Hockey Night In Canada (NF)

[limeyangler]

Hi all,

After many attempts, finally got the rink up to playing standard. This year has been a nightmare to get it done. We had a great freeze up and then it dumped a ton of heavy, wet snow on the fresh ice.  

Then it was all 0ºC to +5C º for a couple of weeks.

Slush, ice heaves, rain, snow made for a lot of work this year, Plowing with the quad was almost useless as the surface was too rough but I did try....................

only for this to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up clearing by hand, have the blisters to prove it...lol.

My work schedule is hectic too this year which does not help either, but I was determined to get it done for the kids over Xmas.

Xmas arrives and the whole area is under a severe weather alert for the last week, wind chills to -46ºC on the 25th, 26th, so even though the cold temps with snow helped me to get a nice smooth surface the kids did not want to play out, don't blame them...lol.

 

On Wednesday it started out brutally cold...............

 

 

 

But by 2pm it had gone up to a balmy -19ºC!!!!

I went down and swept the rink of and set up the flood lights and surprised the kids.....

They had a blast....made all the work well worth it ?

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Edited December 29, 2017 by limeyangler

[Jds63]

good job Simon !!! ... i know how hard it is to get a rink setup on a lake  .... and maintain it

doesn't get more Canadian than that !!!!

[manitoubass2]

Thatta boy! Keeping tradition alive!

 

And I hear ya on the cold! -37 here to the past few days with wind chill hitting as cold as -47

 

Brutal for December (or any month really)

[limeyangler]

5 hours ago, Jds63 said:

good job Simon !!! ... i know how hard it is to get a rink setup on a lake  .... and maintain it

doesn't get more Canadian than that !!!!

Thanks mate....good to hear from someone who appreciates just what an jerk it is to make it and keep it going!

3 hours ago, manitoubass2 said:

Thatta boy! Keeping tradition alive!

 

And I hear ya on the cold! -37 here to the past few days with wind chill hitting as cold as -47

 

Brutal for December (or any month really)

Yessiree.....gotta be done. And yeah....this weather needs to go away fast!

[pics]

I made a backyard rink for my daughter.. It's a lot of work and it takes a lot of water.. The cold weather has made it so much easier to get the water to freeze before it drains out of my somewhat leaky tarp... 

[scuro2]

I have many fond memories as a child skating on my neighbour's rink. There is the pride of making a nice rink but the real payoff is for the kids....the sound of skates and children's laughter in the dark cold clean air...priceless!

[lunkerbasshunter]

Thats how the passion for the game begins!  Love it!
 

Cheers!

[AKRISONER]

built a rink myself over the holidays...did the first pass when we had minimal snow by hand and she came out pretty good.

Came back 3 days later and 6 inches of fresh snow had fallen on it, so out came the snowblower...put the level right down to scrape as close as possible to the ice, shoveled the remainder off with skates on and had my brother push up the banks from the outside.

Then the cold came the ice got pretty brittle and was cracking up a lot so i spent 2 mornings in a row in -32 hauling pails of hot water down to the lake where i then took snow and packed it into the holes, poured hot water on them to make slush and then took a puck to it to smooth it out. it worked pretty well, was just grueling work on your hands and knees at -32. luckily my Kast steelheading gloves were up to the task and kept my hands warm and dry while the ice built up on them to the point that i looked like i had mr freeze hands.

even at -19 everyone was out on the rink, at the least the wind stayed down which made it easy to stay warm.

Whats some pond hockey without an accuracy shooting contest...my 63 year old mom beat me and my brothers who all play hockey after sniping 3 for 6. *note hitting the rubber on the bottom sorrels didnt count, had to hit material to make it realistic LOL!