Given the recent heat waves that have gripped much of the country it is hard to think about ice – except for the kind used in a cool drink. But hockey season is just around the corner, and the ice that the skaters will do their thing on is evolving. On the surface – no pun intended – ice is pretty simple. Run some water; add some cold and you have a skating surface. Mother nature usually does a good job every winter, but for the artificial ice rinks it is another story.
Here is where XTRAICE Sport Technology comes into play. It has combined two of its technologies together, including the XTRAICE Max Gliding Technology and XTRAICE Ice Identical Response Technology. What this ensures is that the artificial surface responds just like a conventional ice rink, whilst offering the lowest friction coefficient in the industry. For the skaters – whether it is for hockey or figure skating – the results are realistic skating with low blade wastage.
The XTRAIC rinks are made of ecological, non-toxic materials, and use zero energy expenditure – meaning that you don’t need to run a freezer to keep the water frozen. Normal skates can be used, and the surface doesn’t require a special machine to clean it. Best of all, because it isn’t as hard as frozen ice the surface offers impact absorption.
So is the future of ice rinks going to be synthetic? It is hard to say for sure, but the company already has built training rinks for the Florida Panthers and other NHL teams, as well as a rink at Dinseyland Paris. The most popular sizes of the rinks are actually those designed specifically for training, such as 430 square feet goalie, and 1000 square feet shooting rinks.
If this catches on, it might mean the end of the Zamboni!
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