More Than a New Coat of Ice

Go down to Hanaway Rink. See that ice? See all of the detail within it? Looks beautiful, doesn’t it? Imagine taking a class on how to keep the ice in the best condition possible, and making sure that the rink doesn’t suddenly turn into a pool of water.

That is exactly what George Faran is in charge of at Plymouth State University. Upon being a part of the fire department for Plymouth for over 35 years, Faran became a part-time employee for Hanaway Arena when it opened back in July 2010. Faran started to drive the Zamboni, the machine that resurfaces a layer of water on top of the ice, for the first time. “I have plenty of machinery experience in construction and on my family farm, (but) I had never run a ‘Zam’ before,” Faran said. “If I was going to run the machine, I wanted to know how to do it right.”

Knowing how important it was for the ice to be in tip-top condition for whatever event was needed at Plymouth, Faran talked to Ken Knight, who was the rink manager at that point. Knight told him about a class that would allow him to gain knowledge of the ice, the Zamboni, and the rink itself.

Despite taking the class with people who had “10-15 years of experience,” Faran knew that he would be able to learn tricks of the trade from some of the best in the business. Various rink managers/operators “from places like TD Bank Garden, several other NHL facilities, and even a couple from England” were taking this class at the same time. A number of the people in this class with more experience than Faran took Faran under their wing so that he was going to be successful.

Upon taking this course, Faran was sent to Dearborn, Michigan with current PSU Assistant Rink Manager Scott Shedd. Both took an “Ice Painting & Marking Technology” course that allowed them to see how to go from a slab of concrete, to painting the necessary hockey lines, to putting on things such as the Panther head logo. With so many things that both were learning, Faran and Shedd were able to pick up a lot of information that was to their benefit, as well as the rink/ice itself. “We learned all about starting from scratch, proper temperature and humidity for laying water, how to paint logos, and do in-laid graphics at the Hanaway Rink,” said Faran. While learning all of these new tricks, Faran met Don Zamboni, who is the son of the person that invented the machine that bears the name ‘Zamboni.’

This wasn’t the completion of the course for Faran, as he still needed another class in order to be classified as a Certified Ice Technician. Faran took a “Basic Refrigeration” course, which was an extremely in-depth class that went into detail about “temperature and humidity, taught us about the refrigeration cycle, and safety around refrigerant gasses,” amongst numerous other things, Faran stated.

The final exam involved being given a blank diagram of a rink’s refrigeration system, and naming all of the components and parts, and essentially what they do. “There are 65 total items to be named or filled in…. It was pretty intense!” said Faran.

All in all, it is a lot more than just going forward in a machine that goes pretty slow around an ice arena. It is about keeping the ice well maintained, so that it gives the players for PSU the ability to know what to expect when they come out for a game or practice. A number of players and coaches have expressed how happy they are when Faran “cuts” the ice, because he does it correctly.

“I like to tell people it’s just the opposite of NASCAR, instead of drive fast, turn left, you drive slow and turn right,” said Faran. In order to be successful at creating that new layer of ice, one needs to know “how deep to set the ice cutting blade, how much water to lay down, what the proper depth of the ice should be,” and so many more other variables that determine how the ice gets cut, according to Faran. 

So, whether students are on the hockey teams, play intramurals down at the ice arena, go to a free skate, or just watch a hockey game or two, they shouldn’t forget that a lot of time has gone into making Hanaway Rink the beautiful arena it has become. Remember that “Fireman George” is extremely passionate about what he does, and cares deeply about the rink being top-notch!

PSU Rink Manager Dave Gyger presents Faran his Certified Ice Technician plaque.