Backyard Hockey Rinks:

Backyard ice skating rinks have become a thing of the past. The Rochester weather is the major factor for the lack of good ice for all of the hard efforts of building a rink. A rink or any type of ice is always good to have close to home for all to enjoy. The true fact is that it takes a rare young individual (hockey player) willing to have the internal drive to put on the skates and grab the bucket of pucks and a stick, then attacking the extreme winter conditions. This daily five to six hours of extra ice is very positive to improving ones hockey skills. One year you may have three months of ice and then the following Winter you may only get four weeks if your lucky. Lets not forget the snow that has to be removed before your child can hit the ice. On a positive note: watering the ice at 12 midnight is one of the best moments as a parent to experience. Why! your alone and there is no mind distractions except to make sure your hose is watering the ice that has been roughed up by your childs skates. When your done watering the backyard rink the hose then has to be drained and stored in a warm location. At about one am you finally get to bed. Guess what? It all repeats the next day. A lot of dedicated parents (past years) put the time and money into this adventure because there were no other choices for our children to skate outside of the so-called team practice. Hockey parents grow over the years to except this hockey world as a way of life. By the way, with no regrets. Village Sports is the only Hockey Rink in the area that allows parents to forget the backyard rink idea and focus on the options that will be available through the Grizzlies Hockey Program.