Freeze at last

Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005 | 8:37 a.m.

Where: MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas

Admission: $15; $12 for children 12 and under (all day pass, includes skates)

Information: 564-4766 or www.iceskatinglakelasvegas.com

Ice is ice, and a chilly night is a chilly night.

But Minnesota this isn't. There are no snowflakes. There is no warming house.

There is no picking up speed as you would on an expansive park rink framed by snow mounds. And the temptation to grab a hockey stick and take a slap shot into a snowbank is a burning desire that can never be realized.

Not in Southern Nevada, anyway.

Not on this tiny, charming rink afloat in Lake Las Vegas, where the lights from the nearby Pontevecchio Bridge (a re-creation of the bridge in Florence, Italy) are reflected on the rippling water, and the palm trees on shore are silhouetted against the distant lights of Las Vegas.

"This is terrific, though," said Diane D'Angelo, who was making the rounds on Lake Las Vegas' floating ice rink Sunday. "You don't have a fear that you're going to fall through."

Indeed. The 68-by-38-foot rink on Lake Las Vegas -- which will be open through February -- is built on a floating device normally used as a stage for musical performances.

And in the endless, dry desert enveloping the man-made lake abutting the Mediterranean-themed MonteLago Village, the rink is a popular draw for families and tourists.

Last year the rink -- the only outdoor one in Southern Nevada -- drew 6,400 skaters. This year business has been booming.

"It's Christmastime," said Ray Reyes, a Henderson father who was on the ice pointing his new Canon Digital Rebel at his daughters. "This is our Rockefeller Center."

A wood-burning fire crackles on shore, and a horse-drawn carriage makes its rounds over the brick streets. The sound of bodies hitting the ice punctuates the holiday music playing through a rinkside speaker.

Mostly, the fallen skaters land on their backsides. First the legs slide out from beneath them. Then their bodies drop with a "whoomp."

They're up, they're down, they're skating again.

Friday was the first day skating resumed after the Andrea Bocelli concert, which had taken over the stage. The canopy was lowered to keep the sun from melting the new ice.

Cubes from a 19-gallon bucket were poured on the rink for backup coolants.

And in the center was a puddle.

But Mike Murray, "the icemaker," wasn't worried. He knows the drill. He has made ice for rinks in New York, Ohio, Indiana and Los Angeles.

Murray works for the Seybold Co., a family business that trucks their portable indoor and outdoor rinks to malls and parks throughout the United States.

The company sprouted decades ago when Murray's daughter Jennifer was 8 years old and started skating. Eventually she became a competitive skater, then married former Olympic pairs skater Wayne Seybold, who became accustomed to building ice while touring in nontraditional venues. They later started the ice-rink company.

Former U.S. gold medalist Jered Guzman, a Seybold family member who offers lessons at Lake Las Vegas, was shoveling snow shavings from the ice into the lake Sunday night. What he didn't collect, the young skaters formed into balls. Minutes before, 10-year-old Peter Graciano covered his sister Samantha with a handful.

When asked if throwing snow was allowed, Guzman, a former pairs skater, shrugged reluctantly and said, "This is probably the closest the kids are going to get to it in the desert."

On New Year's Eve the rink will offer disco skating from 7 p.m. to midnight. There will be a disc jockey, fireworks at 9 p.m., two planned ice-skating performances and a disco ball.

But on this night, as an instrumental rendition of "Silent Night" played, nearly 60 skaters glided in a circle. Some slammed themselves into the plexiglass wall that others used as a lifeline.

One woman set her 4-year-old son in full hockey gear onto the ice and gave him a gentle push, then shut the gate. The young skater never really gained momentum and after one lap was sitting rinkside.

One of his sisters was in New York skating at Rockefeller Center. The other sister, in new skates and a crushed velvet skating skirt, was gliding alongside other skaters in front of him.

Seybold, who is mayor of Marion, Ind., said the rink's popularity is about the details.

"They can say they skated on Lake as opposed to saying at Lake Las Vegas."

Kristen Peterson can be reached at 259-2317 or at kristen@lasvegassun.com.