A day in the life of a rink manager

BY SUZIE ROTH
Cardinal Staff

The crowd roars as skaters glide toward the goal, handling the puck on the pristine ice, they shoot and score! But as Saint Mary’s University students have you ever thought about what preparation is required to prepare a game, where the players get their equipment fixed, and lastly who cleans their sweaty clothes? The one man that does it all is John Reszka. Reszka is the rink manager, as well as an assistant men’s hockey coach and with so many responsibilities, it is no surprise he leads a very busy day.

Welcome to a day in the life of J. Reszka. Reszka, a 1999 graduate, starts his day at 7 a.m. doing laundry, including jerseys of the men’s team, as well as the clothes worn underneath all their gear. Once the laundry is put, in Reszka sharpens and repairs skates for both the varsity and junior varsity teams. Then Reszka works on the ice by edging it, which keeps it level and resurfaces the ice.

Once 10:30 a.m. rolls around, it is time to meet with the coaching staff and go over practice plans for the day. After that, Reszka deals with player issues and heads home to let out his little rottweiler Clyde.

Upon returning to campus, Reszka gets the ice ready for the women’s hockey team practice and also directs the student workers of the tasks that are to be completed that day. Reszka states that he is very lucky because his student workers are so great. Any down time Reszka has throughout the day is often spent online recruiting possible players. According to Reszka, a nice part about his job is that the stress that he encounters is manageable. This is a nice change for Reszka, who after graduating from Saint Mary’s worked for two different sales companies. The self-propelling aspect of his job is also something Reszka enjoys.

Reszka’s job as rink manager also gives him a lot of variety, especially on a game night when he works 12 hour days in order to prepare the ice. Making the ice immaculate takes him three hours alone.

Not only is Reszka an alum, but at the age of 13 he worked for former men’s head hockey coach Don Olsen at hockey camps held at the university. Reszka also took time to remember the late Coach Ferran, with whom he worked closely both as a student of SMU and a rink manager.

Anyone can clearly see from his upbeat personality and dedication to his love of hockey, as well as SMU, that Reszka loves his job and enjoys knowing everyone on campus. So, it is no surprise when you hear him say he is “happy to come to work every day.”