Cold conditions in the ice rink

Cold conditions in the ice rink

Nick May 27, 2021

I have two sons who are heavily involved in ice hockey.

They each have practices nearly every evening during the week and games on the weekends.

We often travel across multiple states and up into Canada for tournaments. Their intensive schedule means that I spent a lot of time sitting in ice rinks. Even in the off-season, they boys participate in conditioning and skills camps. For the sake of keeping the ice cold and hard, the temperature of the rink is kept no higher than 63 degrees with very low humidity levels. It feels like sitting inside a freezer. In the winter, I am already bundled up in heavy sweaters and my wool coat. I make sure to always bring a knit hat, gloves, scarf and a warm blanket into the stands with me. I sit directly beneath the electric radiant heaters. Although they glow red, as if they are extremely hot, they provide little in the way of warmth. Sitting on cold metal bleachers makes the situation much worse. Once the session on the ice is over, we end up in our freezing cold car. I blast the heater on maximum capacity and by the time we arrive home, it’s putting out warm air. In the summer, we run the air conditioner in the car on the way to and from the rink. I dress in shorts. When we arrive at the rink, I put on long pants, sweaters and my full winter gear. I wrap in the blanket, find a working radiant heater and shiver the whole time.

climate control