I had a leak last season, and any amount of water I put down just drained out for the most part. What I did, was mixed up a big ol garbage can of slush and went around the whole rink and packed some slush between the existing ice and the boards, so maybe 3 or so inches up the boards. Once that froze...

I've used a piece of tuck tape with some acoustic sealant smeared on it to patch leaks under water with good results.

After missing the first big freeze of the season in mid - december, I got the christmas rush over with and finally some free time to work on the rink. Layed the liner down tonight and the hose is running as I type this, with temps well below minus 10 C for the next 4 or 5 days.

if your pretty level (did you measure?) and only looking at 4 or 5 inches in the deepest part, you should be just fine as is with the stakes IMO. If you've got a slope and are looking at deeper you may want to put some bracing in the deep areas.

If you can get hold of a roof rake, you may be able to pull the snow off without stepping on the ice.

it's storming today, but if it wasn't , we could be skating.... The deep end is about 16 inches deep or so, and I could walk on it a couple days ago.... crazy cold.

I'm not sure what the nicerink brackets look like, but I drove some wooden stakes down into some very frozen ground a few weeks ago. Just get a piece of rebar and drive a pilot hole for each one.

It worked well with the stakes... I bout gave up, but a buddy of mine who works construction gave me the pilot hole tip.

It's normal... just flood over it and it won't be an issue. To be honest, I rather enjoy the sound of cold ice cracking at 2 or 3 in the morning when I'm out with the hose all by myself.

I use the big rubbermaid garbage pails as well. I only have two, but I made a rig up out of copper pipe, couple elbows, a T, and a shutoff, so I can hook it to my hose and fill my two buckets at the same time. I throw a soccer ball in each one, go inside where it's warm and watch out the window. Onc...