Minjee Cho ’19, Bryce Nabulsi ’19: When driving into Episcopal something people tend to notice are the athletic facilities; whether it is the turf fields, tennis courts, or athletic center. However, there is one thing missing: an ice hockey rink. There have been many attempts to create a rink that can be used during the winter season and be easily taken down when spring comes. In the 2015-16 season, the plan was to put the rink on the tennis courts, but there was a major obstacle. “The tennis courts were not level: we would have had to fill up one side with 26 inches of water before it would reach 1 inch on the other,” explained Christopher Lauer, Associate Director of Facilities. “For this reason, the ice rink was moved to the football stadium. It was a strategical move, because now there is an even surface to work with. But even with the new location the ice rink still seems to have problems. It really hasn’t been usable since we put it out there. It just hasn’t been cold enough for long enough to be a substantial piece of ice.” Mark Notaro, Director of Facilities, said, “The original location was not flat enough for the type of rink we purchased. We had to move it to Smith Field because that was the flattest surface on campus that was large enough to accommodate a rink of that size.”
Campus safety is another issue with the current location of the ice rink. Since it is located on the main stadium, it is quite close to the entrance and exit of the campus. Lauer, along with other facility employees, is concerned about the ice rink’s lack of security. He says that people “driving by the campus could enter campus, and jump the shallow fence surrounding the ice rink. jeopardizing campus safety.” The crew is thinking about a new location, deeper into the campus where the ice rink might be concealed and protected. “The new plan is to form the rink behind the maintenance center on the lower fields; this way the team can use the center to change and store their gear while keeping the rink in a logical place.”
The ice rink needs a substantial piece of ice, like Lauer mentioned. Notaro explained, “Currently there is only about 1/2″ of ice at the rink. We need 4” to be able to provide a safe surface on which to skate.” Even if they had been able to get the water even, there was not enough cold weather to freeze it into ice, leaving them “completely weather dependent.” In fact, the only time the conditions were perfect for freezing the ice was when it was covered with over thirty inches of snow. Although this problem seems beyond control, Lauer is working to try the same strategy again next year. Although the ice rink will be dismantled for spring sports, next season the facilities department will try again. “Our goal is to have the rink set up a couple of weeks earlier next year and hopefully the weather will allow for time for our hockey teams to use it,” Notaro explained.
While the facilities directors are discussing the topic of how to make the rink weather independent, the team is suffering: they have no on-campus rink to practice with, and as Nate Hunter ‘19 says, “The team only practices on the ice on Mondays and Wednesdays, but we do team runs and workouts every other day.” However, Nick Peyton ‘19 had another opinion on the issue. He says, “Having an ice rink on campus would be nice, but we really don’t need one, the team’s doing fine.”