Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson — Olympic hockey gold medallists — thrilled 31 children by joining them on ice at the opening of the outdoor rink in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel on Wednesday.
Sporting their gold medals and Team Canada jerseys, Spooner and Mikkelson — recently in Victoria as contestants in the Amazing Race Canada television show — praised the rink’s smooth ice, saying they enjoyed skating outdoors.
“It brings back a lot of memories for both of us,” Mikkelson said. “Growing up, that’s just what you do as a young Canadian hockey player. You are on the outdoor rink all the time.”
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Spooner agreed. “It’s a great outdoor rink. When we were little, we skated on outdoor rinks so it’s nice now that we can come back and skate on them again with little kids.”
Hotel owners Nat and Flora Bosa, of Vancouver, attended the official opening of the 60-by-90-foot rink, which is housed in a big white tent.
Nat Bosa joked to the children: “When you skate don’t fall, because you might break the ice.”
He is hoping the temporary rink — which joins other outdoor rinks at Butchart Gardens and Westhills Arena in Langford — will become an annual winter event.
Tourism Victoria’s chief executive officer Paul Nursey said the rink, which can hold 150 people at a time, is a “wonderful Christmas destination,” adding, “We will market it like crazy.”
Texas-based Ice Rink Events was hired to put up the rink, which will be open until mid-January.
Hours are 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
Every two hours, the rink will be closed briefly so that the ice can be groomed.
The cost is $10 per person, and $5 for children aged 10 and younger. Skate rental is $5. A concession is open as well.
Special Sunday Skates with Santa and Christmas Eve Skating events are planned.
Skates for the Mustard Seed will be held on Nov. 27 and Dec. 11 with two-for-one admission. Skaters are asked to bring a non-perishable item or make a monetary donation to the food bank.
Andre Lapointe, head of ice- rink operations and the hotel’s chief steward, said the ice is about 10 centimetres thick now and will gain another five centimetres.
Building the rink was a challenging task not only because the ground slopes but because the sloping lawn was “very, very” muddy after heavy rains, said hotel chief engineer Wayne Stoughton.
The weight of the foundation pushed it seven to 10 centimetres into the sodden ground, he said. “It eventually just stopped.” When the rink was added, the structure sank a couple centimetres before settling.
About 800 reinforced steel columns are supporting the rink, which is now perfectly level and steady, he said.
A plywood deck was covered in Styrofoam, followed by lines filled with glycol at -11 C. A sprinkler and hose were used to pour 10,000 gallons of water on the rink over a three-day period, building it layer upon layer.
On the final two days, Stoughton — a former Junior B hockey player — took over that task, reliving his childhood in Quebec.
“This is the first time I’ve built a rink, other than in my own backyard.”
Because water freezes at 0 C, the layers froze quickly. Stoughton figures the actual temperature of the ice is about -7 C.
And following hockey tradition, he tucked something special under centre ice. Skaters can see his 100th anniversary Fairmont Empress Hotel medal, taken from his office desk.
It took about 10 days to build the rink. “To see it come together is just fabulous.”
