On This Day in 1987—January 16

Back in the days before Cardigan had artificial means of maintaining a rink for the hockey team, the hockey coaches had to build up ice on the school’s 85’x200’ rink.

In a January 1987 issue of Notes from Cardigan, librarian Carol Shelton described the process:

Traditionally this is a job for the hockey coaches during the Christmas vacation. Turn on the hose, flood the rink, let it freeze, then repeat the process until ice builds up to 4 inches or so. If, however, days are bright and sunny raising temperatures into the 30s, ice can only be made in the cold of night. So those left on campus during the holidays, led by Jim Marrion, trek to the CSA after the 11:00 p.m. news to start the water flowing. And again early in the morning, way before dawn.

Relatively mild weather in 1986-1987 made it a challenge to build up the ice before students returned. On January 16th, 1987, a cold freeze finally made it possible for the hockey season to get underway in earnest.