Current ice pad.

[Lucas69]

I see what you're saying, but the fact that the Devils season is now getting into gear is the only reason it's being talked about. The ice has been shocking for quite some time now and the reast of the 'users' still have to pay the same price to use the pad, as they would have if it was actually a well maintained pad. For months now, there have been occassions where the building next door had less pool than the Cardiff Bay Ice Arena. It's by no means a recent problem.

 

[Ghost Dog]

I don't think this was simply a glitch on the night. Reason being, the troublesome patch of ice (in the corner nearest the DJ booth) was commented on about a week before the Blaze game as being in poor shape.

 

[Lucas69]

That area's been like it for ages. Base has been visible through the ice for weeks.

 

[Eskarin]

The primary issue seems to be that planet ice are responsible for the safety of any individual using their facilities, if they are not maintaining the rink to acceptable levels then they are at fault whether you a fan of PI or not (and its fair to say there is a reason the majority are not) the sponsor sign is neither here nor there from my perspective, I'm completely agreeable to waiting until there is a lull in business from school restarting for that because I want the rink to be a success no matter who runs it. I can not however understand why anyone would think it is in anyway acceptable to have the ice in poor condition, regardless of who made what decisions regarding a game being played on it, PI would agree as it makes them money, the devils would agree as they have a responsibility to their fans and need to get playing to get used to playing together. But poor ice is poor ice, and should never be the case in an ice rink run by Europe's alleged largest ice rink operator, a business of such magnitude should know better.

I've been reading this thread as a guest for a while now and, while there are some beyond-ludicrous postings on here, this one has a sense of balance to it so I thought I'd take the time to register and reply. To begin with, nobody thinks it's acceptable to have the ice in poor condition. As an ice rink business it's only logical to want to have the ice in a good quality, usable condition. As someone stated earlier, the plant had failed on that day during the public session, meaning you end up with a lot of water on the ice. To slow the speed at which the ice melts, you need to dry-cut the ice (lay no water) to get rid of the standing surface water which is increasing the load on the plant and heating the ice below it. The flip-side to the coin is that the level of the ice can drop significantly and (in the case of Cardiff) you can get small patches where the sand is close to coming through the ice. When the ice is in this condition before a game, it's down to the Referee to liaise with both sets of Coaches and decide if it's safe for the game to go ahead. Ultimately the decision should be a Health and Safety one, not a financial one and all three must agree. In this instance I can only assume all parties agreed to play which is why it went ahead in the first place.

The size of Planet Ice will have nothing to do with the ice failing and is very much irrelevant here. Plant equipment failure can happen at any time, anywhere. If you apply the yardstick of 'big business = infallible plant' then I'm at a loss to explain how the Phoenix Coyotes had to cancel a game 2-3 years back due to their plant failing and one compressor not keeping up with the outside temperature :shock: It's not a maintenance issue either - while not going into details, I know there is a maintenance contract in place with a specialist company, as well as general maintenance being carried out by the on-site staff. I also know the Cardiff staff are probably the most technically gifted when it comes to ice plant management, due to having a strong leadership in that area.

I'm in no way involved in Cardiff so can't speak on behalf of anybody, however I think it's a little unreasonable to play judge, jury and executioner when there's very little appreciation of what happened on the day and how little could be done to prevent it. To imply that nobody cares about the state of the ice as long as money is being made (not by the person I'm quoting I hasten to add) is insulting to the staff there, who I know take a great deal of pride in their work. To go a step further, in the General Manager there you have one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the UK as far as sand-based ice pads go - he wouldn't allow for the ice to get that bad through human error either directly or indirectly, but even he can't magically fix failed equipment!

Now, where's Finny to savage my post?........ :lol:

I have to admit I agree with the vast majority of your post, and am grateful you took the time to poiint out that you weren't attmepting to put words in my mouth. The main point i agree with you on is that the staff that work in Cardiff's PI facility are excellent, as in the time i have used it i have never had a problem with them and can honestly say they are for more helpful and capable than the indivduals who work in the sports centres where i play basketball. But unfortunately the condition of the ice has done nothing but deteriorate since march, as a regular user of the rink I can honestly say this, and only recently has it become what I personally believe is a health and safety risk. And i know you didn't say otherwise, but my primary issue isn't the hockey, because these are people who have made a career out of skating and playing ice hockey, my main issue is the public skate sessions being used by in many cases i'd imagine people who have little to no experience of skating which is a serious risk. I'm hoping that with the end of school holidays coming up that the copndition of the ice will be restored to what it has been in the past, but I am also concerned that it has been allowed to fall to the state it is, I have no doubt this is not the fault of any in house maintenance as I have experience in dealing with large companies, and I know exactly how difficult it can be to get the "higher-ups" to listen to problems which they see as too costly to fix. So to sum that up much moreshortly, i agree that Cardiff's in-house staff are excellent and generally do a very good job, Planet Ice as a business on the other hand have yet to prove to me, and many others i have no doubt, that they are a responsible business that cares about anything more than bottom line.