"It's a far cry from the early days when we had to play on a narrow rink with pillars at either end. The ice is good quality and they seem to be maintaining it pretty well," he said. "I only hope it lasts, as I'm tired of playing for a while and then having nowhere to play and getting fat."
In order to ensure that new rink has out-classed all of the nation's previous ice arenas, TISA worked in conjunction with the owners of the Penrith Ice Palace in Jamisontown, Australia -- a rink owned by extended family members of several of the TISA management team. The Australian rink sent a crew of qualified ice-rink engineers to Taiwan earlier this year to install a top-of-the-line Italian refrigeration system -- which is buried in sand beneath the rink's surface -- as well as to teach local crews how to maintain and service the costly equipment.
"I think we've done a good job considering we started from zero. Things are looking good," said Edward Yang (楊振龍), the rink's assistant manager.
"I reckon because we've made this extra effort, we stand a very good chance of succeeding where so many other rinks have failed."



