Ice rinks and mother nature

As a kid growing up in Canada playing hockey was a given. We always had an ice rink in the back yard, at the school, or the frozen river. Fortunately, my father, the late Stretch Gilbert, used to make a rink in my backyard. Winters were cold and we had ice for many months.

Now that I am a father of three, I too would like to have the same experiences with my children. After listening and watching other fathers struggle to build outdoor rinks, fighting with mother nature to cooperate I have been procrastinating - sitting on the sidelines.

Last year I was introduced to synthetic ice when my son had a skating lesson at the local Puckmasters hockey training center. Skating all year round! Where was this stuff when I was a kid? Can you really skate on this stuff I wondered. After watching the kids practice for a couple of sessions and talking to a puckmasters owner I thought to myself - wow, what if I had my own synthetic ice rink. It would illuminate the need to have to deal with good old Mother Nature.

It would give me a rink to play with my kids on all year round!! This was the beginnings of my Backyard Ice RInk Project!!