You asked:
Why is NHL ice painted white? — Dustin, Toronto, Canada

Marshall Brain Answered:
First let’s understand that the ice at a hockey game could be any color. It could be pink, purple, green… really any color. That’s because the ice actually gets painted when they create the surface. If you take a look at this article you can see that they build the surface of the ice up in thin layers, and one of the layers is white paint. You can buy ice rink paint specifically for this purpose.

So why has the NHL chosen white as the ice color? We could ask the same thing of other sports. When making artificial grass, it could be any color. And natural grass can be painted any color. But when you go to an NFL football game the grass is always green. And why are NBA basketball games always played on hardwood courts?

This has to do with the nature of nature, as well as the nature of rules. In nature, grass is green and ice (like on a pond) is white. So hockey starts on ponds using natural ice, and football starts on green grass fields and pastures. As the sports become more popular, organizations start writing rules to govern the games. And at some point, the NHL decided that all the ice at hockey games would officially be white. You can look it up in the official NHL rules:

Rule 1 – Rink

It says: “Except for the official markings provided for in these rules, the entire playing surface and the boards shall be white in color except the kick plate at the bottom of the boards, which shall be light yellow in color.”

NHL ice is white in color. Not pink, not green. It is white. It is unlikely that this will change anytime soon.

You can see ice getting painted in this video: