TOPEKA (KSNT) – We are ten days away from hockey returning to the capital city!
Crews at the Stormont Vail Events Center have been hard at work this week preparing the ice for the upcoming Topeka Scarecrows season that starts on Oct. 16. But how is the ice at the Events Center prepared for hockey matches?
Assistant General Manager and Director of Operations at the Stormont Vail Events Center, Matt Rockers said the preparation starts with a clean slate floor to get the ice ready for puck drop.
“So, we start, obviously day one with a clean, bare concrete floor. And then we start putting dashers in ice. Come out day two, we put down a clear coat and then the white paint that you see and then we clear coat over the top of that as well,” Rockers said. “[We] start putting all the lines, the blue lines, the red lines, goal crease, all the markings and get our center lines figured out.”
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According to events center staff, it takes 500 gallons of water mixed with white powder to give the ice its white appearance. On the third day, the logos are painted to the ice, which I got the opportunity to paint the Fox 43 logo on the Stormont Vail Events Center ice. The logos are first stenciled and then filled in with colored paint. All the logos the public can see at the events center can take up to 18 gallons of paint to be made.
On day four and five, the staff resurfaces the ice multiple times before it is finally ready for game use. Rockers said it then takes ten to 12 thousand gallons of water to make a sheet of ice. Once the process of putting the ice in is finished, teams are skating on about an inch and a quarter of ice. Rockers said that staff will lay tiles down on the ice to preserve it during special events.
The Topeka Scarecrows will play this weekend at the Advent Health Sports Park in Overland Park for an intrasquad game. The puck drops at 7 p.m. and tickets are at $10. The Scarecrows open up their season Friday, Oct. 16 against the Indiana Sentinels at 7:00 p.m. at the Stormont Vail Events Center.
KSNT 27 News is a proud sponsor of the Stormont Vail Events Center and our sister station Fox 43 KTMJ is a proud sponsor of the Topeka Scarecrows.
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