Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1241493
APRIL/MAY 2020 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 35 learned everything she knows in house at the Lightning 's home rink. "Tom really liked that he picked me out of a crowd at camp that one day," Murdock remembers about the man who made her dreams a reality. "I think he liked the idea of having someone that he raised, if you will. He had a lot of pride in that." Miracle was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018 and, after a long fight, passed away from the disease in November 2019 – but not before teaching Murdock everything she knows. That comes in handy when trying to keep ice frozen in a state where temperatures almost never dip below freezing. On the surface, Ali's job consists of driving a rig that, in short, scrapes the ice and fills in chips and gashes—usually from skates—with water to create a smooth and level playing field. Most people see her drive a few laps around the rink between periods before disappearing into the underbelly of the arena, but there's much more that goes on behind the scenes. Murdock is one of the crew responsible for ensuring that factors such as heat and humidi- ty, which flood into the arena when doors open for fans, don't "soften" the ice. But she also spends time outside of games spot-cleaning stains on the ice from concerts, scrubbing scuff marks from the glass and much more. It's no small feat being the only full-time female ice tech in the league but at the end of the day, it's her ability and not her gender that sets her apart. Besides, while she may hear the odd comments here and there, she knows that anyone who "gets it" sees that she is just another driver who knows what she's doing. "She loves to do the job; she loves the game of hockey and you can tell that from her work," said Patrick Jesso, the assistant ice operations manager at Amalie Arena. "She's so knowl- edgeable about the specifics of things, she's even teaching me some new things. "She is willing to do whatever it takes, and that's nice. You don't get that too much, where someone is willing to work overnights or bright and early in the morning. Anything that we need done, it is a blessing to have someone like her to do it. It's been nice to have someone like her to count on." Even though she's made it to the peak of the profession, Murdock does not take a day at the rink for granted and fully appreciates that she is finally living her dream of working for the Lightning. "I love that I get to come to the rink every day, but obviously there's a lot of work that goes into it," she says. "It's just really cool knowing that your work factors into an NHL game." P From a Tampa Bay Lightning adult fantasy camp to a full-time job as an ice technician at Amalie Arena, Ali Murdock is living her dream.