Preds Install New Ice Sheet Inside Bridgestone Arena as 2026-27 Season Nears

There was a noticeable chill in the air at Bridgestone Arena on Monday morning, a welcomed reprieve from what was setting up to be one of the hotter weeks of the waning summer in Nashville. 

A heat advisory with feels-like temperatures set to rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit over the next several days in Music City doesn’t make it easy on Nigel Schnarr and his crew inside the home of the Predators - but it’s also nothing an experienced group can’t handle. 

After all, the start of a new NHL season is only one month away, and ice needs to be made.

So, while the mercury rose outside, Schnarr was taking it down inside - with the Arena floor hovering around just 14 degrees early on Monday. 

Those conditions were perfect to start spraying water on the Arena floor at 6:30 a.m., followed by the application of the first three coats of white paint before sealing it in with clear water over the next few hours. 

By the time Schnarr took a pause to address the media around 10:30 a.m., the familiar shades of blue paint that make up the two blue lines and goal creases were being mixed and prepped, as was the red paint that goes elsewhere for goal lines, trapezoids, faceoff circles and like around the rink. 

In his 13th season with the Preds, the Senior Director of Facility Operations for Smashville Ice Rinks knows his way around the sheet of frozen water better than anyone else. 

His operation - a three-to-four day process by the time the ice is built up to the ideal one and three-eighths of an inch - is full of particulars and perfections to ensure the rink is nothing less than what’s expected by the top hockey players in the world. 

And that’s exactly why this day, while not officially on the NHL calendar, is just as important. 

“I mean, [we] wouldn't be able to [play games] without me and my crew, right?” Schnarr said before heading back out to paint the lines on the ice. “That's where it all starts. It starts here today for the upcoming season, and the best sheet of ice that we can give them, the better. And I'm a perfectionist, and if there's little imperfections out there; like, I want to make sure that we take care of that, so that our ice on TV looks great, the close-ups and stuff from [media] camera shots look great, and the players think it's great, too.

“I like to have the best that we can possibly put out there.”

Schnarr and his team were well on their way to doing just that with an estimated 600 gallons of white paint and somewhere between 18,000 to 20,000 gallons of water set to be used by completion. 

Of course, this sheet of ice has to hold up throughout the seven-plus months of an NHL season, which now includes 42 regular-season home games. Additionally, there are the concerts, shows and other events that take place when the Preds aren’t playing that also affect the surface when it’s covered up. 

“I found my sweet spot to be right around an inch and three-eighths to an inch and a half, because we have so many shows, and we’re scraping out after concerts and stuff like that,” Schnarr said. “It does bode well to hold a little bit more ice. And then I’ve also found from player feedback that when we do have thicker ice and I can run it colder, they seem to like that a little bit better.” 

Schnarr has plenty of tools at his disposal to make sure that’s the case, including a new control system in the chiller plant - part of the lead up to Bridgestone Arena’s transformation over the next several years - that helps to cool the arena floor and allows the ice to remain frozen all season long. 

There is also a new thermal camera being installed that will shoot the entire sheet of ice and allow Schnarr to look at an iPad to see readings like the surface temperature and color coded spots on the sheet that may be running warmer or colder. 

New sensors on top of the glass will also provide information like the relative humidity, dew points, air temperatures and plenty more, which will allow Schnarr to learn more about how the temperature of the ice fluctuates during a game, especially with the heat from 17,000 people in the building on a game night. 

Indeed, there is very much a science to all of this, especially in a place like Tennessee, which can sometimes be reluctant to let go of those scorching weather patterns. 

But, on a day like this that inevitably signals cooler temperatures - and our favorite sport - are on the horizon? 

Say no more. 

Yes, with a long, hot summer winding down, there’s a sheet of ice inside Bridgestone Arena once again. Soon enough, the goal horn will be echoing, too.