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An ice rink is a frozen body of water where people can skate or play winter sports. Some of its uses include playing ice hockey, figure skating exhibitions and contests, and ice shows. There are two types of rinks in prevalent use today, natural, where freezing occurs due to cold temperatures and artificial or mechanically-frozen where a coolant produces cold in the surface below the water of the rink, causing it to freeze. In lesser use is synthetic ice where skating surfaces are made out of plastics.
Many ice rinks consist of, or are found on, open bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, canals, and sometimes rivers; these can only be used in the winter in climates where the surface would freeze thickly enough to support human weight. Rinks can also be made in cold climates by enclosing a level area of ground, filling it with water, and letting it freeze. Snow may even be packed to use as a containment material.
A famous example of this type of rink is the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Canada, estimated at and long, which claims to be the "world's largest ice skating rink." The rink is prepared by lowering the canal's water level, letting the canal water freeze due to the low winter temperatures. The rink is then resurfaced nightly by cleaning the ice of snow and flooding it with water from below the ice. The rink is recognized as the "world's largest naturally frozen ice surface" by the Guinness Book of World Records. The Trail is cleared by volunteers with snow shovels and is long. This methodology is known as 'artificial ice' to differentiate from ice rinks made by simply freezing water in a cold climate, indoors or outdoors, although both types are of frozen water. A more proper technical term is 'mechanically frozen' ice.
A famous example of this type of rink is the Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval, a rink in Roseville, Minnesota, United States. It is claimed to be the "largest artificial outdoor skating surface" in North America. Another example is the outdoor rink at Rockefeller Center in New York. In 2008, an artificial rink of was constructed in the Zocalo public square of Mexico city, claiming to be the "world's largest."
Modern rinks have a specific procedure for preparing the surface:
* With the pipes cold, a thin layer of water is sprayed on the sand or concrete to seal and level it (or in the case of concrete, to keep it from being marked).
Between events, especially if the arena is being used without need for the ice surface, it is either covered with a heavily insulated floor, or melted by heating the fluid in the pipes.
A highly specialized form of rink is used for speed skating; this is a large oval (or ring) much like an athletic track. Due to their limited use, speed skating ovals are found in much fewer numbers than is true of the more common hockey or curling rinks.
Those skilled at preparing arena ice are often in demand for major events where ice quality is critical. The level of the sport of hockey in Canada has led its icemakers to be particularly sought-after. One such team of professionals was responsible for placing a loonie coin under center ice at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah; as both Canadian teams (men's and women's) won their respective hockey gold medals, the coin was christened "lucky" and is now in the possession of the Hockey Hall of Fame, after having been retrieved from beneath the ice.
There are basically two rink sizes in use (as below), although there is a great deal of variations in the dimensions of actual ice rinks. Historically, earlier ice rinks were smaller than today.
Ice hockey venues Category:Skating Category:Sports venues Category:Ice hockey
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![Ice skating and people watching. The ice skating rink is 200 feet by 80 feet (61 m × 24 m), but due to the rounded corners of the skating surface it totals 15,910 square feet (1,478 m2) of skating surface.[24][28] This is considerably larger than the Rockefeller Center rink which is 120 feet by 60 feet (37 m × 18 m).[32] The rink has a lobby for a respite from the natural environs, as well as toilets and public lockers.[3] During the 2003-04 season the rink rented 77,667 pairs of ice skates.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110110013139im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/45/1f/574bb0003f41ea5c54ac8312f9c1_grande.jpg "Ice skating and people watching. The ice skating rink is 200 feet by 80 feet (61 m × 24 m), but due to the rounded corners of the skating surface it totals 15,910 square feet (1,478 m2) of skating surface.[24][28] This is considerably larger than the Rockefeller Center rink which is 120 feet by 60 feet (37 m × 18 m).[32] The rink has a lobby for a respite from the natural environs, as well as toilets and public lockers.[3] During the 2003-04 season the rink rented 77,667 pairs of ice skates.")
![Ice skating and people watching. The ice skating rink is 200 feet by 80 feet (61 m × 24 m), but due to the rounded corners of the skating surface it totals 15,910 square feet (1,478 m2) of skating surface.[24][28] This is considerably larger than the Rockefeller Center rink which is 120 feet by 60 feet (37 m × 18 m).[32] The rink has a lobby for a respite from the natural environs, as well as toilets and public lockers.[3] During the 2003-04 season the rink rented 77,667 pairs of ice skates.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110110013139im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/45/1f/574bb0003f41ea5c54ac8312f9c1_thumb.jpg "Ice skating and people watching. The ice skating rink is 200 feet by 80 feet (61 m × 24 m), but due to the rounded corners of the skating surface it totals 15,910 square feet (1,478 m2) of skating surface.[24][28] This is considerably larger than the Rockefeller Center rink which is 120 feet by 60 feet (37 m × 18 m).[32] The rink has a lobby for a respite from the natural environs, as well as toilets and public lockers.[3] During the 2003-04 season the rink rented 77,667 pairs of ice skates.")
