Hockey Night in Norwood — pandemic style

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This article was published 05/01/2021 (2081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COVID-19 has stopped much of life in its tracks.

Each season this year has been burdened with this albatross of a virus, curtailing normal activities Winnipeggers take for granted.

Retail stores and restaurants practice curbside pick-up to minimize human interaction, Christmas and New Year’s gatherings were supplanted by video conferences, schools continue to move more kids to virtual classrooms.

Canada’s national pastime became another piece of collateral damage inflicted by the pandemic with hockey teams and games outlawed to satisfy the code red Public Health mandate. Community centres were forced to close down their indoor and outdoor rinks.

We could easily feel sorry for our dreary state of affairs as we wait for large-scale vaccinations.

Norwood residents, however, aren’t the waiting types. If Norwood Community Centre couldn’t flood its outdoor rinks, the people made their own.

Over a dozen outdoor rinks have sprung up in the yards of the Norwood Flats. Some are elaborate.

Ross Kozielec’s 25-foot by 50-foot rink on Lyndale Drive features nighttime floodlights, small boards, and 10-foot-high safety mesh to protect both the house and passing cars from errant pucks.

“Our kids are in virtual classrooms all day and the rink provided an outdoor outlet to help them burn off energy and play hockey. They spend a lot of time out here.”

Kozielec’s son Lucas and daughter Eva are often on the rink, snapping pucks into the regulation-sized hockey net, stickhandling through skills obstacles created by Ross, or simply enjoying the fresh air.

Kozielec’s handiwork isn’t unique in the neighbourhood. Anyone walking through the Norwood Flats would be hard-pressed to venture a block or two without running into an outdoor rink.

Not to be outdone, on Dec. 18, the province reversed its previous Public Health order to keep community outdoor rinks and toboggan slides closed.

Small problem: Norwood Community Centre needed volunteers to flood the rinks and groom the ice on very short notice.

Undaunted, NCC president Jay Downs put a call and quickly found “20 Norwood volunteers who put in 120 hours over 11 days to get the ice ready in time for Christmas.”

Barry Nacci, NCC general manager, believes opening community rinks makes sense — “far safer than skating on rivers or retention ponds.”

The fact the Winnipeg Jets were given the green light to practise and play during the upcoming NHL season may have added an extra nudge to open community rinks for kids.

So, we can skate (with safe distancing), stickhandle (without games), and revel in the cool air of a winter night (with masks on).

We’ll take it.

COVID-19 can scrap many everyday activities, but we’ll be darned if we let it take our hockey rinks.  

Adriano Magnifico is a community correspondent for St. Boniface. You can contact him at anomag60@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: @AnoMagnifico