"I'd stay here right around the clock," he said proudly. "We had an old Detroit diesel, so you had to watch it around the clock. It'd quit on you and you had to figure it out and get it going again."
The current rink has a bigger compressor and its power plant is run on electricity, but McBain remained as attentive as ever.
"He was a true fixture at the rink," said Bobby Harris, a former youth and Senior A player at the O'Leary rink who has a son, Maddeo, 6, playing youth hockey there.
Others on Saturday had similar memories.
Jeff Ellsworth played youth hockey in O'Leary, coached at the youth level and now runs the town's recreation department. McBain has been a fixture in Ellsworth's life for more than three decades.
"When I came into this rink as a novice hockey player I remember looking up to Al," said Ellsworth, smiling at some of the memories. "He's been here a lot of years. You can't get a more professional, laid-back, easy-going, do-anything-for-you guy than Al."
McBain got his start in the ice making business in Mississauga, Ontario, but found his life's mission when a spot opened at the O'Leary rink. He had been back on the Island for a bit, doing odd jobs, when he heard of the opening. He applied and it was a match made in heaven.
It was hard to give it up last year, but McBain knew it was time. The long hours and the cold office had taken enough of a toll.
"I've enjoyed it all, I wouldn't change a thing," he said.