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Question
How do they make the ice at an ice skating rink? At a hockey game, how do they get the lines and
the logos into the ice?
Answer
When I was in college there was a fraternity on campus that made a skating rink on their front lawn every winter (this was in Troy, NY, near Albany). Basically they hosed down the snow on the lawn and let that freeze to get a hard surface. Then they would lay water on top in thin layers so it would freeze quickly, until it was smooth. Instant skating rink! The cold air and ground temperatures were enough to freeze the water and keep the ice solid for several months. Then in the spring the whole thing would melt and they'd get their lawn back.
That doesn't work so well in Florida! Indoor skating rinks almost always use cold concrete to make the ice. When the rink is built, miles of metal pipes are laid inside a concrete slab (see this article for a nice picture of the pipes before the concrete is poured). A large refrigeration plant (see How Refrigerators Work for a description of the refrigeration process) produces ice-cold glycol that runs through these pipes. The entire slab of concrete that makes up the arena floor drops below freezing. Then thin layers of water are poured on the concrete and allowed to freeze.
The lines and logos are literally painted onto the ice. Then more ice is added on top of the paint to protect it. This article has a nice description of the process.
Here are several useful links:
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