Thursday started early for the ice operations crew at AMALIE Arena as they put a final stamp—or melt—on the 2024-25 NHL season by removing the ice surface for the summer.
The process requires multiple sets of hands, heavy machinery and warmer temperatures, but it doesn’t take as much time as a person might assume.
AMALIE Arena was back to its concrete floor in just over three hours on Thursday after a crew disassembled the roughly one-inch thick sheet of ice that hosted 41 Tampa Bay Lightning regular season games as well as three home games during an eighth consecutive Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance last month.
About 10 people helped clear the ice surface on Thursday, a process that began around 7 a.m. when Patrick Jesso, ice operations manager, and Ali Murdock, assistant ice operations manager, turned up the water temperature to soften the ice.
The ice is typically maintained around 20 degrees. That gets bumped to nearly 40 degrees at the end of the year in order to break the bond between the ice and the concrete, and front-end loaders then break the ice apart.
Those ice chunks on Thursday were hauled to a waiting dumpster outside while the ice closest to the boards was broken apart by members of the ice crew using steel scrapers.
Once the chunks of ice were removed, crews mopped up paint, under-ice advertisement paper as well as loose yarn that was used to mark line placements. They took the advertisements off the boards and also cleaned the snow pit, which is the pool of warm water in which snow from the Zambonis gets emptied all season.
Jesso then took a long drive on what they refer to as their “offseason Zamboni”, a drivable scrubber used to remove any remaining melted water and paint from the concrete.
Jesso mentioned that some other arenas feature a trench on one end where they can shovel excess liquid. At AMALIE they instead bring in dumpsters to offload the ice and other materials. The water evaporates in the sun, and the materials are then tossed.
With the boards still standing, the most difficult part can be ensuring there isn’t any excess water sitting for too long.
"The most annoying part is the water seeping back out through the boards,” Murdock said, “because you're like, 'Oh, I got it.' And then it just keeps coming back.”
AMALIE Arena’s crew has their process figured out, and it was evident in their quick dismantling of the ice on Thursday.
Ice removal can take anywhere from three to six hours, but four is the average. They beat that mark on Thursday.
The ice is typically reinstalled around Labor Day weekend.
After Thursday, it's onto the offseason. And still, Jesso and Murdock will remain busy even without ice to maintain.
"We also have projects,” Murdock said. “We'll powerwash the dashers, give the Zamboni service. We basically clean up everything from this year and then do whatever we need to do to get ready for next year.”
