We've all made ice, haven't we?
Grab a tray, pour some water in it, let it freeze and you have frozen dihydrogen oxide. H2O as we call it because we've all forgotten Grade 9 chemistry and I'm not about to pull out my periodic table. Helium is still the second-lightest in terms of atomic weight, right?
Try making curling ice and you'll find out it isn't the same as making a coolant for your Jack and Coke. Curlers can be a fickle bunch sometimes and they want their ice as perfect as you can get it.
Enter Terry Shea, who has been the ice guru at the Yellowknife Curling Centre for the last 10 years. There aren't many people who can make curling ice like he can and he did it well for a long time. But there will be someone else making the ice beginning next year as Shea has decided to move back to his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The centre held its year-end awards on April 21 and Shea was honoured for work with gifts and a standing ovation for his years of service to the club. It was a fitting sendoff for someone who is one of the most meticulous people I have ever met.
I remember the first time I met Terry. The centre called me up and mentioned there was a new ice maker in town. Sounds cool, I thought. It turned into an On The Job feature for Yellowknifer, highlighting what people around town did. I pitched it to Mike W. Bryant, the assignment editor at the time, and he thought it would be interesting.
Little did I know it would turn into a two-hour initiation into what made curling ice tick and when I say I saw everything there is to making curling ice, I saw everything there is to making curling ice.
When I met Terry for the first time, he asked me what I wanted to do in terms of the story. I simply said show me how an ice maker does their thing. No problem, he said, let's go this way.
It began in the side closet where he showed me the chiller. Nothing fancy at first glance but he proceeded to show me what temperature the air had to be at and why, what went on inside the chiller and why and the importance of making sure it was properly maintained.
The regular schmuck on a tour of the curling centre would probably nod their heads politely, hoping Terry would move on to the next thing but I, I was ensconced. It was genuinely interesting because I curled once upon a time. Not terribly well, mind you – I was a superstar high school lead – but I'm a fan of the sport and I've always loved seeing what goes on behind the scenes.
After the chiller, it was off to the workshop, filled with all sorts of tools of the trade, including equipment for preparing rocks. Again, things that interested me because useless information is my thing. Besides, if I ever get on Jeopardy! and a question comes up about the pebbling of the ice, I've got it nailed.
Terry then showed me how to use the shaver. It's an important tool because when pebble becomes too worn down on a sheet, you need to replace it. The original layer needs to be shaved off, similar to how a Zamboni would shave off a layer of ice when it's being cleaned in between periods, and then re-pebbled using a device which sprinkles new droplets onto the sheet to be frozen.
All in all, it was as full an education about ice making as you would ever want to get and I felt like I could jump in there and do it. A fool's errand but you know what I mean. Terry simply wanted me to understand what his job was and why it was so important. He could have simply showed me what it takes and be done with it but he obviously wanted me to understand everything.
I never thought it was silly because there is nothing wrong with being passionate about something. If someone wanted to learn about darts, I would be happy to show them everything there is to know about the game, much the same way Terry took the time to show me everything about making a good sheet of ice. I want someone to go away knowing something about darts if they ever watched it on T.V. and not scratch their heads.
Whoever takes over the ice making at the Yellowknife Curling Centre has some big shoes to fill because Terry made some of the best ice going today. You would never question his commitment to making sure the sheets were in good working order because every time you saw him, he was working on something having to do with the ice.
As the headline says, the iceman leaveth, hopefully to return one day but the curlers – and this guy – thank you, Terry Shea, for a job well done.