Patrick Seltsam isn't big on timelines.

A project manager for Ice Rink Events, the company constructing the playing surface for next month's Big Chill at the Big House, has built enough rinks in his day to get not too bothered over a little rain.

So when a steady downpour temporarily halted work inside Michigan Stadium Monday, Seltsam wasn't overly concerned. While there's plenty of work to be done before Dec. 4, when Adrian College's hockey team will kick off a week-long slate of games leading up to the Michigan-Michigan State headliner, keeping to an strict time schedule isn't part of the plan.

"It's not like you have to do this, then this, then this," Seltsam said Monday, overlooking a partially-completed wood platform on the Michigan Stadium floor. "There's a real bad word in my business and it's 'When.'"

Work is expected to continue throughout this week, laying the foundation for an Olympic-size rink that will play host to 26 games and a public skate between Dec. 4 and Dec. 12. Although Monday's showers kept crews from getting much noticeable work done, workers kept busy inside the stadium tunnel.

Michigan officials said last week the rink construction will cost $416,000.

Over the next few days, crews will work to create a level foundation, working around the slight crown at the center of the football field. Once that's done, they will install geo-foam padding and another layer of wood, creating a platform that will sit below a cooling system used to keep the ice intact.

Crews will begin making ice early next week. The outside shell of the rink - including the boards and glass - will be installed Thursday or Friday, helping the playing surface take shape.

Seltsam's company is no stranger to such projects, constructing rinks at last year's Camp Randall Classic, an outdoor game involving Wisconsin's hockey team at Lambeau Field in Green Bay and the first NHL Winter Classic in Buffalo in 2008.

Although each site presents its own challenges, Seltsam said constructing a rink for a game played in front of a world-record crowd set this project apart from others he has worked on.

"Any time you're a part of something that's the biggest ever, that's pretty cool," he said. "I came to the (Michigan-Wisconsin) football game and it's so big that everything seems small again. It's almost incomprehensible how massive this is. It's remarkable."

Many of the aspects of preparing for the Big Chill will be a repeat performance of the construction process Seltsam's company did for last year's outdoor game in Madison. The weather may be the biggest difference as he is now building a rink that will be played in December rather than the first week of February.

But even in mild conditions, like the ones Monday, Seltsam said the surface would be fine to play on.

With the Big Chill just more than three weeks away, Michigan coach Red Berenson said Monday he was excited to see the beginning stages start to come together.

Berenson didn't venture over to the stadium, choosing instead to monitor the work via a web camera the athletic department installed to give fans a look at the work as it goes on.

Berenson said he may make periodic visits to the stadium, but has faith that Seltsam's crew will construct the best surface possible. Because the rink will be Olympic-sized, that will require workers to freeze that much bigger of a surface. Building a bigger rink was the one request Berenson had, slightly changing the way his team will prepare to play inside Michigan Stadium.

The bigger rink will slightly change the angles for the goalies and shooters, and will create more space for defensemen to cover.

"We've always been a team that has seemed to be able to adjust to Olympic rinks," Berenson said. "So I think this will be good."

For Seltsam, the outdoor spectacle that is expected to draw more than 110,000 is another step in creating more outdoor hockey games that have become popular with the NHL's annual Winter Classic.

But when the game is played Dec. 11, Seltsam said he will again look at the surface the players are skating on and take pride in the atmosphere he has had a hand in creating.

"Every time someone skates on your rink, to me, that's why you do your job," Seltsam said. "Just with the spectacle (the Big Chill will be), you look and you say, 'I did that'. I look at pictures at Wisconsin and at Lambeau Field and I say, 'Wow. How cool is that?'"

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by e-mail at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.