Home is where the ice is

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This article was published 30/12/2020 (1971 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The combination of unseasonably warm weather and COVID restrictions has led to a boom in back (and front) yard rink building this winter. Northeast Winnipeg is no exception.

When the Winnipeg metro area was put into code red at the end of October, indoor sports like hockey and ringette were put on hold indefinitely. When the health order was extended to the province, with further restrictions mid-November, many families decided to bust out the poly, hose and lumber and get an ice sheet going themselves.

Allan Chan is an assistant coach with the U11 River East Royals Black. When his 10-year-old son, Brayden, was younger and first learning to skate, Chan regularly put a little rink in their backyard in North Kildonan. 

“In 2017, I sold off my boards and brackets as I didn’t have time to maintain it,” Chen said. Instead, he went with a 10-by-20 foot “rink in a bag” with simple snow banks, which served as a shooting pad for Brayden.

But when the hockey season was put on hold, Chen decided it was time to get a real rink going again.

“Our team was doing team bingo challenges to keep active and I figured skating on a rink again was better than dryland,” Chan said. “And honestly, it’s just the best to see the kids enjoying it.”

After starting with a small backyard rink last year, the Shorrock family has also gone all out over on Knowles Avenue this winter. 

“We liked it so much we made it three times bigger,” Chad Shorrock said of his 30-by-50 foot backyard rink. “We’ve used it quite a bit in the past two weeks.”

Complete with spotlights and LED lines beneath the ice, Shorrock admitted that the rink is a lot of work.

“They’re a second driveway to shovel,” he said, noting that he floods the rink with a homemade flooding stick every couple of uses.  

Still, Shorrock said as long as his children, who are five and seven, make good use of the rink, he’ll keep the practice up.

“As long as they go out there and use it, I’ll build it every year,” he said.

The Glawsons in East St. Paul have made full use of their backyard with a full-size skating rink, complete with a refurshied Zamboni.

“Flooding is a family event,” Myrna Glawson said. “We have a huge water tank in our shop and a fire pump and hoses to make quick work of it.”

In prior years, the rink had been a gathering place for neighbours and other kids their son plays hockey with from River East and their families.

“We are keeping it maintained and ready in hopes that once restrictions are lifted we can share the space with the community again,” Glawson said.

The ongoing uncertainty around popular outdoor rinks at local community centres has led to a number of folks trying their hands at icemaking for the first time.

Johnny Fukumoto, owner of Fukumoto Fitness in North Kildonan, put a 20-by-30 foot rink in his backyard for the first time.

“The main reason was absolutely to provide a safe and fun outdoor energy outlet for my three boys,” Fukumoto said.

A former high level hockey player, Fukumoto said his dad coached him as a kid and he wanted to pass that experience along to his kids, who are six, four, and two.

“I look forward to coming home from work each day and doing that with them,” he said. “My six-year-old started hockey for first time and got two weeks in before shutdown. This helps him not think about missing that.”

Orvie Dingwall said her family put in a rink for the first time out front of their home in North Kildonan for her two kids to skate on.

“Our son, especially, has had as much fun building the rink, investigating how to make ice, and then making the ice, as he had skating and playing hockey on it,” she said.

Andy Blum is an Elmwood resident who built a small rink in his backyard for the first time last month.

“I pretty much just watched three YouTube videos, picked up lumber and built it,” Blum, an avid adult rec hockey player, said.

The Polychuk family in East Kildonan are also among new rink builders this winter.

“My hubby and little guy did all the work,” Theresa Polychuk said. “My son Jase is obsessed with hockey and loves to skate. Since we were not allowed to go skating, why not bring skating home?”

The only thing missing, Polychuk added, are “friends to skate with.”

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca or call him at 204-697-7112

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