A year-and-a-half ago the head ice maker for the NHL asked Jasper icemaker Peter Bridge for help.

He needed Bridge to make the ice at the Olympics.

Today, Bridge is standing at ice level, taking a break from painting lines on the ice at University of British Columbia (UBC) arena to talk on the phone. The arena is locked down for a security check, so only his crew is in the building as he is preparing to paint the Olympic rings at centre ice.

Skip ahead two weeks, and the arena will be full of 19,000 plus fans looking down at Bridge’s work.

“It doesn’t get much bigger than this,” he chuckles, as most of his ice-making career has been at the Jasper Activity Centre. “We’ve had some big events in my rink, but not even close (to this). The Oilers have come a couple of times.”

Bridge has a busy week ahead of him. When he is done putting the ice in at UBC he will put the ice in at the practice rink and then GM Place.

Come time for the actual hockey games, he likely won’t be on the ice unless he really has to, as he is one of the supervisors. Between practices and games he’ll be busy working on the ice, making sure it is ready for the next Olympic match up.

Bridge will be joined in Vancouver by fellow Jasperites Rob and Janet Block and their children.

While Janet Block will be working at the sports information desk for the men’s hockey above the ice during the games, her children and husband will be working on the ice during the games, making sure there aren’t any cracks in the ice or screws and glass in the boards.

As a crew chief, Bridge will be in charge of an ice crew. But even as volunteers and  with experience working with ice at the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game in Boston this year, and with someone on the ‘inside’ at the Olympics, Rob Block says it was still a long, long process to get through the volunteer and security application, from forms on skating ability to passports and security.

Rob and Janet convinced their kids to apply to volunteer for the hockey about two years ago. His son Jarret is in second year of engineering in Edmonton, but chose to take the entire year off of school, as missing three weeks of engineering in university would be near impossible to make up.

“It’ll be exciting for them,” he adds, as while everyone else is watching on television, they will be  on the ice in front of a sold out crowd.

When asked if Bridge would be putting the ‘lucky loonie’ inside centre ice, as was done at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, he says they haven’t discussed it.

“They aren’t looking too favorably on doing anything. The Olympic committee wasn’t to thrilled about that loonie in the ice,” he says. But, if he had a loonie for every time he was asked if he would do it, he said he’d be a rich man.

Bridges’ ice will be in on Feb. 7 with the first hockey game on the Feb. 14.