I haven’t been to the Missouri Valley Tourney for a few years. The last time I was there it was held in the Saviss Center. With the building now being called the ScottTrade Center, I hopped on over to their website to see if any changes had been made since my last visit.

While bouncing through the site I came across a video on how they convert the arena for hockey. Very cool video.

To make ice, the floor is chilled to 24 degrees and then a thin sheet of water is poured over the floor. This process is repeated every 20 minutes until a ¾” sheet of ice is made. It takes approximately 12-18 hours to make a ¾” sheet of ice. When 1/3 of the ice thickness is completed, white paint is coated over the ice. When 2/3 of the ice is frozen, the lines and logos are painted onto the ice, then the final 1/3 is laid. During hockey season the ice is left down and is covered with a Styrofoam insulated plastic-coated floor and the basketball floor or concert is placed on top. For the circus the ice is removed and then re-made after the final performance.Icy Facts:

* An average of 50,000 gallons of water are used annually to form the ice floor.
* This is more water than is contained in four standard-size swimming pools.
* The ice rink floor features more than 13 miles of one-inch steel piping.
* The floor has over 2,200 welds in the solid concrete slab.

For more information visit the ScottTrade Center site.