Missoula’s Ice Rink Got an Unplanned Indoor Rainstorm

Hockey is a surprising game: miracle goals, saves for the ages, and every once in a while, a wild puck that makes the rink look like a water park. That’s precisely what took place when last night’s Cup game at the Glacier Ice Rink was interrupted by a deflected puck hitting a fire sprinkler, creating an unexpected rainstorm indoors.

Players fought for the puck, and then the next thing they knew, they found themselves skating in a giant waterfall. The pressurized water melted directly through the ice and to the concrete below, sending players, referees, and rink personnel racing to salvage what remains of the skatable ice.

Fortunately, Missoula’s hockey community is resourceful, if nothing else. Members of the Missoula Referee Association, rink employees (on and off-duty), and league players jumped into action. Through teamwork, quick thinking, and with some heroic intervention on the part of Zamboni operators Nik, Gus, Nick and Clay, they quickly dealt with the mess.

Fine, the ice isn’t quite pristine anymore. Now it just has some “rugged personality,” but the hope is that it will still be playable through the last two weeks of the season. Nothing about this winter has been normal, though, so let’s hope we don’t end up with locusts next.

What is the moral of the story? Keep your shots low, thank your Zamboni drivers and maybe bring a raincoat to your next hockey game at the Glacier Ice Rink. Because clearly you never know what could happen. Hockey is a wild sport.