Late tonight, Ed Snyder will probably be a little weary when he ends his 80-hour workweek and heads for home.

The affable and low-key Snyder, who's just 24, isn't a shopping mall Santa or a UPS driver in these oh-so-busy days of December.

If you go skating this winter at Clipper Magazine Stadium, however, you can thank Snyder for his efforts to get the ice-skating rink at Lancaster's minor league ballpark up and running. Being an outdoor rink and all, it meant contending with some arctic elements.

Snyder, through the last day of February, will be the "point man" at the rink.

He will be there all the time, through each weekend, overseeing the details to make sure Lancaster County's only outdoor skating rink is running smoothly.

And just like with the Barnstormers' season, which runs from April to late September, operating the rink means "a lot of long hours, but it's worth it," Snyder said Thursday, the frozen rink behind him looking ready for skaters.

"And it's great when you can see your product being enjoyed … not necessarily the action on the field (with baseball), but the facility and the environment."

Later today, weather permitting, Snyder will be overseeing things when the fourth annual Ice Park at Clipper Magazine Stadium opens for its winter season.

The ice park has become a wintertime tradition, welcoming more than 50,000 skaters over its first three seasons.

And overseeing it for 2009-2010 will be Snyder, a western Pennsylvania transplant who has worked for the Lancaster Barnstormers since March.

His title is stadium operations manager, but in recent weeks he could have added a thousand other ones, including "Zamboni driver" and "rink problem-solver," to the mix.

This week, he overcame a wintry mix one night and other hurdles to get the rink ready.

A desire to be behind the scenes making sure details are addressed is what convinced Snyder to change his major at Slippery Rock University from history education to sports management during his sophomore year.

"It's an exciting atmosphere" at the North Prince Street ballpark, the December 2008 Slippery Rock grad said.

"And it's a good experience with the skate park, especially for people who may not particularly like baseball. … They can come, check out the ballpark and enjoy themselves. And you feel satisfaction knowing that you helped bring it about," said Snyder, who lives in Elizabethtown.

"Even if (spectators) may not know what you did, you do," and are glad when it runs well.

Things will likely be busy enough at the ice rink that Snyder, who hails from Natrona Heights, northeast of Pittsburgh, won't have much time to keep up with his favorite hockey team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So his wife, Megan — the two met at Slippery Rock through a mutual friend — will likely have to fill him in later or text him with score updates.

Snyder gets help with the ice rink from fellow Barnstormers' office member Tom Gorman, other staffers and, this past week, from two employees of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, who have the same owners as the Barnstormers.

But rather than having many people run things, "It's more efficient, I think, when there's just one person who's here all the time," he said.

For 2009-2010, the ice park will be open Thursdays through Sundays every weekend through Feb. 28.

The rink also will be open the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day, when some of the busiest skating sessions take place.

The ice park will be open today from noon to 10 p.m. and then from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, its regular hours those two days of the week. Its other hours are 6 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays.

When he's not working at the ballpark, Snyder likes to visit other sporting venues to see how they operate their games and special events.

In the two-month window between when the ice park closes and the 2010 baseball season begins, Snyder and his wife hope to head somewhere for a hockey weekend, maybe visiting minor-league teams in Johnstown, Erie and Wheeling, W.Va.

"I'm a pretty simple guy," Snyder said.

And he likes it when the hard work pays off "and everyone's having a good time. Right now, we look OK," Snyder said as the rink's ice glistened on the overcast day.

doconnor@lnpnews.com