Aug 22, 2024 | By: Matthew Freeman

Sanford Center Gets Ready for BSU Hockey with Ice-In Process

The first day of school in Minnesota might be arriving sooner than most were hoping for, but the return of the school year also means that Bemidji State hockey will soon kick off their season. To prepare for that, the Sanford Center started their ice-in process on Tuesday for the Beavers’ hockey rink.

With the Beaver Hockey season approaching soon, the Sanford Center has begun putting the rink together. However, even with an entire crew working together, it is still a very lengthy process.

“Today, we actually brought in our in R&R Specialties, they’re a professional company out of the [Twin] Cities. They’re helping us get through the process a little bit quicker and help our new crew,” said Nate Anderson, the Sanford Center’s Ice Operations Manager, “The process of putting in ice, it’s going to be a longer day starting from a bare floor. By the end of the day, we’ll have a white floor, all the lines and all the logos put in.”

The actual process of putting the ice in may not have a lot of steps, but each step is repeated multiple times for the best results.

“We’re putting a few coats of just plain water down first,” explained Anderson, “Once we have that down, we’re going to mix in white paint into the water. We’ll put three coats of white paint down. After that will seal that in with a few more layers of just water, and then we’ll start painting our lines. All the logos on the ice will go in after that. They’re a mesh logo that we put into the ice, seal in with a sprayer, and then we’ll go back to adding more clean layers to seal it all in.”

This process makes the ice as smooth as possible for easier skating and for the safety of the players.

“The process that we’re using, adding layers very thin at a time helps us build a harder, more compact ice,” Anderson stated. “For hockey, having that nice smooth surface is the safest to play on. It’ll stand up a lot better to the long hockey season that we have here as well as the [NCAA Division I] college athletes kind of tend to beat it up, having that nice compact ice is going to help us get through the whole season.”

And the Sanford Center wanted to add a personal touch this year, as a center logo that is normally just printed on the ice was hand-painted for the upcoming season.

“We decided to paint the center ice Beaver logo this year because it will end up being a better product in the end, it’ll last a lot longer throughout the season, and it gives our little personal touch to the ice as well,” added Anderson.

With the rink and the logo now fully complete, BSU fans are itching to get back in the bleachers to cheer on their favorite Beavers.

“Coming off of last season, we definitely have some big shoes to fill, but I bet the team can get it done this year,” commented Anderson. “So a lot of excitement going into this season. We all talk about the itch, now that the ice is going in, we’re all starting to get the itch for hockey games to come back.”

Monday, August 26th will be the first official practice for the Beavers at the Sanford Center, with the first home game for the women on September 27th versus Ohio State and for the men on October 12th against St. Cloud State.

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