Syracuse ice hockey head coach Paul Flanagan said having no ice didn’t affect his team. Tennity Ice Pavilion’s associate director for operations, Kelly Johnson, also said it didn’t affect much. The facility was due for a new ice system in three to four years anyway. But a malfunction on April 1 forced it to come sooner.

With a month and a half still remaining in the spring semester, 1,000 pounds of R22 refrigerant leaked, Johnson said. In order to comply with recent health regulations, R22 has increased in price.

“When we’re sleeping at night, that machine’s working,” Johnson said, “and it does it all year long and sometimes they break down.”

Syracuse University had to make a decision: fix the refrigerant leak or overhaul a system that would be needed to be fixed in a couple of years.

Syracuse chose to re-do Tennity’s entire cooling system rather than simply fix the refrigerant leak. The facility is run by SU’s department of recreation services and had to close over the summer when it’s usually open for eight hours a day, compared to 12 hours during the rest of the year. The new permanent system, though, is expected to last for 20 years and was fully installed Oct. 5. The Orange’s Division I ice hockey team began its regular season at home Sept. 30. Tennity had operated with a temporary ice-making system.

In April, the ice melted and it took all summer to replace it. With an Aug. 1 deadline of when ice needed to be restored for a hockey camp and the beginning of fall skating sessions, Tennity used a temporary chiller, which sat on a flatbed truck behind the building. The temporary chiller produced ice at an even colder temperature than Tennity’s previous 17-year-old system.

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

“I would be safe to say that if they didn’t see the temporary chiller in the back parking lot and they were just to go out on the ice,” Johnson said, “they wouldn’t know the difference.”

Inside, a new full-blown system was installed. Parts made by different companies were bought intentionally. The chiller was made by Carrier Corp., the evaporative cooler was made by Baltimore Aircoil Co. and the pumps were made by Bell and Gossett. If there’s another malfunction down the line, it’s easier, cheaper and faster to replace individual parts than a whole system, Johnson said.

In 1999, Syracuse used a single company for all of the parts. When SU had to fix the problems caused by the refrigerant leak in April, it was more difficult to fix.

“It’s not like replacing one small thing,” Johnson said.

Jacob Greenfeld | Asst. Photo Editor

Though the university doesn’t release how much it cost, project manager for design and construction Jason Plumpton said it was on par with what he expected.

Implementing the new system would have taken less time had all of the equipment been ordered in advance. Plumpton and Johnson scrambled to get the parts, however, because of the malfunction.

Without ice over the summer, Johnson came up with other projects for his staff to work on. Flooring surrounding the two rinks, benches, dasher boards and showerheads in locker rooms were all replaced. SU implemented infrared lights above the main rink to detect when the ice temperature becomes too hot. When the lights sense that, they send a message to start the cooling system, something that will help create an optimal surface at the beginning of each period during hockey games.

Johnson had already planned on shutting down the rink for three weeks over the summer to re-do the flooring. It had to be shut down for a couple months, but now he has a system that can last for 20 years.

“You never want to displace your users,” Johnson said. “There was some bad to it but on a whole, it was the best time to happen.”

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The only effect it had on Syracuse’s ice hockey team was the last two weeks of offseason practices in the spring. The Orange is allowed to practice until April 15, so Flanagan lost the last two weeks. Instead of spending the time on the ice, SU spent it in the weight room. When the team reconvened in the fall, it was able to use the rink because of the temporary machine.

Other schools, such as Wisconsin and Minnesota, have their players stay on campus over the summer. Though coaches aren’t allowed to work with players after April 15, the athletes can still interact with trainers and hold unofficial practices on their own. But those schools are able to fund the players taking extra classes and being on campus.

“We can’t ever do that here,” Flanagan said, because of financials.

The Orange’s next home game will come Oct. 21. After 187 days without a fully-working permanent ice system, it will mark SU’s first game with it.

And the only noticeable difference might just be the extra space in the parking lot behind the facility.

Published on October 11, 2016 at 11:24 pm

Contact Paul: [email protected] | @pschweds