Donnie MacMillian, the “Ice Man” and building superintendent at the RBC Center since the day it opened, died today. He was 52.
MacMillian was riding his mountain bike in Umstead Park when he died, arena general manager Dave Olsen said. A group of other riders found him but was unable to revive him.
“He and I have been together for 24 years,” Olsen said. “It’s like losing one of my own brothers.”
“Donnie Mac,” who moved to North Carolina with the Carolina Hurricanes from Hartford, Conn., in 1997, and lived behind the arena in a recreational vehicle, was as much a part of the team as any of the players.
Whether driving the Olympia ice-resurfacing machine -- the arena’s Zamboni -- or leading a crew of workers replacing a broken pane of glass during a hockey game, MacMillian was a familiar face to many fans.
Over the years, he made many appearances on television, in the pages of this newspaper and even was the subject of a Sports Illustrated feature in 2002.
When the team moved to the RBC Center in 1999, MacMillian embraced the challenge of creating the best ice possible under difficult weather conditions at the RBC Center.
“Donnie is very highly respected among the other 29 NHL teams on his knowledge of rinks,” Olsen said. “He’s been doing it since he was 15 years old. In my world, there was nobody better.”
Funeral arrangements were pending, Olsen said, but likely to be held in MacMillian’s hometown of West Haven, Conn.
“It’s hard to find the right words when something like this happens,” Hurricanes president and general manager Jim Rutherford said. “He was a great employee and loyal employee, going back to our days in Hartford and then to Raleigh.
“He was a great person, the kind who would do anything for anybody. No one was more dedicated to what they did than he was. He cared for the ice but he also cared for the whole building. … That’s the best way to describe him, he cared.”
Staff writer Chip Alexander contributed to this report
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at (919) 829-8947, @LukeDeCock on Twitter or 
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Fri, 05/13/2011 - 15:22 — WikimotoDonnie was a fixture at the RBC Center. It was always fun seeing him outside the arena managing daily chores and washing his truck on slow weekends. They ought to raise a pair of his zebra print Zubaz pants to the rafters alongside the jerseys of other 'Canes who've meant so much to the organization.
His mastery of the ice sheet will surely be welcome by the hockey legends in heaven, but he'll be sorely missed down here.