WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Crews are continuing to build the hockey rink inside Raymond James Stadium for Sunday’s outdoor game between the Lightning and Bruins.
It took years for the NHL to be ready to try to make ice in Tampa, so Tampa Bay 28 wanted to talk to experts in the field who do it every day in the community.
Tampa Bay 28 reporter Erik Waxler found two of the best in Wesley Chapel.
Watch report from Erik Waxler
Kevin Gibson and Tyler Erba work in a cold business, maintaining ice at AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel.
“We are the largest facility in the whole southeast United States,” Gibson, who is the Facility Operations Coordinator, said.
The crew at Center Ice has its work cut out for it. There are five rinks that keep busy with hockey, figure skating, and even curling.
“Most of it is during the days, just trying to keep it level. You don’t want to keep it too thick because it gets harder to cool. It doesn’t make for a good skating surface," said Erba, who is the Operations Coordinator.
Their job became even more challenging when a power outage during Hurricane Milton melted all five sheets of ice.
“We actually did the rink to my left. We did. It looked beautiful. We were all done. We went to another rink. We started on that one. And all of a sudden we lost this one. So we had to redo this one," said Gibson.
While Gibson and Urba maintain their rinks, they have also been keeping an eye on the work underway at Raymond James Stadium, impressed by the challenge of building an outdoor rink in Florida.
“To be able to do that down here especially, is an incredible thing," Erba said.
“The only thing I think, as far as being difficult, is if we got rain or water. Because water, that’s worse than humidity sometimes. Other than that I think they’ll pull it off and I think it will be awesome for the Tampa Bay area," said Gibson.
While the Lightning and Bruins play on the makeshift outdoor rink, Gibson and Erba will not be there.
They have a tournament at Center Ice and will be focused on making sure their ice is just right.
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