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Preparing the Ice for the New Hockey Season

For hockey fans, the long wait is almost over. Last week, workers at the I Wireless Center in Moline began building the ice rink for the upcoming season of the Quad City Mallards.

Maintenance Superintendent, Rob Hoogerwerf, says the whole process takes about ten days - it starts with a layer of insulation on the cement floor, then tubes that circulate a below-freezing liquid are put in a layer of sand. That's followed by several layers of ice on top.
Today his crew is hand-painting the ice - with the names of sponsors and blue lines, goal creases, and other hockey markings. 

Even though it takes longer, he prefers to hand-paint the ice, rather than spray on the markings, because he thinks it looks better.

Hoogerwerf thought the painting would be finished by tonight, followed by several more layers of ice. And the work has to be finished by Thursday morning when some of the Mallards will start working out at the I Wireless Center.

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.