The Seely Ice Wizard was developed and tested at one of the nation's only private indoor ice skating facilities, Southampton Recreation Association, where Scott and Ed are Board members and Directors of the ice skating facility.
When the men took over the ice skating facility in the year 2000, Southampton relied on members shoveling and resurfacing the ice rink by hand. With seasonally warm temperatures in the southeast United States, the ice condition became poor after a few months, as the skating surface was too thick for the ice chillers to cool.
The men developed a resurfacer built out of a Sears Craftsman lawn tractor.The first scraper blade was attached to the tractor by a car scissor jack; a water tank was attached to a trailer and pulled around the ice surface. The machine did not have a place for the snow to collect, so it still needed to be shoveled from the ice surface when the tractor was done shaving the ice.
The first generation machine would be ideal for an outdoor or backyard ice skating rink, but the fumes inside the building were overwhelming, causing the men to look towards a second generation resurfacer, this time fabricated from an electric golf cart.
New Seely Ice Wizard
first generation ice resurfacer at Southampton