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…