Tap into the 216: Brunswick Auto Mart Arena

In our most recent episode of Tap into the 216, we headed over to Strongsville’s Brunswick Auto Mart Arena, the practice facility of the Cleveland Monsters and home to several high school hockey teams, to explore how water is utilized to create and maintain the ice rink.

To help us understand the process behind keeping the rink in top condition, Operations Manager Jon Lisauskas tells us that the arena uses a large refrigeration system kept at 19 degrees to maintain the ice.

In addition to refrigeration, the ice is maintained frequently upon usage. The facility owns and relies on two Zamboni machines. “The Zambonis shave a little bit of the ice off to remove some of the deeper grooves that are in the ice,” Lisauskas said. “Augers inside the Zambonis pick up all the snow that’s shaved and any of the snow that is on the ice from the skating process," he added. "The snow that is picked up from the Zamboni is stored in the front bin before being dumped later into a snow pit with its own drainage system."

Beyond shaving blades and augers that help maintain the ice, water itself plays a crucial role in preserving the ice’s smoothness. The Zambonis use both cold and hot water during resurfacing. First, the cold wash water that picks up any debris out on the ice and creates slush to fill in the big grooves in the ice. Hot water that sprays from the back end of the Zambonis is used to help melt and level out the grooves.  

Each resurfacing job uses 160-175 gallons of water. On weekdays, that’s about 2,000 gallons, while on busy weekends it could be anywhere up to 4,000 gallons. 

Together the shaving, sweeping, and spraying work together to support the upkeep of the ice, making sure it always remains smooth and ready for action. 

Lisauskas tells us that having smooth ice is essential not only for aesthetic purposes, but for safety. “Maintaining the ice for safety is no doubt the highest priority” he explained. “Especially here with having the Monsters playing, we want to make sure they’re safe, but the general public as well.” 

Lisauskas continued to emphasize the critical role of water to the business, stating “Water is incredibly important for us, obviously without water we don’t have ice, we don’t have a business here.”  

A big thank you to Brunswick Auto Mart Arena and Jon Lisauskas for giving us some insight on all that goes into maintaining an ice rink!