Filling the roster with South Korean drivers proved difficult.

South Korea has only a couple of dozen rinks, organizers said, so the talent pool of top drivers is small. And no rinks have two ice-resurfacing machines. Multiple Zambonis on the ice simultaneously can be a seductive dance to watch, but terrifying to drive.

There were other limiting factors in securing local talent. Some could not get the six or eight weeks off that the job required. And without firm post-Olympic plans for several venues (the speedskating oval, for example, is likely to be converted to convention space), there was little opportunity for locals to find lasting employment by learning during the Olympics and taking over the ice-making operation afterward, as happened in places like Vancouver and Salt Lake City.

Moffatt used an all-Korean crew during hockey test events here last year, with the idea he might do the same during the Olympics. He discovered that younger Korean drivers deferred to older drivers, afraid to disrespectfully show them up with their skills. But five of them had enough talent, he thought, to be invited to the Olympics.

“With us non-Koreans, there is less of that,” Moffatt said. “Still some, but less.”

Mainly, the ice chiefs found trusted drivers by tapping into connections at home. Most of those at the hockey venues work at N.H.L. arenas in places like Edmonton, St. Paul and Denver. At the figure skating and short-track speedskating sites, most drivers work smaller arenas or oversee the ice operations at recreation centers. Those at the long-track oval have specific experience in ovals, which require a more pristine sheet of ice.

“It has to be absolutely perfect,” said Paul Golomski, whose job at home is facility director of Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee. “Thickness is critical. The amount of speed they’re carrying, the ice has to be perfectly flat.”

Every ice sport demands a different surface, with variations in thickness, temperature and hardness. At Gangneung Ice Arena, Boehler split his crew between figure skating and short-track specialists. Figure skating requires thicker, softer ice. Short-track needs colder ice, but not too brittle that it gives way on the tight corners.