RANKIN INLET - A total of 20 arena workers and managers from across Nunavut were in Rankin Inlet this past week for a special course on ice making and maintenance.

Gary Vansickle and David Clark, back right, and Simon Adams and Larry Golby, front right, organized and facilitated an ice program in Rankin Inlet this past week.

The week-long course was sponsored by Nunavut's Sport and Recreation Division (formerly Sport Nunavut) and facilitated by Gary Vansickle and Larry Golby.

Vansickle hails from Winnipeg, Man., and brings 30 years of experience to the program.

His company, Ice Marketing and Consulting, supplies a number of Nunavut communities with ice making and maintenance equipment.

Vansickle said he became involved at the request of Rankin rec co-ordinator David Clark, and paid his own way to the course.

"When it comes to the most important aspects of producing good ice, I always tell people starting out to take pride in what they're doing and take advantage of every training opportunity that comes along," said Vansickle.

"Being able to make and maintain good ice results from learning from those who came before you, and being open to new ideas and technologies.

"Rankin already owns the Mark IV ice painter I demonstrated here.

"One person, using that machine, can paint the ice white in about 90 minutes."

Vansickle said the Mark IV is found all over North America, and is used by the NHL's Florida Panthers. He said well-maintained ice increases a community's pride in its arena.

"When someone walks into their arena and sees nice clean ice, with beautiful logos, they take a lot of pride in that.

"And, when people see your facility is well-maintained, they tend to take better care of it themselves.

"You get less vandalism and people respect the arena more.

"Even the players get pumped more on great ice." Invited

Golby has 25 years experience in the field, and arrived through the Alberta Association of Recreation Facility Personnel after being invited to facilitate the program by Sport and Recreation Division's Simon Adams. He previously visited Nunavut to conduct coaching clinics for Hockey Canada.

Golby said the Rankin program covered the process of installing and maintaining both natural and artificial ice, building operation, energy management and safety procedures.

"Building maintenance is fairly generic, and we covered the various aspects of a solid maintenance program," said Golby.

"Some communities may not have the latest equipment because of the costs involved, but people in the North are very innovative and find ways to perform very well with what they have.

"This was an excellent group of people in Rankin, who came here for one reason -- to learn.

"From what I saw during the course, the communities that hired these people did an excellent job."

Golby agrees taking pride in one's work is a key element in having an appealing facility with good ice.

He said although they may not always voice it, players and fans appreciate the effort and good maintainers should take pride in what they've accomplished.

"New technology and equipment have produced the biggest changes to ice making during the past two decades.

"One person can now do the same quality job that used to require two or three people, and in a fraction of the time.

"Even something like an ice resurfacer, that everyone is used to and takes for granted, scrapes and floods the ice and cleans the snow away from the boards.

"One person can do it in 15 minutes, so technology really saves us a lot of man hours and improves the quality of our work."

Simon Adams manages sports and recreation programs for Nunavut's Sport and Recreation Division.

He said the course was held for one main reason: the need exists.

"We did one in Iqaluit just before it hosted the Arctic Winter Games, and there hasn't been one since that focused on facility operators and related training," said Adams.

"A number of communities are getting new ice resurfacers now and don't know to operate them properly, and there's a lot of new painting techniques out there.

"Many people don't have the proper equipment, which makes our job difficult and often results in a lot of bad ice out there.

"Bad ice is the biggest complaint I hear in the communities, so we decided to put on training to try and make things better and safer for those who use the ice facilities."