There aren't many sports where the central piece of sporting equipment goes missing mid-game, especially in pickup / amateur versions of a game. Footballs, volleyballs, soccer balls and basketballs rarely disappear during a game. Horses don't usually run away during equestrian events and shotputs and javelins don't get tossed that far. However in some sports, the …
Category: rinks
The Blowtorch and It’s Place in the Game
George Orwell opined that serious sport "is war minus the shooting". Given that, you have to love and respect any sport that requires the use of a blowtorch in a non-weapon sense. Now those of you who aren't schooled in the game may need to loose the hounds of your imagination to conjure up …
8 Years Ago Today…
...I put up the boards, laid down the plastic, and turned on the hose. Rink season had begun. My neighbour buddy Rick was thinking along those same lines. Back-to-back backyard rinks - a beautiful site.
When Exams Were Over
There was a December when I was in high school, probably 1978 or 1979 when I was in grade 9 or 10, that I remember well. I'm not sure if it was abnormally cold and snowy early that year, or whether I'm just so old that I was around back when winter actually came …
Backyard Rink No More
Cold day here today in KW. Rain is coming down and bringing leaves with it. For years, when my kids were younger, it was around this time of the fall that I'd start getting things ready to build the backyard rink for the upcoming winter. For several years when I first built it, I just …
The One-Boot Net
I was out for a walk the other night quite late and wandered through downtown Waterloo past the rink in front of Waterloo town square. It was a fabulous winter night and on the rink a 5 on 5 game was in progress, fully ignoring the "rink closed, stay off" sign parked at the …
Sometimes It’s Too Hot For Hockey, Even in Canada
Last Thursday night, I headed out to RIM for my weekly Thursday night shinny game, exactly one week after having to bail on that week's hour of fun because of a broken skate blade. On this night, with freshly runners newly installed and ready to go, I drove out on what was the hottest night …
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When Old Hockey Nets Die
I'm not one of those handyman, McGyver types. I hold my own when it comes to fixing busted clothes-dryers, replacing panes of broken glass and I'll even change the oil on my own cars but I don't build entire rec rooms, turn 4 cylinder engines into V-8's with popular mechanics kits or wire the cottage …
What Makes a Great Rink Attendant?
The first half of this year's summer season is on Wednesday night's in New Hamburg from 10:00 -11:00. A couple of weeks back, we noticed that the garage door hiding the zamboni opened around 10:48 and the rink attendant appeared at the glass behind the net. We knew our time was up in two minutes …
-13 Degrees at Vic Park on a Saturday Morning
Five layers of shirts, sweaters and coats, four layers of pants, three pairs of socks, two gloves and one puck. Game on! Brett and I headed off to Vic Park this morning for a game of shinny and what a fabulous time it was. We got there as a game was forming, the ice was …
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Rink Tales 