That's exactly what NHL facility operations manager Dan Craig and his crew have been doing 16 hours a day for the past two weeks, except their domain is no ordinary backyard and their rink is not anchored by snow banks and plywood.

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Craig, known fondly in NHL circles as the ice guru, has overseen the construction of an NHL regulation-sized ice surface -- 200 feet long and 85 feet wide -- in the confines of Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in anticipation of a historical NHL outdoor encounter between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (CBC, 7 p.m. ET).

Just over 52,000 people are expected at "The Heritage Classic," which will be preceded by the MegaStars game against Oilers and Canadiens alumni (CBC, 4:30 p.m., ET).

Craig and his crew began their meticulous work late Nov. 2 after the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders finished their CFL West Division contest.

Surveyors chose a spot on the grass field where the rink would be located, then workers laid down sand to make the field level -- the stadium's field is partially crowned to help with drainage -- and then covered the surface with tarp.

The crew then put a perimeter ring of double-three quarter inch plywood to fasten the boards to.

From there, they laid down several kilometres of piping to circulate the freezing agent calcium chloride to keep the ice frozen. Normally, this tubing is connected to a compressor, similar to ones used at "permanent" hockey rinks, but since this rink is temporary, the piping is on a skid so it is portable.

Approximately 1,400 gallons of the coolant will flow through the tubing in the sand floor to initially freeze the ice and to keep it frozen in the event of unseasonably warm temperatures.

In total, 65 truckloads of sand were dumped on top of the pipes and workers spent nearly one week saturating it so the base would freeze. The sand base, Craig says, will be comparable to a concrete floor.

Next was the delicate art of making ice.

The majority of the ice crew is Craig's from the Skyreach Centre in Edmonton, which has long been regarded as having the best ice in the NHL. The Canadiens will also have a man on staff as Francois Martindale from the Bell Centre is taking part in the ice-making process.

"For making the ice, we made sure we have allowed ourselves enough time so that we are not going to get ourselves jammed into a corner," Craig said.

"We are going to be patient to make ice in the best way -- the best way to make a solid layer of ice is you layer it a little bit at a time and you don't rush it. You don't go up there and dump 1,200 gallons and walk away and wait for it to freeze. We do it in small layers with a hose and a fine mist, and hour after hour."

Craig estimated it took probably 100-120 layers for the final product.

It took 20 hours to lay down the first few centimetres of ice. By Monday, there was enough ice to paint the surface white, and then the crew needed another 22 hours to prepare the final layer.

Needless to say, for this huge undertaking to work, the weather must cooperate. In preparation, Craig has been reading almanacs and watching weather forecasts all year.

The ice guru started initial planning one year ago, taking temperatures during the Eskimos' Grey Cup game last November at Commonwealth Stadium.

Craig said ideally he'd like the temperature at game time to be between 4 C and -4 C.

If it's warmer, the cooling pipes will keep the ice in good shape, but if it's colder, say -18 C or colder, the ice could get damaged.

"We've been watching (the weather) for a long time and there's nothing coming at us," Craig said. "There is nothing that we see coming from the north or from the west that is going to impact this game on the cold side whatsoever."

Skating on the outdoor surface was to begin on Wednesday, but an all-day snowfall pushed practices indoors at Skyreach Centre.

Temperatures are expected to be -8 C when the MegaStars alumni game gets underway on Saturday afternoon.

with files from Canadian Press