Video: Ice Destroyed And Removed From Loveland’s Bud Events Center

With the sad ending of the Colorado Eagles hockey season, what happens to the ice at the Budweiser Events Center? Is it kept year-round? This video will answer that commonly asked question.

Get our free mobile app

Common Questions About Ice Rinks

Common questions for most arena employees worldwide are "What happens to the ice after the hockey season?" Or "Do they remove the ice every time they don't have hockey?" I'll be honest, as a kid, or even as a young adult before I started working with the Colorado Eagles, I wondered the same thing. During the hockey season, the ice is built up, painted, and stays for the entire season. When other non-hockey events like concerts, monster trucks, rodeos, live family shows, graduations, expos, etc. happen, they cover the ice with panels to protect the ice as best they can. What happens after hockey season ends though?

Loveland, Colorado's Budweiser Events Center Removes Ice

The ice in arenas is kept frozen by a giant refrigeration system that pumps freezing water through a system of pipes underneath the floor in the arena. Once the arena floor is frozen cold, they layer water up and it freezes, gets painted, and more layers of water are added to create the awesome playing surface that we see the teams use for their games, Disney on Ice, figure skating, etc.  When the season ends, the arena shuts the system down and removes the ice to save on the costs of running the refrigeration system when it's not needed. Check out this awesome video that the Budweiser Events Center posted while removing this season's ice. It's both sad and awesome at the same time.

Video: Budweiser Events Center Removes Hockey Ice

It's pretty wild to actually watch them removing the ice and paint for the summer, we certainly wish it was set up a couple of months longer. Enjoy the summer, and get ready for fall as the Colorado Eagles will be back with a vengeance, and ready to go all the way this next season. Go Eagles.