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Staff Writer
Maggie Newman
Big Lake Public works employees are braving the -11 degree temps Tuesday to make ice for the City's skate and hockey rinks.
Tuesday morning while most people were staying warm inside, city workers were braving the freezing cold temperatures outside to make ice for the city’s ice skating and hockey rinks.
The thermostat read -11 when city workers were out prepping the rinks and the cold water used proved to be warmer than the temps outside as the rising steam could be seen for blocks.In years past the public works department have had problems keeping the water in the hockey rinks long enough for it to freeze as the ground would not be solid enough to keep the water from soaking in. Also warm temps throughout the season have melted the ice so the water would soak up, leaving public works employees to have to keep refilling the rinks.
This year they have come up with a solution. Public works employees spent Tuesday morning and through the afternoon putting plastic liners in both hockey rinks and filling them with water. By the end of Tuesday both hockey rinks were starting to freeze and after a few final touches and cleaning with the Zamboni the rinks will soon be ready to use.Mike Goebel, public works director, said “it usually takes two or three weeks to get the rinks ready, but now it has turned into a one-day process and the liners are really working good”.Goebel also said on average they use 130 thousand gallons of water per hockey rink, so they are hoping that the liners will also help lower that number.
The Big Lake ice skate/ hockey rinks are usually ready to go by Christmas break, however last year it wasn’t until Jan. 11. Goebel said the ice skate/hockey rinks will be opening Monday at 3:30 p.m.
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