Ice Making
Keen Ice
Written by Manley LaFoy November 2013
A memoir by a guy who was there......
Not so many years ago, there were no matched curling rocks!! Country curlers had their own unique pair! Rocks were of various diameters, weight and most important sharpness of the granite for curling purposes.
In the 1930’2 and 40’s skips were mental giants giving ice and weight as none of the foursome’s curling stone sets would perform the same!!! In that era Gray skips Bob Montgomery, C.C. Gillis, and Freddie Ford excelled in Regina Bonspiels. John LaFoy could also draw to the button as required. Despite the rock problems, the frustrations of natural ice at country rinks made the game a difficult one to master. City ice was not much better, I was told, because ice making had not yet come to grips with the art of the warm flood, cleaning techniques, the temperature of the pebble water and the related spray pattern and droplet size.
Remarkably, these frustrations led locals Morris Husband (at the Civil Service Club) and Morley LaFoy (at the Wheat City Club) as Regina ice makers, to improve the curling surface. They prided themselves in the 1950’s for preparing and maintaining keen, clean and consistent sheets of ice. They did have the advantage of refrigerated ice so as to maintain temperature control of the ice surface. The Wheat City Club was the site of the famous Richardsons’ midnight practices which featured the keen, clean, and true ice that led to their “clean house” style of play. Despite improving conditions, on occasion, the Bob Pickering- Don Lewis “high hard” ones were necessary for rock control!
Spurred on by the games demand for more accuracy, the art of ice making changed forever. The future had arrived as these Gray farm boys found out. The quality of the ice surface, ice and air temperature, pebble techniques, outside sheet issues and crowd impact had to be addressed in order to meet the needs of the modern game.
Clean and true ice issues were addressed by many overnight efforts including, manual and mechanical ice planers, hot washes, and propane surfacing monsters. All were exhausting trials rushed so as to have “new ice” ready for the next afternoon draw. The ice makers fused their efforts with two or three of us others starting at midnight with beer and hot coffee as pay for the exciting enterprise. Don Lewis, Dennis Husband and I were regulars and there must have been others missing in my memory. A fresh flood completed the raw surface transformation. The final step was most contentious and critical to the final keenness and consistency of the sheet of ice. THE PEBBLE!!!
The pebble applied was like a fine wine, the finishing touch for accurate shot making and durability. Roy Ford, another Grayite, became fascinated by the pebble pattern and size. He created many uniquely shaped copper sprinkler heads, with many different sizes and patterns of perforations. All received the critical tests, delivered by the unique flopping rubber hose and tank as the ice makers backed down the ice sheet controlling density of the pebble. A fine art mastered by these men of the ice!
These ice makers were recognized as being the best of the best, with Morley LaFoy, Roy Ford and Don Lewis making ice in Toronto (Avonlea Club, Maple Leaf Gardens) and Don Lewis going on to make ice all over the world for international events!
These efforts described above, along with matched curling rock sets per sheet, the “sweeping” brush that contributed to clean ice, and the long slide delivery created the perfection of the game we know today. All because men from Gray saw to making......CLEAN AND KEEN AND CONSISTENT ICE!
Written by Manley LaFoy November 2013
A memoir by a guy who was there......
Not so many years ago, there were no matched curling rocks!! Country curlers had their own unique pair! Rocks were of various diameters, weight and most important sharpness of the granite for curling purposes.
In the 1930’2 and 40’s skips were mental giants giving ice and weight as none of the foursome’s curling stone sets would perform the same!!! In that era Gray skips Bob Montgomery, C.C. Gillis, and Freddie Ford excelled in Regina Bonspiels. John LaFoy could also draw to the button as required. Despite the rock problems, the frustrations of natural ice at country rinks made the game a difficult one to master. City ice was not much better, I was told, because ice making had not yet come to grips with the art of the warm flood, cleaning techniques, the temperature of the pebble water and the related spray pattern and droplet size.
Remarkably, these frustrations led locals Morris Husband (at the Civil Service Club) and Morley LaFoy (at the Wheat City Club) as Regina ice makers, to improve the curling surface. They prided themselves in the 1950’s for preparing and maintaining keen, clean and consistent sheets of ice. They did have the advantage of refrigerated ice so as to maintain temperature control of the ice surface. The Wheat City Club was the site of the famous Richardsons’ midnight practices which featured the keen, clean, and true ice that led to their “clean house” style of play. Despite improving conditions, on occasion, the Bob Pickering- Don Lewis “high hard” ones were necessary for rock control!
Spurred on by the games demand for more accuracy, the art of ice making changed forever. The future had arrived as these Gray farm boys found out. The quality of the ice surface, ice and air temperature, pebble techniques, outside sheet issues and crowd impact had to be addressed in order to meet the needs of the modern game.
Clean and true ice issues were addressed by many overnight efforts including, manual and mechanical ice planers, hot washes, and propane surfacing monsters. All were exhausting trials rushed so as to have “new ice” ready for the next afternoon draw. The ice makers fused their efforts with two or three of us others starting at midnight with beer and hot coffee as pay for the exciting enterprise. Don Lewis, Dennis Husband and I were regulars and there must have been others missing in my memory. A fresh flood completed the raw surface transformation. The final step was most contentious and critical to the final keenness and consistency of the sheet of ice. THE PEBBLE!!!
The pebble applied was like a fine wine, the finishing touch for accurate shot making and durability. Roy Ford, another Grayite, became fascinated by the pebble pattern and size. He created many uniquely shaped copper sprinkler heads, with many different sizes and patterns of perforations. All received the critical tests, delivered by the unique flopping rubber hose and tank as the ice makers backed down the ice sheet controlling density of the pebble. A fine art mastered by these men of the ice!
These ice makers were recognized as being the best of the best, with Morley LaFoy, Roy Ford and Don Lewis making ice in Toronto (Avonlea Club, Maple Leaf Gardens) and Don Lewis going on to make ice all over the world for international events!
These efforts described above, along with matched curling rock sets per sheet, the “sweeping” brush that contributed to clean ice, and the long slide delivery created the perfection of the game we know today. All because men from Gray saw to making......CLEAN AND KEEN AND CONSISTENT ICE!