In order for professional hockey to fulfill its promise as "the greatest game on ice"…the ice surface that the game is played on is a very critical component of the show. True North Sports & Entertainment have assigned the challenge of creating an ice surface that is the best in the west to CIMCO Refrigeration- a refrigeration company that has installed 4000 ice rink facilities in its 75 year history.

CIMCO is the acclaimed industry leader when it comes to preparing a site, installing the equipment, starting up the ice making process and balancing the system for the new building. CIMCO is the "NHL preferred ice rink equipment supplier" and the company that installed the ice system for the Leafs at Air Canada Centre, the Senators at the Corel, the Oilers at Skyreach and the Flames at the Saddledome as well as the other new generation NHL facilities in the United States.

>> Tim Campbell: Construction at MTS Centre proves to be a cool project

The earliest preparations and partial installation of the ice making plant for MTS Centre started months ago. Construction has now progressed to the stage where the remaining installation of the ice making system and refrigeration equipment should be completed and ready for testing in September. Over the past two weeks a CIMCO crew has been building the artificial ice-making surface that will lie under the event floor. On top of the concrete structural slab several different layers of pvc pipes, insulating Styrofoam, sand and steel rebar were laid down before the final topping slab of perfectly flat concrete was poured in place yesterday. The new concrete floor must cure for 30 days before it can be walked on.

Hidden from view on the roof of MTS Centre two hundred tons of refrigeration capability waits to chill the brine that flows through the pipes embedded under the concrete floor to a temperature of 10 degrees F or -12 degrees C. Meanwhile back of house in the in the room that contains the essential components of the ice making system additional crew members are making connections and hooking up the huge pressurized tanks, the compressors and the distribution feeder pipes to drive the brine solution through the lines and out to the event floor.

The science of artificial ice making continues to evolve. At MTS Centre an infrared sensor beamed from a camera high in the steel over centre ice will constantly monitor the temperature of the ice after it has been installed feeding information to a system of computers that will be able to make acute adjustments to the entire system making sure that it is the best in the west.

Still, the name of the game remains the same. All of the technology and skill and expertise involved in this project are in the service of creating the conditions to produce the frozen surface over which the Manitoba Moose will fly in just a few months time.

For more information contact:
Jim Millican
Senior Vice President Marketing and Communications
True North Sports and Entertainment Limited
(204) 989 - 6813

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