by | Jun 17, 2024 | 0 comments
At every TV timeout at an NHL hockey game, a group of uniformed shovel bearers takes the ice and quickly manages to clear the playing surface snow and debris. These folks usually get tuned out by fans in attendance, since they are not meant to draw attention, but they are undoubtedly an important part of the show. For Seattle Kraken games at Climate Pledge Arena, these folks are known as the Ice Breakers.
I sat down with Ice Breaker team member Kevin Ruuhela and Kraken entertainment experience and promotions specialist Nicole “Shabz” Shabaz to get a behind-the-scenes view of who the Ice Breakers team is and what they do on game days. Managing the Ice Breakers is just one of the many hats worn by Shabaz, who also helps oversee the in-arena game presentation. I found it interesting to learn about how the Ice Breakers team is selected, what they do on game days, and their overall experiences.
Note: This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Kevin: The Ice Breakers are the 21-person strong ice crew for the Kraken. We have a number of on-ice duties as well as off-ice roles to play. Our primary role is to shovel the ice at each and every TV timeout at every home game. That’s nine times per game (three times per period) when the game ends in regulation. If the game goes to overtime we go out to shovel before each overtime period and prior to the start of a shootout in the regular season.
When the Kraken win, we’ll go out on the ice to wave victory flags after the final buzzer and before the players of the game are announced. We’ll also go out on the ice in the event of a hat trick to help pick up any fan hats on the ice and if the game gets rough and blood finds its way onto the ice, we may go out to help with clean up.
Kevin: My partner actually saw the call for applications on Facebook over the summer of 2022 and said I should try out. I laughed it off at first but then mulled it over for a couple weeks and eventually just said to myself, What the heck? I’ll just try out and see where it goes from there. So I applied and went to the try-out thinking that I had a pretty decent showing. A couple weeks later I got an email welcoming me to the team and it’s been a blast ever since.
Kevin: Tryouts are fairly intense. They are around 90 minutes of skating and shoveling drills followed up with a brief interview. There are several rounds of cuts throughout the tryout to narrow down the pool of skaters. Last year started with a group of around 70 or so skaters. The team that runs the tryouts is great. They make sure it stays a positive experience even as cuts are made and they encourage people to get involved with the team in other ways even if they don’t make the Ice Breakers team. Both years there has been a lot of spontaneous cheering and clapping for each other during drills, so it’s a really great experience no matter the outcome.
Kevin: During the interview portion the organization asks that each person commits, if they become an Ice Breaker, to be available for at least 70-75 percent of home games. Only 11 of the 21 Ice Breakers work any given game so there’s flexibility for everyone, and there are typically subs available to step in for a game if someone on the roster has something come up last second.
Shabz: We hope for the individual to be able to work majority of the home games. Having a bigger team helps with spreading out games for people knowing that everyone has a life outside of this and have prior commitments.
Shabz: Right now, they can head to the Seattle Kraken nhl.com website and go down to the “Ice Breakers & Sea Squad Interest Form” and fill that out. Later this summer, we will send out information for people on specific time, day, and location.
Kevin: Practices are two hours, typically once every two weeks. They’re a little more frequent at the beginning of the season to make sure everyone is confident and ready to hit the ice for the start of the season and then a little less frequent towards the end of the season when everyone has worked multiple games and knows what to do in any scenario.
Practices start out with some warm-up skating followed by edge work and balance drills, and then we break out the shovels to practice the shovel pattern. Since everyone currently on the team has a hockey background, as the season progresses we’ll incorporate some practice with pucks as well to add on to the skating drills with stick handling and passing drills.
Kevin: For a typical game with a 7 p.m. start:
Kevin: Our team job is to shovel the entire surface of the ice and get all that snow off the ice in 90 seconds or less. And we have to do that without colliding with players or refs who are all over the ice going in different directions and only occasionally paying attention to what’s happening around them. Our individual jobs are determined by our position in line. Without diving too much into the minutiae of the differences between each position, the more “prestigious” positions are No. 1 and No. 3 in the lineup.
I’m not sure if it’s a sought-out position, but the last position in line is “on bucket,” AKA cleans the far goal crease and skates with the garbage can full of snow. This tends to be reserved for the bigger Ice Breakers since you have to be able to weave around players and refs with the snow-filled bucket and heft it up over the lip of the rink into the Zamboni tunnel. There are a few goalies that like to stay in or around the crease, and so it can get a little awkward for the person on bucket since you have to try and gather as much snow as you can without bothering the goalie.
Kevin: I’m not aware of any player preferences, and we don’t have the opportunity to get that feedback. My guess is that players would want as much snow removed as possible, but I am interested to find out if the tendies have preferences. My guess is the league doesn’t want us to understand what the goalie preferences might be so as to maintain a level playing field for both teams.
Kevin: Oh, definitely. Besides the unique moments of seeing All-Stars or your favorite players like “Oh my God, that’s Connor McDavid two feet away from me,” there are also some less exciting moments. There have been many occasions where Ice Breakers have been hit with spit coming from both player benches. Usually it’s just a little bit but there have been a couple instances that were full-on, just took a drink from the water bottle, and then got hit in the face with it. We really want to hope that those are accidental.
There is a particular Kraken player (who will remain nameless) that I swear had it out for me in my first season. He always seemed to want to cross in front of my path and then slow down while making intense eye contact while I waited to continue. I think a lot of that was just in my head, but that’s certainly how it felt.
There was also a player on one of the opposing playoff teams last year that, on multiple occasions, bumped one of our skaters (the smallest one, of course) and even attempted to kick at their feet as they skated by. We, of course, all rallied around our teammate and promised to “drop the shovels” if things escalated with this player, but luckily for his sake things never got worse. We learned later that these shenanigans weren’t reserved just for our crew, but he also had a reputation for doing it to his own home ice crew as well.
Blaiz: The home crowd does boo anytime Cale Makar touches the puck, I am sure fans will be on the lookout for any ill will against the Ice Breakers and add this player to the boo list.
Kevin: The Ice Breakers go out during the TV timeouts, which occur at the first whistle after the 14:00, 10:00, and 6:00 marks in each period. There are a number of exceptions to that timing, though, in order to limit interruptions to the flow of the game. We won’t go out after a goal is scored, if the whistle is from an icing infraction, or during the entire length of a penalty. For example, if a minor penalty is called at 10:01, the Ice Breakers won’t hit the ice until the first whistle after the penalty ends at 8:01, no matter how many whistles are blown during the PP or PK.
If there are a lot of exceptions to the point where scrape No. 1 gets pushed far enough back that it starts to overlap with scrape No. 2, then we’ll wait at least 90 seconds in between before going out for scrape No. 2. In other words, if we don’t go out for scrape number one until 9:59, then we won’t go out for scrape No. 2 until the first whistle after the 8:29 mark.
We’ll also go out prior to each overtime period and before the start of a shootout during the regular season.
Kevin: If there is a science to it, I’m not aware of it, but from personal experience playing hockey since about the age of six, I know that the puck moves much more smoothly and consistently on ice without snow. When there are patches of snow, the puck can sometimes abruptly change speed on you and throw you off. I also know that goalies typically prefer less snow so there’s less material to get in their eyes from sticks and skates as players move around the crease.
Kevin’s answer about the science behind ice scraping and the ice being smoother sounds reasonable. I would like to back it up with some data, so will be doing a Part II of this article to review hockey statistics after an ice scrape. Look for that in the coming days.
We at Sound Of Hockey would like to thank the Seattle Kraken, Kevin and Shabz for spending time with us and answering our questions. If you are interested in trying out for an Ice Breaker or Sea Squad role, follow Shabz’s advice and fill out the “Ice Breakers & Sea Squad Interest Form” which can be found on the Seattle Kraken nhl.com website.
If you have any addition questions for the Ice Breakers team, please comment below.
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