In the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, you may have heard that the Canadian icemaker buried a lucky loonie (Canadian one dollar coin) under centre ice to propel our Men's and Women's hockey teams to Olympic gold.
Well, our icemakers in Turin had the same idea. A pair of loonies were buried in the curling ice sheet where we won 2 medals, as well as a solid gold maple leaf in the ice of the short-track speed skating where we won 8 medals.
Now what I want to know is - how are all our zamboni guys infiltrating foreign ice sheets? Are our ice technicians some kind of celebrities in the ice world? Do other countries look to Canadians and their experience making home-made rinks in their backyards to build some of the best ice sheets in the world? Anyone know anything about our little known prowess in this field?
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The head of icemaking for the NHL is from Edmonton and I believe he did the ice for nagano, salt lake, and turin. This time, they refused to put a loonie in the hockey ice.
As for curling, I had heard the ice was much straighter in turin (same with the rest of europe). But I'm pretty sure we still make the best curling ice around.
And for the speed skating ice, calgary is notorious for having the best ice in the world. Although I do remember hearing that Salt Lake had some special system in place that made the ice quick.
Hope that helps.
The Canadians have the best ice for all sports, though South Korea is catching up for speed skating. Canada spends more money researching ice per year than any other country...
I'm surprised you didn't know that, actually. :o
CBC reported this:
They brought in the ice-maker from Calgary to make the ice for the speed-skating oval in Turin. Calgary, being at a higher altitude, makes for faster times (Turin is near sea-level).
And this:
Canada coaches, manages, plays for and makes ice for, many of the curling and hockey teams in the world. CBC showed them all one day. It was amazing!
Wow! I didn't know all that. I bet we're famous in a lot of little known ways (if that makes any sense...).
Andy - Actually I do remember that the Physics department in Guelph was researching different kinds of ice. I wonder if they're still doing that.
Hi hi!
Wow Ive learned lots from these comments! My 2 cents is that when I was in Torino 2 weeks ago, I found out that all the Zamboni drivers were Canadian!! And they all stuck Canadian flag stickers on their machines. They were cool!
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