The Culture of Outdoor Skating

The inspiration for this post arrived this morning, when Rebecca and I went to Tim Hortons and we noticed that our hot beverages were in cups printed with a winter scene that includes some kids playing pond hockey.  This got me thinking about some examples where skating outdoors has made an impact on our culture.

Other than Tim Hortons winter cups, pond hockey can be seen on Canadian five-dollar bills.  So, for the benefit of Backyard Ice's international readers, here is a picture of two (or three) Canadian cultural icons:

(And by the way: yes, this blog does have an international readership.  According to Blogger's stats, well over a hundred Americans have visited Backyard Ice since May, as have handfuls of people from Russia, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Taiwan.  I have no idea how all you people ended up here, but let me welcome you!)

You can't see it in the above picture, but our five-dollar bill also includes a line from the classic Canadian children's book "The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier:

The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons.  We lived in three places - the school, the church and the skating rink - but our real life was on the skating rink.

Speaking of books, someday I would love to read "Home Ice: Reflections on Backyard Rinks and Frozen Ponds" by Jack Falla.  He was a great writer, and I'm sure this book captures everything that is wonderful about skating outdoors.  I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but just the title alone summarizes quite nicely the aim of this very blog.


Despite what coffee cups and Canadian currency would have you believe, I think that fewer people actually skate outdoors anymore, and I'll give you some reasons why that may be.  I've blogged about natural bodies of water, and why I contend that they are unreliable skating surfaces, and that may be part of the reason.  Another reason could be that the backyard rink requires a huge amount of time and effort to achieve success, and you still have to depend on the weather.  Also, people think that backyard rinks are a great idea...just don't ask them to go outside every night when it is minus 15 to flood it.  Finally, of course, the modern kid is much more likely to play Wii Pond Hockey than skate on natural ice.  (OK, I don't know if Wii Pond Hockey is an actual product, but you know what I mean.)  Still, I believe that as long as there are cold temperatures and water, there will be some people who will skate outdoors.

Other than the blog you are currently reading, you can still find some articles about outdoor skating.  Many of these are nostalgia-themed, and a few links to some great pond hockey articles are listed on the right side of this blog.  TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger is a advocate of the backyard rink, and he is inviting other rink builders to send in pictures of their works-in-progress...see if you can find the truly World-Famous "Brook Garden" (...explanation) in TSN's gallery!  Obviously, there are some other die-hards out there who are keeping the culture alive.

Happy B-Day Bec!

Well, you said you wanted me to write a blog article for you on your birthday, and here ya go.  Keep in mind, that (1) this is a blog about skating outdoors, and (2) you don't really do that very much.  Remember this? Yeah, so what else can I write about?

Maybe I'll just show another pic of you taken somewhere in the general vicinity of the backyard rink:

Hey, what are those things on your teeth?

Did you know that you share your birthday with Tie Domi and Megan Wing (who, I am sure, have both skated outdoors at some point in their lives).  Also, the NHL awarded a franchise to the Boston Bruins on November 1, 1924 - the Bruins, of course, played an outdoor game last season at Fenway Park.

There...it wasn't easy, but I managed to associate your birthday with the general direction of this blog!  Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Floodin' & Mowin'

As stated in the Backyard Ice theme song*, when you are floodin' you don't have to think or nothin'.  Well, actually, sometimes you think about topics for your blog.  Like the fella says at the bottom of this web page, ideas for this blog tend to arrive when I am standing outside in sub-zero temperatures pouring water from a garden hose.

Mowing the lawn is a similar experience to flooding the rink because when you're mowing you also don't have to think or nothin'...it's just another great activity for mulling blog topics.  And so it was that a little less than a month ago, as I was mowing the lawn on the rink, I came up with the idea for this blog entry (and, it turns out, some future ones, too).

I took a picture of the rink with the intention of taking pictures from the same vantage point throughout the season to document the evolution (or lack thereof) of my backyard ice.  I'm betting that the next picture will be a lot whiter.  At the very least, I guarantee that the wood pile in the background will be smaller (...it already is).

I suppose that the rink-building process could start any day now - it's not unheard of to get a ton of snow dumped on northern New Brunswick in early November - but a quick peek at the forecast for the next two weeks doesn't look promising, as the average high temperature is about 6 degrees.  Real progress only happens when the average high temperature is about minus 4.

It seems wrong to be hoping for an early winter with lots of cold temperatures, especially when you consider that I spend about half of my time at my job in the great outdoors.  However, that's the mindset of an outdoor rink builder.  I'm actually probably the only person who isn't wishing for a repeat of last winter, only because I don't want to be blogging all winter about hoping to go for a skate in the backyard.

* 700 ft. Ceiling by The Tragically Hip

BYI post #19: Little Bro

Although you would never know by the actual “comments” sections of these blog posts, I do in fact receive several comments by other means.  My wife and daughter say nice things in person, my parents say nice things on the phone, and my brother Jaimie says nice things via e-mail.  And just recently, Jaimie suggested that I blog a bit about how my “little bro became such a feared power forward.”  OK, dude, you asked for it.  Better getcha popcorn ready, ‘cause this blog entry is gonna be epic.



Fierce.

Dad told me one time that he didn’t put us in hockey - and build the backyard rink - to make us NHLers.  He just wanted us to be good enough so that we would be able to play some pick-up later on in life and and not suck too badly.  Growing up, I was good enough to play with and against some good hockey players, notably Andrew McKim, who played in the NHL a bit and tore up the AHL for a few seasons.  I also played against a pretty decent hockey player for FHS named Matt Stairs, who was even better at another sport (check out this link).  After intramural hockey at University, and when I moved away, one of the first things I did in my new town was to call the local Recreation Department and ask about gentlemen’s hockey.  That was almost 20 years ago, and I am still playing with a great bunch of guys every Friday night.

Jaimie was a better hockey player than I was - he played a good amount of high-level hockey - and the “feared power forward” tag is actually fairly accurate.  His favourite player growing up was Bryan Trottier and he kind of modeled his game after him (and, of course 19 was his favourite number).  Jaimie could put the points on the board like Bossy’s set-up man, but I’d say he was more aggressive than good ol’ Trots.  He also played with and against several good players, but the most… lets say interesting teammate he had was a guy named Andy Bezeau.

Sometimes, after we got bored of practicing our shots or skating or whatever on the backyard rink, Jaimie and I would practice our fighting.  We discovered that it was a good idea to whip off your gloves into your opponent's face instead of dropping them, then follow up with the knuckles.  Fighting was never a big aspect of my game, but Jaimie would put those particular finely-tuned skills to use on occasion.  However, Bezeau was in a category all his own.



Hurrikanes #19

Jaimie and Bezeau played together on the Saint John Pepsis, which was the top Midget team in southern New Brunswick.  Well, I say they played “together” but technically either one or the other guy was in the box for a good portion of many games, and when they weren’t “feeling shame” they were scoring goals.  Bezeau went on to play hockey for several minor-pro teams for about 10 seasons, but I’d have to say his most notable season was with the Fort Wayne Komets in 1995-96.  Here are the stats for that year, according to hockeyDB.com: 74 GP, 10 G, 11A, 21 Pts, 590 PIM.  Yes, 590 PIM….almost 10 full hours.  And, thanks to YouTube, you can enjoy plenty of Andy Bezeau’s handiwork.  My favourite is the one where he fights the opposing team’s bench.

Being born almost two and a half years apart meant that Jaimie and I were never on the same team growing up.  We did play against each other in an exhibition game once, when he was on the High School team and I was on a Juvenile team.  We actually collided during the game, right in front of Mom, and I think she may have fainted.

Of course, we eventually ended up on the same team not that long ago at the World Pond Hockey Championships. In our famous game against Brian Skrudland, Jaimie was battling with a couple of Skrudland’s teammates, and after some impressive little moves he came out with control of the puck. I happened to be skating next to Skrudland at the time, and Skrudland quietly said, kind of to himself, “that guy’s a good hockey player.”

Hey man…that guy’s my little bro.

L-R: Jaimie, me, another guy, Brian Skrudland



Old Friends

A couple of posts ago, I wrote briefly about the pond that Dad pumped water from to flood the old rink in Titusville, and how we sometimes skated on the pond...as proven by the picture of my brother Jaimie in his snazzy orange pants.  And, one of the lines from my very first blog entry went like this:

When I was a kid, we lived in the country and my father made a rink every year for about a dozen years. My brother and I spent the most time on it, but the only other neighbourhood kids our age - four boys - spent a good chunk of their winters on it too.

Well, an interesting thing happened in the comments section for that recent article.  Actually, two interesting things.

The first interesting thing was that I received comments from two guys about synthetic ice, since I also mentioned synthetic ice in that post.  You can check out more about their products at their websites, for Global Synthetic Ice and IcePro.  Great-looking stuff, but certainly not in the budget for my rink.

The other interesting thing was receiving a comment from one of the "other neighbourhood kids our age," Steve Sabean, who happened onto my blog via my Facebook page.  Steve, his brothers Mike & Mark, and the other neighbourhood kid - Mark Smith - could all tell you about the rink, since they and Jaimie and I basically grew up on that ice.  As Steve said in his comment, "I sure remember all those winter days spent on the Kane hockey rink.  The good ole days."  Thanks for stopping by and saying hello, Steve!

And, since no Backyard Ice blog entry is complete without a picture (OK, actually, there is one blog entry without an illustration of some sort), here you go:

That, my friends, is me on the famous Kane rink in Titusville, showing off in my hockey gear and my favourite team's jersey. This picture is all kinds of awesome, but I'll point out three great things: (1) Snowbanks! (2) Cooperalls!! (3) Hair!!!

Joe, Bob, Terry and Jim

I just got back from a family reunion, and seeing my father and his three brothers together has inspired this post.  I remembered seeing this old picture and realized that it would be a great starting point for an article:

So, behind the net is my uncle Joe, and from left to right are my father Bob and my uncles Terry and Jim.  I "interviewed" Joe & Dad for this story, so Terry and Jim: any errors or omissions are their fault.

This picture was taken on Shaw Lake in Golden Grove, East Saint John N.B. (click on the aerial photo to enlarge).  It was taken in the winter of 1959 (they think) by their father, at which point Joe was (or was on his way to becoming) a star player for Simonds High School.  Yes, Terry, he actually was a star...I've seen the newspaper clippings.  Apparently they talked Terry into putting the goalie pads on, most likely with the threat of violence if he didn't.  At the very least, he should have been beaten up for wearing that sweater.

The best story about this picture might actually be about the boards in the background.  They were in 4 by 8 foot sections and were made by the neighbourhood fathers while drinking a batch of beet wine from a bathtub.  (I wonder if Walter Gretzky ever did that?)  The boards were put on the ice as soon as it was possible to do so.  In the spring, they were laid flat on the ground and used as a "floor" for ball hockey until the roads and driveways were dry enough to play on.

I'm sure lots of Canadian families have memories of skating on lakes many years ago, and I'm glad my grandfather took this picture of his sons so that one day they could be the focus of an entry in my little blog about skating outdoors.

Of course, skating wasn't only restricted to Shaw Lake.  One winter, there was an ice storm that covered the roads with ice and closed the schools.  Joe and my father took advantage of the long skating rink and skated to Exhibition Park, at least 4 miles away from their house.  During this time, the sun came out and melted the ice on the road, so Joe and Dad got home the only way possible...they walked in their sock feet.  I guess Joe got blamed for this because he was the oldest, just like he got blamed the first time Jim swore at their mother...where else is he gonna hear that kind of language?

Backyard Ice: Summer Edition

I never intended for this blog to be a “how-to” blog. There are enough of those out there, and there are almost as many different ways to build backyard rinks as there are backyards, climates, and budgets. Rather, my aim for this blog was, as good ol' Dickie Dunn put it, to capture the spirit of the thing. And, since the spirit of a backyard rink is not too strong in the summertime, here are a few random thoughts on backyard ice.

Item #1:
There is such a thing as synthetic ice.  Charlottetown had a 3-on-3 hockey tournament on fake ice as part of their summer festival (see here); I'd like to know how that went.  But in doing a small bit of research on synthetic ice, I can report with a fair amount of confidence that it would cost thousands of dollars to put fake ice on my backyard rink.  (An article I read said that it costs about $3500 to outfit an average basement with synthetic ice.)  One marketing angle that the manufacturers of fake ice use is that it gives your kids an advantage over other kids in their development as hockey players...I wonder if some NHL team would fund my rink in exchange for the rights to any players who are a product of it?

Item#2:

From my first blog entry: "Dad had a small fish pond nearby, and flooded the rink with a sump-pump and water from the pond."  So here, pulled straight from the family archives, is a picture of my brother Jaimie on the pond:

Many people are aware that Jaimie is a darn good hockey player.  But what they don't know is that he has always been a very stylish man...note that his hat and pants match perfectly. 

Item#3:
Here is a line from the song "700 ft. Ceiling" by The Tragically Hip :

In our own backyard, we can do some floodin' / when it's cold and dark, don't have to think or nothin'

...now, I wonder what that's all about...?

Item #4:

So, as you complain about the heat and humidity, shoo away some black flies and swat some mosquitos, just remember that in a few short months all this nasty summer stuff will be a memory...

Gardens and Barns (and Happy Father’s Day!)

There are a few definitions of “garden” out there. One that I have found is: “a planned space set aside for the display and enjoyment of forms of nature.” Another is “a piece of ground or other space used as a recreation area.” The early versions of the word (circa 1300) can be traced to words that mean “enclosure.”

Armed with that knowledge, here is some solid logic for you…the backyard rink is a garden because it is:

• A planned space set aside for the display and enjoyment of forms of nature. (Ice is a form of nature.)
• A piece of ground or other space used as a recreation area. (Duh!)
• Enclosed. (Either by boards, snow banks or land.)

The comparisons don’t stop there. Here is a picture from August 2005:

This man looks like he is working on a garden, and the point of this blog post is that he most certainly is. Now, this is no ordinary man, and this is no ordinary garden. This is the Rink Guru breaking ground on what would become my backyard rink.

Just as gardeners enjoy the appearance of a carefully tended flower or vegetable garden, I like the looks of a backyard rink. A smooth ice surface with snow banks around it and some kids skating on it makes for a very picturesque winter scene, and it is of course quintessentially Canadian. I’ll bet that over the years you have received at least one Christmas card showing something like this.

There are even some people who think great big arenas can be called gardens...I’m talking about Boston, Madison Square and Maple Leaf. Of course, these facilities have also been called “barns.” Whether it’s the local little arena with two rows of wooden benches or Montreal’s Bell Centre, hockey people call these places “barns.” I recently heard an NHL player in the playoffs say, “we came into their barn facing elimination,” which is proof that top hockey people are still using that term.

The Guru’s legendary backyard rink was in fact beside an honest-to-goodness barn…or at least next to where the barn used to be. (My memory is a little sketchy - either because it was so long ago or because I played too many backyard hockey games with no helmet.) What a wonderful opportunity to name a rink the “Barn Gardens!” I’ll have to settle for dubbing my rink the “Brook Garden” since it is next to a brook and, despite my best efforts, we actually spent more time skating on the brook this past winter than on the rink.

Building a backyard rink is a hobby that requires lots of work but has great rewards…just like gardening. So, here’s a special Happy Father’s Day wish to the Rink Guru, and to all the other Dads who know what it is like to stand outside in sub-zero temperatures watching water pour from a hose!

Going, Going...

…Gone. Yes, as I write this, the ice is leaving the brook behind my house. I’ve never really kept track of when this usually happens – I’ve never had a blog about outdoor ice before this year – but I’ll go out on a limb and say that this is pretty early. Oh well, we got to skate on it a couple of times, which is a couple of times more than we usually do (for reasons why, see Frozen Bodies (…of Water): Part I).

No surprise, but the local newspaper reported that this was the mildest winter on record across Canada, and of course, here in our region. “Normally” around here, the average winter season temperature is minus 9; this winter it was 5 degrees warmer. Apparently, the snowfall amount this winter was close to normal (but we saw twice as much snow as usual in the two previous winters).

Speaking of snow, all of the snow in and around my yard is gone…even the drifts in the shade. As in, absolutely no snow is left in my yard. So, for another fascinating comparison, here is a picture taken on April 6 2008 showing my son splashing around on the rink:Look at the snow! This amazing comparison kinda reminds me of another classic Backyard Ice post…

March 9, 2008 Redux

As if I needed to talk any more about the strange winter we have experienced here this year...

The picture on the far left was taken on March 9, 2008. The picture on the right side was taken on March 9, 2010 from roughly the same spot. So, think of them as a Backyard Ice "Before-and-After," or perhaps "Then-and-Now." (Click on the picture to see a larger version.) And although a picture is worth a thousand words, what follows are a number of specific words that I’ve selected to go along with these particular pictures.

The pictures show the “entrance” to my backyard rink. In 2008, I shoveled that corridor by hand through several feet of snow to get to the rink; the drift at the front of the picture is probably close to 10 feet high. With winter boots (and a toque) on, the top of my head is more than 6 feet above the ground, and I could walk under the overhanging part of the drift that juts out towards the left without ducking.

The winter of 2007-2008 was the last winter that I shoveled that much snow by hand, in large part because of the storm that hit on this particular day. So, mainly influenced by the amount of snow we received in 2007-2008, I bought a snowblower in November 2008. It got plenty of use in its first winter – on both the driveway and the backyard rink, of course. Now, the few times that I’ve used my snowblower this winter served only to (a) make sure that it still worked, and (b) remind myself that I still have one.

It’s hard to believe that the scenes in these photos are separated by exactly two years. I can’t imagine any more extreme differences in the overall weather conditions – existing snow amounts, average temperatures – occurring 730 days apart.

What will this view look like next year at this time? I'll be sure to let you know!

Charlottetown Ice

My family was in Charlottetown for a few days at the end of our March Break (March 4-7, in fact) for a swim meet where my daughters Rebecca and Molly were competing. And, since the spectator section of a swimming pool is not the ideal place to spend an entire day (and evening) with a 5-year-old boy, I looked into possibly taking my son Joe for a skate somewhere in town. I was very pleased to find out that Charlottetown has a number of outdoor rinks; ten, according to the City’s website. Unfortunately, the ice at all ten was in “poor shape” as stated on the website; here is something I grabbed directly from it before we went:

Updated: Feb 26, 2010 at 9:00 am. All rinks are in poor shape due to mild weather. Please note that consistent temperatures of – 4 Celsius or colder are required to build up ice on the rinks.

Now that’s what I’ve been sayin’ for the past month…consistent temperatures of – 4 Celsius or colder are required to build up ice on the rinks. That sentence could be the tagline to my blog…if it wasn’t already occupied by “the roofless world of skating outdoors.” Anyway, the complex that houses the pool includes a couple of rinks, so Joe and I did get to go skating after all…indoors, of course.

Oh, and here is an update on the conditions of Charlottetown’s outdoor rinks that was issued just as we arrived on PEI:

Updated: March 4, 2010 at 4:00 pm. All rinks are closed for the season.

Well, folks, looks like that’s officially a wrap..in Beresford as well as Charlottetown. Sigh. :(

But, don’t worry, Backyard Ice fan(s)…I have several blog entries in the works and I’ll be posting them occasionally in the off-season. Stay tuned! :)

On The Bright Side…

Everyone knows that the optimist sees this glass as being half-full, and that the pessimist sees it as being half-empty. I’m an Engineer, so naturally I see the glass as being twice as big as it needs to be. A joke that I found on the internet says that a drinker would see that the glass needs more ice. And, here’s another one: a physicist would say that the volume of this cylinder is divided into two equal parts; one a colourless, odourless liquid, the other a colourless, odourless gas. Thus the cylinder is neither full nor empty; instead, each half of the cylinder is full: one half with a gas, one half with a liquid. (That’s certainly something that Dr. Sheldon Cooper would say, eh Rebecca?)

Now, while I am not very optimistic about getting much quality skating time on the backyard rink this year, I am still able to look on the bright side of things. Here, then, are some benefits of experiencing crappy weather for building and maintaining a backyard rink:

• no “double-shoveling” (driveway plus rink);
• more time is available to watch the Olympics;
• lower power bills (no shoveling, flooding or skating at night means my elaborate and complex lighting system isn’t being used);
• no iced-up pants and gloves while flooding (which is clearly a direct result of not flooding at all);
• less money is spent on hot chocolate.

Actually, that last one is kind of sad – it sure is great to spend some time skating then come in for some hot chocolate and cookies. It’s just not the same to splash around in puddles on the driveway or play in the mud then go inside and sip a hot beverage. What a messed-up winter!

Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!

In the classic 1980 movie “Airplane!” there is a running gag where tower supervisor Steve McCroskey, played by Lloyd Bridges, has a hard time dealing with the stress involved with the unfolding events and says, “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.” Then it’s “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking,” and “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue,” and so on. Well, let me say that it looks like I picked the wrong winter to start blogging about my backyard rink.

This is usually the best time of year to use the backyard rink; however, we have had an unbelievable run of high temperatures this month, and what little ice and snow we did have is melting more and more every day. We are actually getting late-March weather in mid-February, which is great…as long as you’re not trying to build a backyard rink.

According to Environment Canada, this year we have had almost two straight weeks where the maximum daily temperature has been above zero. They also say we have over 20 cm of snow on the ground, but I can tell you that there is essentially zero snow on the ground in my backyard. The forecast for the next week is also predicting above zero highs. To put this into a historical perspective, the average temperature for February 2009 was -7 C, with about 80 cm of snow on the ground. February 2008’s average temperature was -10 C, with upwards of 100 cm of snow on the ground. February 2007 it was -11 C. February 2006, the inaugural season of my backyard rink averaged -10 C. There wasn’t much snow in 2006, but the ice was great, as you can see in the picture on the right of this page under the list of previous posts.

Even though all the forecasted highs for the near future are on the plus side, the night-time lows are mostly on the freezing side. So, just like another memorable Lloyd Bridges character – Izzy Mandelbaum from Seinfeld - I’m not giving up. Even if it is only for a few minutes on slushy ice, somebody from my family will skate on the rink this year. As Izzy says, “We're gonna take it up a notch. It’s go-time!”

Frozen Bodies (…of Water): Part II

At this time of year all across Canada and the northern USA, pond hockey tournaments are being held. Probably all of them were inspired by the World Pond Hockey Championships in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick. As stated on their website, “the event has caught the imagination and triggered the emotions of hockey enthusiasts worldwide.” They aren’t kidding, as players come from literally all over the world every February to this tiny village for the experience. I have been lucky enough to play there on two occasions.

My team was comprised of me, my father Bob, my brother Jaimie, and my cousin Mike. We finished second…in every game except one. I think we could have won at least our first two games if we had any idea of how to exploit the rules that were in place. Since the rules stated that goaltending was not allowed, we decided to try playing in a box formation and not get too close to our net, for fear of being penalized a goal for “goaltending” (as per the rules). You can imagine how this strategy worked, and we were beaten by teams with inferior players before we figured out the nuances. After that, we were simply beaten by teams with superior players.

We came away from the experience with some notoriety; along with a couple of newspaper articles about us, a picture from one of our games appeared in a “special” advertising section in the March 8, 2004 Canadian edition of Time magazine.That’s me, and I’m either scoring a goal or perhaps missing a field goal wide left. Take a look at our team’s jerseys; since we were a family team and our family name is Kane, my father dubbed us the HurriKanes. So I drew up a simple logo: a big “K” with maple leaves, shamrocks, and the four playing card suits inside it (we Kanes sometimes play a little cards). Dad superimposed it over the Carolina Hurricanes logo, and the rest is hockey history.

On our second trip there two years later, the highlight - besides our epic victory - was playing against Brian Skrudland’s team, the Calgary Rustlers, in the pouring rain. Before the game, as a crowd started to form around the rink to see the Stanley Cup winner, I skated up to some kids and asked if they were there to see me play. There must have been at least 2 inches of water all over the ice, and Skrudland was the only guy who could carry the puck through the water. (Try stickhandling in a full bathtub sometime to see what it was like.) All of us were completely soaked. Skrudland was cracking jokes about the conditions throughout the game; he was humming the theme from “Jaws” and commenting that even as a former Montreal Canadien he wouldn’t take a dive on a day like this. At the end of the game, he gathered the two teams together and got us to skate quickly across the ice, pile on the brakes, and send a tidal wave splashing over the spectators. Anyway, we kept the first half close at 5-2, but the Rustlers managed to beat the HurriKanes 17-5. He was such a nice guy that I almost forgave him for game 2 of the 1986 Stanley Cup Final. (Actually, no I didn’t.)

Our trips to Plaster Rock were two great experiences on outdoor ice, as anyone who has played there will tell you.

YouTube Ice

Here's an excellent time lapse video of a backyard rink being built. It was done by a young man in Massachusetts named Ross Bergen.



Great job!...I gotta get me a big honkin' tarp.

Make-Or-Break Time: Update

My 3-part plan is still in effect. Here is a picture I took yesterday:

Except for some high-ground spots, the base managed to survive the rain and the high temperatures. The temperatures didn't drop low enough for long enough last night (or today), and we got a real good dose of mixed rain & snow after this picture was taken. As a result, the rink is kind of an almost-slush pool right now. Good news, though: the forecasted low for tonight is -10. That should freeze whatever is on there, and one or two floods should be enough to give us at least a good part of the rink to skate on.

Two more things you might notice about this picture: (1) the brook in the background now consists of fairly deep water sitting on top of the ice. That should parlay into a more-than-decent skating surface...for a little while. And, (2) there is absolutely no snow in the back yard. Yes, this is late January in northern New Brunswick. I get the feeling that it is going to snow here for the entire month of February.

Make-Or-Break Time

The crazy "winter" weather in this part of the world continues. My rink surface is just a bit less than 50% covered in very good ice. And now we are down to crunch time...the moment of truth...the TSN Turning Point.

The above Weather Channel forecast says that we could have 10-15 millimetres of rain over the next little while. Environment Canada is calling for 15-20 millimetres of rain, with temperatures spiking at plus 6. Both authorities think that temperatures will drop again after Tuesday night. Either forecast could result in an absolutely great flood for the rink, or it could be back to the ol' drawing board - again - if the base melts.

Currently, there is a little bit of snow on the rink, courtesy of a snowfall we received earlier today; also, right now we are getting some light freezing drizzle. So, based on the forecasts, here is my 3-part plan: (1) Scrape off the snow and "frozen drizzle" at the precise moment that the rain begins to fall. (2) Watch the rink anxiously as the rain falls and the temperature rises (while also watching tonight's episode of 24). (3) Hope that the base doesn't melt and that the rain sits there long enough to freeze.

Alas, the window of opportunity is closing. If the rink (such as it is) is ruined after tomorrow night, then I'll be hard-pressed to build it back up. Our skating season this winter might only be a day or two in mid to late February...which, don't get me wrong, is still better than nothing. For now, however, let's just hope that my 3-part plan works.

Frozen Bodies (…of Water): Part I

The lazy sibling of the backyard rink is the frozen pond, lake, brook, or river. It’s nothing personal; I’ve enjoyed skating on them, as you will see in future entries. In fact, the great pictures just below the blog header and the one included in this post (which were taken by my wife through our dining room window) show me and my son having some fun on the brook behind our house.

It’s just that my problem with frozen bodies of water is that they are (for the most part) not easily accessible, unreliable, and dark - most of the time. I’ll use “my” brook as an example, but if you have the right conditions then you should probably just be thanking the ice gods for your good fortune.

“Not easily accessible” because unless you have the perfect property, chances are it’s tough to find a skateable natural facility close to where you live. Even though that brook is right behind our house, we need to climb down a rough bank and then slip and slide along some slanted and broken-up ice along the shore to get to our destination.

“Unreliable” because the ice is often uneven, bumpy, and cracked. Since we bought this house in 1996, I could probably count on one hand the number of times that the ice on the brook was suitable for skating. This year is the exception, however. I have managed to find some patches of smooth-ish ice, and we have skated on it twice already. One reason that we haven't been out more often is that the temperatures have been very low and there is always (at minimum) a breeze out there in the wide open. (Yesterday, after about 1.5 hours out there, the wind really picked up and was strong enough to blow us across the ice.) Time once again for Backyard Ice Math©:

low temperatures + wind = –30 degree wind chill = X

X + young kids = crying to go in after five minutes

We might get another shot at it, as there is still unbelievably not much snow in the forecast and the rink is still a work in progress. By this time of the winter, the brook is usually buried in several feet of wind-packed and frozen snow that is stuck like glue to the ice surface.

My final problem with the frozen body of water is the inherent darkness. If you live in sub-zero climes then you know that there are only a few hours of daylight in the winter. Skating on bumpy and crevasse-infested ice when you can’t see anything is not recommended. The second reason that we haven't been out on the brook more often this winter is that when school and their other activities are done, it is very rare for the kids to be home in the daylight, leaving only selective weekends for skating (and then you have a Backyard Ice Math© situation, as above). The nice thing about the backyard rink is how relatively easy it is to light ‘er up…you can see some of my elaborate lighting system in the pictures.

If you have access to the perfect frozen pond, lake, brook, or river, then just go out and have yourself some fun. And, stay tuned for Part II in this series, where I “compete” for the World Pond Hockey Championship. An obvious future Part - a post on the Rideau Canal - will just have to wait until I get the honour of skating there!

Dear Rebecca,

Thanks for following my blog. I know that you think it is “weird” that your ol’ man is blogging, but “whatevs.”

I am aware that two of my three children are pictured on this blog, and that you are the one that isn’t. When you pointed out this fact, my poignant response was “go for a skate sometime and maybe you’ll get on there.”

Now, here is the simple truth: sightings of UFOs are rare. Sightings of Sasquatch are even rarer. Sightings of you on skates are…well, you get the idea.

We all know that you prefer to spend your time immersed in water in its liquid form, instead of balancing on thin strips of metal on frozen water. And that’s more than OK…it’s great!

We are all proud of your swimming achievements, and we are very pleased that you have found some kind of athletic activity that you enjoy so much. I hope that you get as many years of fun from swimming as I have from skating and hockey.

Love,
Dad

A First Time For Everything...Twice!

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was raking the rink last weekend. That was the first time I've ever had to do that, and I checked with the Outdoor Rink Guru (a.k.a. Dad), and he never had to do that. I've also mentioned in my previous posts that I've been considering moving snow from the front yard to the back.

Well friends, the photo at the left shows another first that can be listed for the 2009-10 edition of my rink. That wheelbarrow is, of course, parked in my driveway. If you try hard enough, you can see the excavation area just to the left of the driveway marker/reflector. I couldn't use the snow from the banks close to the driveway because they are rock solid.

I did this work under the cover of darkness for two valid reasons: the first, and most obvious reason is that it lowers the possibility of my neighbours seeing me dig holes in the snow in my front yard and cart it off to my back yard, and then confirming suspicions that I've completely lost my mind. The second reason is that I was hoping that the real N.E. Patriots might show up for their playoff game today; by the time I realized that it wasn't going to happen and got geared up to go outside, it was dark.

OK then, now it's time for the first edition of Backyard Ice Math: a couple loads like this + some quality time with the hose + cold temperatures (now minus 12) = a good start to repairing the base of the rink.

Wishful Thinking

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm in desperate need of some snow in order to get any work done on the rink. I mentioned in the previous post that I'll need to move the snow from the front yard to the back yard. Well, I'm not sure that is even an option, because there really isn't very much snow in the front yard at all. Plus, the little bit of snow that is there is quite dirty, courtesy of those great winds and rains we had a while back.

So, I'm back to waiting for a nice little snow fall, just a few inches. Let's check the ol' Weather Network forecast...

Wow. This is January, right? Un-friggin'-believable. Where's all the snow?

Looks like my rink will have a base made from brownish slush.

Introduction

While I was working on my backyard rink the other day, I was thinking that an account of my progress would be a good blog topic. When you are standing outside in sub-zero temperatures pouring water from a garden hose, your mind tends to wander.

When I was a kid, we lived in the country and my father made a rink every year for about a dozen years. My brother and I spent the most time on it, but the only other neighbourhood kids our age - four boys - spent a good chunk of their winters on it too. It was a great rink, about twice the size of mine. Dad had a small fish pond nearby, and flooded the rink with a sump-pump and water from the pond. A few years ago he said to me, "you should build a rink." So I did.

The backyard rink is, to me, more special than a frozen pond, lake or river because of the preparation efforts. I always had a sense of the work involved - shoveling, scraping, flooding, plus the off-season work - but I didn't appreciate it as much until I started building my own. I'll chronicle these other aspects of my rink (and my Dad's) in future posts, but for now I'd like to talk about my 2009-2010 rink.

Christmas break is always a good time to start the rink...temperatures are low enough and there is usually enough snow to build a good base. So I got a pretty good start until January 2, when the temperature jumped up to plus 3 with rain and wind gusts up to at least 70 km/h. Since then, the temperature has stayed between 0 and +4, and we've had about 10 millimetres of rain. I was out a couple of times standing ankle deep in water, raking branches, cones, and all kinds of crap off the rink. So, no more snow, and no freezing temperatures. So, I consider myself lucky that my rink looks no worse than this:

The future doesn't look too bad, temperature-wise, but I need some more snow to re-build parts of the base...those wind gusts I mentioned earlier blew all the snow to the front yard. There isn't any appreciable snowfall in the forecast for maybe a week, so it looks like I'll be trucking the snow from the banks and drifts in front of the house to the backyard pretty soon.

It's lots of work, but it is all worth it when the kids (and, of course, I) get to lace 'em up and have a skate.