's frozen is because it's an extremely polar molecule. You have an oxygen with two hydrogens on it and the hydrogens, of course, are the smallest element, one electron. So it's quite a dipole moment. And the crystal structure that water makes actually has more space in it than the liquid water would have. So, this is great if you're inside the crystal. If you're inside the crystal where everything forms these nice polar bonds. But on the surface of water, there isn't something to complete that crystal structure. So the molecules on the very surface of water are still in this amorphous non-crystalline liquid state. Where they can move past one another fairly easily. If water gets too cold, if ice is too cold, then even that small, thin layer freezes. But that happens at about minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit, minus 20 degrees Celsius. So ice, really cold ice, is not as slippery. But of course, in an ice arena like this, since you chill it with a salt brine water solution. And remember, we all learned the Fahrenheit temperature scale? Zero was as cold as you can make a salt water solution. So this ice will never get below zero Fahrenheit. It's just physically impossible given how they do the cooling system. So it'll always be slippery. >> Very interesting, I did not know that. >> Mm-hm. >> Yeah I would say, our ice, it's probably around 20 degrees and hockey players want it colder. >> Right. >> Harder, faster and then, like you said, the ice is going to have some cushion in it. >> Mm-hm. >> So the figure skaters like it to be maybe a little warmer, a little thicker and jumping on the cement as much as they're jumping on that cushion of ice. >> Yeah. >> And we have center headers and then pipes going out and looping back and coming around to the return line. [CROSSTALK] >> And how much concrete is on top of those pipes that are under- >> It's a quarter-inch above the pipe. It's a one inch pipe embedded in a inch and a half- >> Inch and a quarter, inch and a half of concrete. So a quarter inch under the concrete is where you've got the cold pipes. >> It might be two inches of concrete, now that I think about it. >> Okay, yeah, [INAUDIBLE]. >> And there are chairs, and there's going to be a little movement. And then there's four inches of insulation than our old floor. It's supposed to be a thermal barrier. >> Okay. >> Hot deck, and it's not working now. And so, we had permafrost here years ago. So we actually had to heave in our cement. >> Really? >> Had to cut that out, thaw the ground out, put a new floor on top. So then we had a subfloor. But that old floor finally failed on us, so we added the top floor. >> Well that is, like you said, 80 years old. >> Exactly. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay, so we got, you do an inch to two inches of ice, then you've got a quarter inch of concrete, you've got the pipes that carry the salt solution. And then some more concrete, and then some floor that gives you insulation between them and the ground. >> Insulation, two panels of two inch insulation, so four inches thick. >> Four inches of insulation. >> Of insulation. >> Right. >> Little Visqueen and then the old concrete slab. >> Then there's more concrete below that? >> Yeah. >> Okay, because you need it level. You don't want to be sliding downhill on an ice, right? >> Yeah, we had a little bit of an issue with that. [LAUGH] >> Okay. >> But not as bad as it used to be. The heave was over ten inches and kids literally could skate from center ice to the boards backwards without as much problem as they could skate back to center ice, because it is slow, yeah. >> All right, so we have a completely empty concrete floor and you gotta go make the ice, right? So like making the doughnuts, get up early, and what do you do? >> So we have this big agricultural spreader here, and it is tied, connected to a 250 foot hose, 2 inch diameter hose. And we walk across the rink floor in a pattern, different patterns, about 75 times. >> Okay. >> It lays a thin mist of water so it gets smooth and less air bubbles- >> And how do you not slip as you're walking? >> -less pockets That's a good question. We occasionally do. >> [LAUGH] >> We have little cleats that we can put on our feet if we chose. We offer that to anybody and a lot of people chose not to, to be honest. Thankfully we don't slip to much. It's kind of fun. >> All right, so first you hose it down, fine mist. Right, and then out comes the Zamboni, or? >> No. >> Okay. >> Like I said, we do it a good amount of times, let's say 25 times we'll lay this and- >> Just walk the ice with your hose. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And then we will bring out vinyl. Where we used to paint the ice, we now lay vinyl red lines, the vinyl blue lines. >> The lines, the lines, okay. You don't just spill cherry juice? >> No, and we used to paint the ice. We used to paint the logos. >> Was that real paint? >> Yes. >> Good, now you just got a cut out there. >> Tempered paint, a water soluble paint. >> Okay. >> And it literally freezes the ice as soon as you put the paint down, it freezes the ice. There's a little bit of an art work involved and it's not as environmentally friendly as vinyl. And we get to reuse the vinyl, so that's the best thing about vinyl. >> So now it's like a big cut out. You just lay it down. >> Yeah, more or less. >> It's like the guys, what are those big heads called? >> Fatheads? >> Fatheads! It's like a big Fathead. Stick it on ice. Got it and there we go. It's almost translucent. >> So and that helps the water flow through it so it pretty much freezes in the water versus a lot of times it might sit up. If we don't lay it right, there will be a bubble in it and then we got to figure out how to get it to lay flat. >> Pass this around. This is the blue line under the ice rink. Okay, hey Bill welcome to how things work. >> Thank you. >> And you're going to tell us about how to make ice and put lines in it and do all that great stuff. >> Right, so where Dave kind of left off is we put all vinyl lines down. >> Okay. >> And so you have vinyl sitting on ice kind of frozen in, but not very thick. So before you can drive the Zamboni, which you all notice has studded tires, so it can heat up that vinyl a little bit. You want to get the vinyl frozen in. So we'll probably do maybe 40 more passes with the sprayer. >> Wow. >> Get it thick enough. >> This is a time consuming process. >> It can take, depending on the hours we work, four days to a week. >> Wow. >> Some people work late in the evenings, early mornings, all day. >> Wow, all day to make the ice. >> Yes. >> Now do you only have to do this once a year? >> Yes, typically, we do it once a year because we close down in the summertime. >> Okay. >> This year, we're staying open in the summertime. So we're not taking the ice out, we're just going to keep the same ice down. >> Okay. >> So after we get enough water on top of the vinyl, it’s all frozen in, we could drive the Zambonis maybe. >> So what’s the thickness of the ice at this point? >> Maybe about an inch. >> That much on it? >> It could be a little less. >> So the whole first inch is all done by hand spraying? >> Most of it is. >> Okay. >> Then we'll drive the Zambonis out, you can lay water a lot faster with the Zamboni. A lot less people, a lot less you're paying staff do it. One person can do it. So we'll do that for maybe a day just to kind of build it up. And then we get to the point where we're ready to skate on the ice. We still want to build it up more but we can open and have activities on the ice. >> Okay, so that color stuff it's like a half inch under the surface, about? >> Depending on where you're at on the ice. Our corners tend to get a lot thicker anywhere two to four inches. The Zamboni drivers drive a lot slower around the corners. They flood up, it gets thicker, so those lines are really harder to see. And then Dave talked about the concrete not being level. >> Right. >> So there's a few places where to concrete sits a little higher, so those vinyl lines are sitting a little closer to the top of the ice. >> Okay. >> So we constantly have to drill the ice to make sure we're not going to shave off the lines. >> Got it, got it. All right, so tell us about this machine. >> Okay. >> Why first is it called Zamboni? Is it just going to tell in company? >> Zamboni is a brand name. >> Okay. >> Originally designed by Frank Zamboni years ago. So the generic term would be ice resurfacer. >> Aha, sort of like Kleenex and facial tissues. >> But most people refer to it as a Zamboni. >> Got it. >> That's what you're going to hear. >> Okay. >> So let me explain just the basic- >> Yeah, yeah please. >> How to resurface the ice? >> Yeah. >> So coming back here there's three main functions of a Zamboni. The first thing, if you guys want to get closer and look in a little bit. There's basically a razor blade the whole width of the back of the machine. Pretty heavy, very sharp, if you touch it with your finger, it'll cut you. >> Don't touch it with your finger. >> Don't touch it. >> Okay. >> So what that does, you set it at a certain level and that's going to shave a bunch of slush and snow. It gets into the augers right here, horizontal augers. The horizontal augers are going to kick the snow into the vertical augers, which goes up here and throws the snow into the tank. So it shaves it, gets ground up. >> It throws it? This whole thing just, this whole part- >> It'll go down. So right now it's up because we dumped the snow. >> Right, and that's where all the slush goes that you're clearing off of the ice, okay. >> So that's kind of the first step you do. Then inside the conditioner here- >> Mm-hm. >> There's what is called the wash water system. That is shooting water onto the ice inside the conditioner. And what that does is it washes the ice and it also fills in some of the deeper ruts we get from maybe hockey skating. So that water shoots in, then it gets sucked back up. Some of the water stays in the grooves of the ice. >> Okay. >> And then in the very back of the machine, we have the ice making water. And that's a hotter water that comes off the back of the machine. And as you can see, there's a towel on here too which will help smooth that out to make a smooth surface. >> The hot water does a good job really smoothing out the ice a little bit. >> So hot water goes down? >> Hot water. >> And the towel then goes over it. >> Yes. >> And how much of each pass, how much ice do you build up generally? >> It's less than eighth of an inch. >> Okay. >> I mean, it's not a lot. >> Okay. >> So you kind of want to, you're shaving off a tank of snow, you kind of want to put back what you took out. >> Right, right. >> So. >> Right, but then you can adjust the amount you're shaving or the amount you're putting down. >> Right, so- >> So you can build it up over time. >> After a busy public skate, we really want to shave a lot more, try to make the ice smoother. >> Uh-huh. >> If we have a few people skating, you don't need to shave as much. >> Okay. >> So you might take the opportunity to build up the ice while it's thin. >> Okay. >> Well up here, right here is your board rush. >> To clean the side wall? >> The Zamboni shaves, it can't get all the way to the wall, so you have this much of an area. So you want to get the surface snow, kick it into the machine. In the evening, I'll take you guys back over here. That machine is an edger, it's like a lawnmower on the ice. >> Okay. >> So you're not shaving that spot around the edge of the ring, so it builds up. So every night, we run the edger around the perimeter of the rink to shave it down to get it level with the rest of the ice surface. >> All right, and then of course, you have to carry your own water, right? And that's what the tank is for. >> This is your ice making water tank which comes off the back, the hot water. And up in here, we have your wash water tank which is a lot smaller because it recycles the water. >> Got it, got it. And then since you don't want, you're inside, you don't want air pollution and coughing so it all runs on electricity. >> Right, both machines are electric. The one catch with the electric machines, you get about eight resurfaces and then you have to charge it. >> Yeah. >> In a typical day, we do more than eight resurfacings. So there are two machines. We switch them out, put one on charge, the other one can do eight cuts basically. >> Great, great, fascinating. All right, should we go see the ice? So here I am in center ice and we can see several important things. First, under the snow, which would now has made the ice a little less clear. We can see the vinyl lettering, the beautiful I for Illinois. And also, you can see why you need a think like a Zamboni. Here's the snow they talk about when people go past with their blades, they kick up some of the ice. And if you just didn't resurface this, they actually get worse and worse, they are more and more divots and lines and score marks. Especially when people jump and use the toes of their skates, right? That actually makes quite a big a scratch. So you need to shave off a portion and then fill it back in with water so it freezes again. And that's why they resurface the ice every day. And that's how ice skating works. [MUSIC]
