Plenty of sunshine. High 87F. Winds light and variable..
Cloudy skies. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.
Trevor Sanders of Rink Services Group works on the ice at JFK Coliseum in Manchester last week.
Trevor Sanders of Rink Services Group touches up the paint around the blue line while getting the rink ready for ice hockey at JFK Coliseum.
Trevor Sanders (at left) and David Thorp of Rink Services Group paint the rink at JFK Coliseum in Manchester last week.
David Thorp of Rink Services Group pours red for the rink at JFK Coliseum in Manchester on Wednesday.
David Thorp of Rink Services Group sprays white paint on the ice at JFK Coliseum in Manchester on Wednesday.
Trevor Sanders of Rink Services Group touches up the paint while painting the lines at JFK Coliseum in Manchester on Wednesay.
Trevor Sanders of Rink Services Group works on the ice at JFK Coliseum in Manchester last week.
Trevor Sanders of Rink Services Group touches up the paint around the blue line while getting the rink ready for ice hockey at JFK Coliseum.
David Thorp of Rink Services Group pours red for the rink at JFK Coliseum in Manchester on Wednesday.
SUMMER’S DEMISE IS everywhere.
Monday was Labor Day, or what the media call the unofficial end of summer. Another sign? Today is the first day of school in Manchester.
But summer’s actual retreat started on Aug. 3 in the Queen City.
That’s when city workers turned on dehumidifiers at the West Side Arena and started lowering temperatures in the cavernous structure.
Then eight days ago, the West Side arena opened with 1½ inches of ice on its center rink.
Today, JFK Arena does the same with a sheen of nearly flawless ice on its center floor.
Ice. All summer, we’ve dumped it in soft drinks, cocktails and beach coolers.
But this isn’t tongue-pleasing cubes to offset a July afternoon sun. This is sheets of ubiquitous ice.
Ice — the bane of winter driving.
Ice — that hazard that turns ankles, bruises hips and wrenches knees.
Ice — that apocalyptical scourge envisioned whenever Mike Haddad heralds an upcoming “ice storm.”
Ryan Whittaker, supervisor of recreational facilities for the city of Manchester, has no misgivings about putting an icicle through the heart of our fading summer.
“I gotta do it. It’s my job,” he said.
He spoke to me at JFK last Wednesday morning. Outside it was 72 degrees and humid. Inside, the temperature was 59 degrees and any moisture had condensed on floor mats at the front of the building.
At center rink, ice formation was underway.
Such ice sparks a spring-like ecstasy in the hearts of some 450 area youth who belong to the Manchester Regional Youth Hockey Association.
All spring and summer they have been playing street hockey, lacrosse or other frost-free activities while pining for the ice of August, according to Steven Bellemore, president of MRYHA.
The organization had a barbecue last week at the West Side arena to celebrate the ice.
David Thorp of Rink Services Group sprays white paint on the ice at JFK Coliseum in Manchester on Wednesday.
Trevor Sanders (at left) and David Thorp of Rink Services Group paint the rink at JFK Coliseum in Manchester last week.
Over the next seven months, kids as young as 3 and as old as 18 will be gliding along the arenas with sticks in hand.
“We’re happy to be back into the swing of things,” said Bellemore. So happy, in fact, that his fee-funded organization will pay the city $450,000 for 1,500 hours of ice time between now and March.
Whittaker turned on the JFK dehumidifier on Aug. 10, a week later than the West Side arena. (He staggers the schedule to give his crews time to do the work.)
They started chilling the floor 10 days later.
Workers applied water with garden hoses Aug. 22.
“It starts with little or no fanfare, but it is a huge process to get it done. I would never say it’s a pain in the a --, but it’s a long process,” said Janet Horvath, recreation and enterprise manager at city parks.
She calls August crossover time for the city. The same crew that is making ice is closing the city pools.
About four miles of 1¼-inch tubing runs through the concrete at the floor of the JFK arena. The ductwork carries a hard-to-freeze brine solution that is chilled to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The compressors and 1,200 pounds of industrial-strength ammonia refrigerant are in a room at the east end of the building.
On Wednesday, Horvath invited me and photographer David Lane to be on hand for the painting of the ice.
The painting takes place when the ice is about half of its desired depth.
Trevor Sanders of Rink Services Group touches up the paint while painting the lines at JFK Coliseum in Manchester on Wednesay.
A golf cart with spray attachments lays down multiple layers of white. Workers then stretch normal knitting yarn, which outlines the blue and red lines for the hockey rink.
They’ll use paint sticks, rollers and brushes to apply the paint, including the center ice logo for Fay Electric Motors.
“This is the busy season,” said David Thorp, who had five rinks on his schedule last week.
He’s been painting and maintaining ice for four years now with the Exeter-based Rink Services Group.
He grew up playing hockey, and got a part-time job at the college rink. He drove the Zamboni, and he’s now a da Vinci of the ice.
His medium is too delicate for spikes or any gripping mechanism that could stabilize his feet.
“I’ve slipped; I haven’t completely fallen yet,” Thorp said. The paint, he said, has some grab to it, even when frozen.
Once the painting is completed and Thorp moves on, the ice-making resumes. But at this point, water is applied with almost a thin, atomizing spray.
And much of the work took place over this past weekend, as we started our runout of summer.
“It probably takes 20 coats for three-quarters of an inch,” Hovath said. “Small, thin layers freeze hard, with no air bubbles.”
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Would you like to receive our daily news? Signup today!
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.