A Canadian tradition skates on

It's twilight on a late January evening, and 10-year-old twins Christopher and Logan Roy, their 12-year-old brother Brayden, and 14-year-old neighbour Austin White whip around a backyard rink, skates flashing.

The boys shoot pucks at a net on one side of the small skating surface, but a few occasionally land in the snow, prompting a frenzied search.

“We buy pucks by the bucket,” laughs Mike Roy, who built the rink for his sons in behind his Lively home.

He said he was inspired to take on the project because his kids used to play pickup hockey at the outdoor rink on Diorite Street, near their old home in Copper Cliff. But the family moved to Lively last year, and the closest outdoor rink is now a long walk down the highway.

Mike said that right now, his kids — none of whom are enrolled in a formal hockey program — are spending even more time on the rink than they are with video games.
“I think it's a great idea,” Mike's wife, Tanya Roy, said. “It's good being able to keep a close eye on your kids. When you have those little hockey accidents, you're right there.”

To build the rink, Mike put down a large tarp, built walls of snow, and “did a great big pour” one day, using two hoses for about five hours.

“I let it freeze, and then did some skim coats with water to get a nice, flat surface,” he said. “I found using two 20-litre buckets filled with warm water works well. I just toss it out there, and get it to spread really quickly. You get a really nice finish.”

Mike said building the backyard rink brought back memories of his own childhood. He said there used to be a swamp in his backyard on which he used to skate in the winter.

There was actually an outdoor rink in his neighbourhood, but he never went to it.
“The rink was smaller than what we had,” he said.

Christopher said he thinks the rink in his backyard is “awesome.” He said he and his brothers play hockey once a day on weekdays, and twice a day on weekends.

“I like it,” Brayden said. “We have a really good time on it. We have a rink almost all to ourselves.”

Bobbie Smith and Les Mandigo built a 45-by-92-foot rink in the backyard of their Espanola home.

It's not only used by their kids — Brody, 3, Shari, 5, and Alex, 12 — but by the entire neighbourhood.

“Once the rink was done, we went and knocked on everybody's door, and said 'Hi, our rink is done, please use it,'” Smith said. “People use it even when we're not around.”

She said the family only moved to Espanola from Manitoulin Island two years ago, and the rink has allowed them to get to know their neighbours.

The family also recently hosted a skating party in their backyard in honour of Shari's fifth birthday party. “We got good feedback from the parents,” Smith said. “They said it was a great idea.”

They're also planning to host a jug curling tournament this weekend.

“It's kind of like real curling, except you use javex jugs full of sand,” Smith said. “(Les) is out there spray painting circles on the surface.”

In terms of their building technique, Smith said it was about as simple as it gets.

“He didn't use a kit or anything,” she said. “It was just the ground and snow.”
She said Les started working on the project close to Christmas, and worked on it about 40 hours a week until it was completed.

“Now that it's done, he doesn't spend a whole lot (of time on it), maybe an hour a week shovelling it off and giving it a quick flood,” Smith said.

Last year, the family built a much smaller rink in the backyard. They encountered a bit of a disaster in the building process.

“The water broke through the bank, and we accidentally flooded the street,” Smith said.

Little disasters like that can be avoided — with a little bit of expense.

For the past 20 years, Brian Young has operated a business called The Ultimate Outdoor Rink out of Stratford, Ont. which specializes in outdoor rinks, including backyard rinks.

Young, whose father used to build backyard rinks for him when he was a kid, said it's possible to build a rink with just snow and water and a little help from mother nature.

However, he sells kits which produce a much classier final product.

The kits range in price from $170 to $1,000, and include items such as a liner, patch kit, corner brackets, crews, a DVD instruction video, and paper instructions.

All customers have to supply themselves is a wooden frame, he said.

The business also sells little “extras,” including puck boards, coloured rink frame supports and edge protectors, nets and even light-up pucks.

Young said he makes about 90 per cent of his sales over the Internet.

“Most people wouldn't believe how busy we are,” he said.

He said backyard rinks are a Canadian tradition.

“When you hear the guys in the NHL being interviewed, and they speak of their fondest memories, they're speaking of their time on the backyard rink,” Young said. “It's amazing.”

For more information about The Ultimate Outdoor Rink, visit www.backyardrink.com.

Posted by Arron Pickard