How is Olympic Ice made?
For most spectators, Olympic ice may just be a gleaming white stage that simply exists, ready for legends to be written. For Moffatt, it is a craft, a responsibility and, in many ways, a life’s work.
Words courtesy of Olympics.com | Photos by Mattia Ozbot (cover), Emmanuel Wong and John Huet.
We asked the ‘ice master’ Don Moffatt himself . Discover how Moffatt crafts the perfect rink for Olympic hockey, balancing things like water purity and temperature to set the stage for history.
What do Sidney Crosby’s golden goal at Vancouver 2010, the overtime triumph of the American women at PyeongChang 2018, and the unforgettable scenes of Finland’s first ice hockey Olympic gold at Beijing 2022 have in common? They all unfolded on ice prepared by one man: Don Moffatt.
For most spectators, Olympic ice may just be a gleaming white stage that simply exists, ready for legends to be written. For Moffatt, it is a craft, a responsibility and, in many ways, a life’s work.
The 67-year-old Canadian-born rink professional has spent nearly four decades turning water into the perfect ice hockey surface, and in 2026, he will take on the role of chief ice maker at his fifth Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina.
“I was skating before I was even one year old,” Moffatt told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview. “My dad always had a rink in the backyard, so all the neighbourhood kids would come over. That was just part of my life from the very beginning.”
From those early days in Ontario, through to a career that took him from the NHL to the highest stage of them all, the Olympic Games, Moffatt has shaped the conditions on which some of sport’s most iconic moments have been decided.
His official title at the Games is ‘ice master, a role that is part scientist, part caretaker, part leader of an invisible team whose work begins long before the puck drops.
“It’s ultimately my responsibility,” he explained, “but I’m just one piece of a big team. We try so hard to create that perfect sheet of ice for the athletes.”
From water purification to the razor-thin science of hard versus soft ice, Moffatt reveals the secrets behind the stage where Olympic history is carved. The technology inherent in speed skating success and the evolution of ice hockey at the Olympics.
