By Bruce Karnick

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The United Heroes League property just east of Hastings has been given a major upgrade for their property. Log House Foods out of Plymouth donated an NHL sized rink and ice resurfacing machine to UHL this fall. The rink was delivered last week and the Minnesota Wild brought people down to help with the install process.

“We think we have everything laid out where it needs to go now,” UHL President Shane Hudella said as they were wrapping up for the day. “I really thought it would go up quicker since we had so many wonderful volunteers from the Wild.”

The plan for the day was to work from 9:00 until noon with the hopes of getting the boards up fully. Three arena technicians from the Wild were the experts on site. The techs are the ones responsible for setting up any offsite rinks for the Wild, for example, Hockey Day MN. The Minnesota Wild’s Aaron Sickman, Medial Relations Director, gave us a quick rundown. “We brought three Xcel Energy Center folks and we had different people from the Wild and River Centre staff. Except for those guys who have done this before,” as Sickman points to the three techs, “none of us have ever done this before. It’s a huge jigsaw puzzle and the puzzle pieces didn’t always fit the way we thought they would, but after a good portion of the day, we at least got the pieces organized and laid out. It’s a monumental task.”

“An outdoor rink is one thing, but this is a full NHL sized rink. That’s a lot of work,” Sickman added.

The Wild have been an amazing partner for UHL both with manpower and sharing knowledge. Sickman explained the Wild techs and office staff are willing and able to come back to help further. “The goal this year is to get the ice in and start having fun using it,” Sickman said.

Aside from the monumental task of assembling an NHL sized rink with primarily inexperienced volunteers, the fact that the rink was used added to the complication. Do not let those facts cloud the thankfulness of Hudella and his team, they are beyond excited and thankful to have such an awesome asset at their facility. Being a used rink, “It’s like starting with a 3000-piece jigsaw puzzle instead of a 500-piece puzzle. Plus, the little quirks that are part of this exact setup,” Hudella said.

Hudella hopes to have the rink building done over the next few weeks utilizing smaller groups of volunteers. If that time frame holds, he figures they can start flooding by the first week of December and start using the resurfacing machine on it by mid-December.

How much water is required to fill an NHL sized rink? According to the Wild rink crew, 10,000 gallons per one inch of ice. Hudella wants at least three inches before he uses the resurfacing machine. Currently he has access to a garden hose and a 750-gallon water truck from his neighbors, Extreme Sandbox. At 750 gallons a trip, it will take 40 trips to fill 30,000 gallons. The hard part will be how level this year’s temporary dirt surface is. If one end is higher than the other, it will likely take more water to get at least three inches of ice for the entire surface.

Once the outdoor rink is ready, Hudella hopes to host a variety of events and skaters at UHL, he even hinted at a possible Wild skate when the NHL season starts. “A few organizations have reached out for ice time,” Hudella said. “This is a pretty unique opportunity for Hastings groups, an outdoor rink that will be maintained with a resurfacing machine. It will be pretty cool.”

Hudella is very thankful for the donation of both the rink and the resurfacing machine from Log House foods. He was also quick to thank the Wild for bringing their rink crew and dozens of volunteers, including former Wild captain Wes Walz. Of course, he gave a shout out to the UHL staff for the work they put in not only on the rink, but for UHL in general.