Ice rink opens tonight
Mary Petrides
Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: News
After weeks of waiting for winter weather, students will have the chance to break out their skates when the ice rink opens tonight.
Student Activities Board will provide hot cocoa and cookies from 5 to 8 p.m. to celebrate the rink's opening.
Ice skates, borrowed from a local family, will be available for checkout one weekend, probably Feb. 5-7, Dell said.
"They've been generous to say we can use them for the weekend," Dell said.
Students may not play hockey on the ice yet, but Rebekah Dell, director of student activities, said SAB purchased two hockey goals and a bucket of street hockey balls from Wal-Mart for $150. They will be available for checkout when the ice is ready for hockey.
Senior Josh Trojniak, director of residence life and campus recreation, spent several days over Christmas break constructing the rink and pulled at least one all-nighter this week to prepare for its opening.
Trojniak took up the ice rink project after SAB discussed renting a rink for one day for the Winter Fest. After researching, Trojniak found that SAB could purchase a rink for less than the rental would have cost.
After completing the research, planning and approval, Trojniak spent about 40 hours working on rink construction and maintenance, he said.
The weather was too warm for the ice to freeze in time for the Winter Fest, originally planned for Jan. 13 then postponed till Jan. 22 and finally canceled.
Over break, the fire department flooded the rink, but until this week, too-warm weather has prevented the rink from freezing properly.
Associate Professor of Biology Dan York said filling the rink all at once prevented it from freezing properly.
Air is colder than the ground, York said, and water becomes denser as it cools. The water on the surface, closer to the cold air, will cool more quickly, then sink to the bottom because of its density. The water at the bottom, closer to the warmer ground, will warm up and become less dense, then rise to the top. Without extremely cold weather, this cycle is likely to continue indefinitely without and the rink is unlikely to freeze, York said.
Student Activities Board will provide hot cocoa and cookies from 5 to 8 p.m. to celebrate the rink's opening.
Ice skates, borrowed from a local family, will be available for checkout one weekend, probably Feb. 5-7, Dell said.
"They've been generous to say we can use them for the weekend," Dell said.
Students may not play hockey on the ice yet, but Rebekah Dell, director of student activities, said SAB purchased two hockey goals and a bucket of street hockey balls from Wal-Mart for $150. They will be available for checkout when the ice is ready for hockey.
Senior Josh Trojniak, director of residence life and campus recreation, spent several days over Christmas break constructing the rink and pulled at least one all-nighter this week to prepare for its opening.
Trojniak took up the ice rink project after SAB discussed renting a rink for one day for the Winter Fest. After researching, Trojniak found that SAB could purchase a rink for less than the rental would have cost.
After completing the research, planning and approval, Trojniak spent about 40 hours working on rink construction and maintenance, he said.
The weather was too warm for the ice to freeze in time for the Winter Fest, originally planned for Jan. 13 then postponed till Jan. 22 and finally canceled.
Over break, the fire department flooded the rink, but until this week, too-warm weather has prevented the rink from freezing properly.
Associate Professor of Biology Dan York said filling the rink all at once prevented it from freezing properly.
Air is colder than the ground, York said, and water becomes denser as it cools. The water on the surface, closer to the cold air, will cool more quickly, then sink to the bottom because of its density. The water at the bottom, closer to the warmer ground, will warm up and become less dense, then rise to the top. Without extremely cold weather, this cycle is likely to continue indefinitely without and the rink is unlikely to freeze, York said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Elsa
posted 1/28/10 @ 2:31 PM EST
Whose brilliant idea was it to buy street hockey equipment to play ice hockey? Usually one uses a hockey puck to play ice hockey.
Daniel Greene
posted 1/29/10 @ 2:59 AM EST
it's not a rink unless hockey is played on it. y'all just have a cute little ice sheet for a weekend.
Mike F. (Hillsdale parent)
posted 2/01/10 @ 12:28 AM EST
Au contraire Miss Petrides and the Collegian editors (but surely not Professor York...he's probably blushing for their sake).
Professor York is correct in that filling the rink all at once prevented the rink from freezing properly. (Continued…)
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