Jan. 14, 2016
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - While the Penn State men's hockey team (13-4-3, 3-1-0 Big Ten) will be taking the ice on Friday against Wisconsin (4-6-8, 1-3-2 Big Ten), there is a team behind the scenes that makes sure no item is missed when it comes to preparing the ice and facilities for game day.
Alan Wiser, a rink supervisor for Pegula Ice Arena and Penn State graduate, spoke about the diligent duties his employees perform the week leading up to home games. He discussed the many details the average hockey fan may not know about, and what it takes to create the home ice advantage for Penn State.
Wiser stated that all rink staff members on duty during games have thorough checklists they must follow to ensure everything is done efficiently and correctly. The checklist is essentially a manual to game day operations for all the behind the scenes team members that make the magic happen at Pegula.
It begins with ice preparation, and making sure the surface stays around 19 degrees.
"We monitor the temperature of both the community rink and the varsity rink throughout the week as well as during the games," said Wiser. "There's one person whose job it is to just monitor the ice, making sure it stays around the temperature we want."
Wiser said this duty is typically given to an employee from Penn State's Office of the Physical Plant.
When it comes to what fans see on the ice, Wiser explained that some of the lines below the surface are painted, while others are pieces of fabric laid down during the ice building process. The largest logo, the Nittany Lion at center ice, is a hand-painted design.
"That's quite a process," Wiser said of the time it takes to paint the Nittany Lion logo. "If you're ever up here during the summer when we do take the ice out and put it back in, try your best to be here."
The staff melts down the ice once a year, often in the springtime, to allow for maintenance. Pegula hosts several high school graduations and other events that don't require the presence of ice during the maintenance window.
When it does come time for ice to return to the main stage of Pegula, the rink staff knows just how much there needs to be. Something that the typical fan may not know is that the thickness of the ice is based upon the preference of the program skating on it.
"Between the [end zone faceoff spots], the ice is one and a quarter inch thick," said Wiser. "We like to have at least an inch and a half around the goalie area because that's where you get a lot of activity."
A frequently overlooked aspect of the rink is the color of the boards where it meets the ice. Often, teams choose a color that matches team uniforms.
Originally the Nittany Lions chose gray for the baseboards. However, on a television broadcast, the gray baseboards did not provide a great enough contrast with the black puck. After further thought, the baseboards were painted a shade of light blue to provide better contrast. During the process of choosing a new color there was one color that was off limits.
"[Head coach] Guy Gadowsky didn't really want to go with yellow," Wiser joked.
While Wiser oversees the many small details of maintaining Pegula Ice Arena, he credited his hard working staff that helps makes it all happen. Many of the members of rink staff who work game days are students.
Kaila Lessner, a senior science major, is one of the Zamboni drivers on game days.
"I figured skated for a long time," said Lessner. "Then I worked at a rink back home all through high school, so I kind of picked up where I left off. After three months [on rink staff in Greenberg Ice Pavilion] I started driving the Zamboni."
Lessner spoke about how her schedule varies, depending on the day, but spends many hours at the rink during the week and how the staff goes into "game mode" about two hours before puck drop.
"You get to see a behind the scenes look of it all," said Lessner. "On game day I rarely ever go up to the concourse, but when you're down here you don't really see that, but you know why everything is happening, what's happening where, and you get to be a part of stuff other people might not know about."
One item those on the concourse won't be able to see is the "mini Zam," an old shopping cart transformed by rink staff to hold the equipment used on the ice, such as the pegs that hold nets into the ice.
A new aspect to the rink staff's job this season is the addition of a "ride along" seat on one of the Zambonis. The seat allows a child under the age of 12 to sit alongside the Zamboni driver as they cut the ice between periods.
This new viewpoint was introduced during last weekend's home series against Minnesota and Wisner said it received immediate positive feedback. The first ride in the new seat was given to a THON child.
Other duties during the game that staff are responsible for are making sure the ice crew gets on and off the ice during timeouts, that any repairs to nets are attended to, and being prepared in case any panels of glass along the boards shatter or become dislodged.
While having many responsibilities, the rink staff is an essential part of the game day process, setting the stage for the growing program. Their roles may vary widely, but it's all in a day's work at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State hosts Wisconsin Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m. in Pegula Ice Arena.