Hello from Boston's North Shore

[Greybear]

Hello All Rinkers,

This is my second year building a rink. Last year thanks to BYH (backyard-hockey) a 100ft pine & my sister in-law made my rink a big success. I understand that this may need a little explaining so here it is (If you are not interested in the story this is the time to move on, no hard feelings).

Last year my son started in Mites cross-ice and I started getting back into skating/coaching myself (funny how that happens). I was determined to put up a back yard rink for my family and friends to muck around and enjoy hockey and skating. I started my research where everyone starts serious research "google". I found a ton of information and felt like I was on the right track weeding out the jokers and random flooders and found so solid information with concrete methods. The problem I found with these sites was while their methods were sound but their locations were primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin & Canada where the temperatures and snow accumulation are far more predictable. There was something else that was missing from these other sites that I could not put my finger on but I knew it just didn't feel right. This led me to seek out a build site that took into consideration the turmoil that is New England weather. That is when I came across BackYard-Hockey coincidentally it is also when I realized the missing ingredients missing from the other sites...............pain & struggle. I mean really... how hard is it to make a rink when from Dec. 7th to March 1st the temp never goes above 12 degrees..... you could accidentally leave the hose on and by morning wake up to an 80' x 120' miracle, just add nets and puck. I don't want to hear those stories.

What resonates with me is 3 days and nights at 17 degrees eventually by January 6 only get a two 52 degree days to round out the week turning the skating party and 2 on 2 tourni you had planned into a brush burning party.....Yipppeee, that's New England weather. I am not looking for sympathy I actually don't mind all the work especially when it pays off even for a few perfect days. What I was looking for was an appreciation for the issues that need to be overcome. So thank you BYH.

In November of last year I committed to the idea of a rink and took the "build a 24'x40' rink" plans found on this site and expanded them to 40' x 60' bought my liner and started determining my slope and executing a materials list. At roughly the same time on a Sunday afternoon I get a call from my sister in-law who informs me that while she was only planning on coming to stay with us for a few weeks over Christmas the flooding in Thailand (where they live) is so severe that they will be coming a little earlier, like......Wednesday. Now I love my sister in-law and my 7 yr old Niece and 3 yr old Nephew and I obviously said of course you are always welcome and they are. It was no coincidence that that same evening is when I also drew up plans for the warming hut that originally was a basic shelter from the wind and a place to put skates on & off turned into a much more elaborate (relatively speaking) project. There were many nights after work were I left the comfort of my home and the company of my wife, son, daughter, sister in-law, niece and nephew for the hut tinkering on this or that or just enjoying a beer and the quite. So in many ways I owe the success of the rink to my sister in-law.

Now for the 100ft pine. As most of the rinkers in the New England area and other regions this was a very mild or down right warm winter. I know of a number of friends that got single digit days out of their rink and others that threw in the towel didn't build. That being said when many had no ice to speak of my son and I were cruising around the rink before school or after. I started really keeping track and ended up with 27 days of skating last year. This includes times when my only my son and a friend could skate I was side lined due to the weight limit. I largely attribute the ice to the 100ft pine in our front yard that casts a wide shadow over much of the rink. I am glad it made it through Sandy because we will be counting on it again this year.

For this 2012/13 BYH season the only change is that I will be maxing out the rink (prior to any material changes to the property which I will not rule out next year) it will be 48' x 66'. We use official pond goals that we made which are 1/2 scale. I have found that this make things very fast paced and difficult to score while minimizing the holes in my fence.

I am looking forward to hearing everyone's stories this year and seeking the advice of (from what I have read) a very knowledgeable group. Primarily I wanted to share my story and thank BYH for helping me start what I believe to be a long standing family tradition.

Thank you & keep skating!

[kevmac]

Great story but when it started I was really expecting the sister-in-law to have been checked over the boards into the 100' pine tree. Good luck this year and let's hope for 30+ days of skating for you.

Kevin

[Joe]

Sweet story and thanks for the love. It's true that shade is a HUGE factor in ice quality and number of skating days, a fact I didn't recognize until last year. I too had a decent year, particularly the early morning skates with my son before I took him to daycare.

Good luck this year and beyond!