Backyard Rink
Even after a busy day of presents, food, and inside fun the kids wanted to get outside to do some night skating now that everything is solid again 🏒
Rink is open, and the fire is going… 🏒
Finally finished up flooding for my 8th year of doing this at 4am for a total time of 18 hrs. That equated to about 1484 Gallons (5618 L). Now we wait for it to freeze but this morning as you can see there is already a thin sheet of ice on it.
13 hours in and the rink is full. Now I need to fill the whole thing up a couple more inches to be skateable. 🏒
9 hours in to flooding and it still hasn’t covered the high side of the rink 😆. Also, the temperature keeps dropping and we are at 18°F now 👍
Finally, the day and time have come to flood the rink 👏 🏒 With 3 hrs in so far and this is all the water I have but only 1 hr of it has been 2 hoses. The wind has not been super helpful today as I have had to walk around it quite frequently so far.
What? You don’t use a snow blower to clear your backyard 🤷♂️
cooler weather is coming again and I need to prep the rink area 😁
The season is upon us… This will mark the 7th year flooding a hockey rink in the backyard for the kids to enjoy. Also, see how this crazy thing started compared to where we are today 😁🏒
Unscheduled hockey practice for these two teammates tonight. They ended with a scrimmage against older brother who plays Basketball… 😁🏒
These four wasted no time this morning getting outside to skate in the New Year!
From the Lens - Backyard Rink Glow
In the peaceful night the glow of the lights on the hockey rink is very calming (Dec 2019, Eden Prairie, MN)
The season is upon us… 🏒
This year I upped our rink game by making the rink 70' x 32' compared to the last 6 years of 46' x 32' 😁. The kids are going to love it. Now let’s get colder MN so we can skate soon 🧊⛄🏒 (sorry MN friends but the kids want to skate)
Wordless Wednesday 03/20
Let the thawing begin as another backyard rink season comes to a close (March 2019)
With the temperature outlook for the rest of this week and the current standing water on the rink, I decided to puncture holes in the tarp… What a great backyard rink season and the kids are already wondering when we can set it up again 😂🏒
Look what I found on my run this morning in Ankeny, IA… Do I spy a backyard rink 👀🏒… Looks like a nice setup 👍
Not a bad afternoon for a fire and skating… 🏒
Starting flooding the rink last night and had a visitor passing by… 🦌
Someone is confused why there is a structure in their walking path… 🦌 Yep, it is that time of year again to set the boards out.
5 Years of US Pond Hockey Championships
I can’t believe today would have marked my 6th consecutive year of helping out with the US Pond Hockey Championships (USPHC). However, due to my travel schedule this year I will be unable to help. Instead, I am getting ready to fly back to Minnesota this morning from a work trip. As sad as it is to break such a good streak and tradition, I figured I would reflect back on my prior times volunteering and how I came to be a volunteer 6 years ago.
2013 US Pond Hockey Championships Opening Day Sunrise
2014 US Pond Hockey Championships Opening Day Sunrise
2015 US Pond Hockey Championships Opening Day Sunrise
2016 US Pond Hockey Championships Opening Day Sunrise
2017 US Pond Hockey Championships Opening Day Sunrise
Where it all Started for Me
Honestly, I stumbled across the USPHC kind of by accident. It was in my early time using Twitter and started following people and companies in the Twin Cities. One day I finally realized that a couple guys and a company I was following, kept talking about this event as the weather was getting colder. As it turns out the company was SportsNgin (now called SportsEngine), who was the major sponsor of the event and the guys who kept talking about it worked there and as luck would have it we're the co-founders of the company (Justin and Carson). I decided to do some reading about the event and found out it was a big deal and that it was happening in January. To top it off, they were looking for volunteers and I figured what better way to spend a day off work than being outside.So you decided to take a day off work and volunteer to stand on the ice for 8 hours in what could be really cold January weather?
Fair question, this probably piqued my interest more as I had just acquired the used materials for a backyard rink and was in the process of getting it ready for the cold. So as I was hearing about and seeing all of these pictures online of skating in the middle of a lake on an actual pond, I now wanted to see this event in person and watch some games.
Quick side story, I grew up in Iowa and have never played hockey in my life or really ice-skated in any prolonged amount of time. I used to rollerblade and play roller hockey in the street but nothing on the ice.
Side benefits of volunteering
For what started out to be a random event that I volunteered at, actually ended up being a place I meet a lot of interesting people. Some of these people were ones that I had interacted with on social media before and now that we were meeting face to face it was like we knew each other already. Also, the tournament brings in a bunch of people from all around the state of Minnesota, across the US, and even a couple countries, so it was always fun chatting with people to figure out where they came from and their background stories of playing hockey. That is one of the side benefits of volunteering in an area outside of your “normal” zone, you get to meet people you probably wouldn't have in your life. Every year since then I have enjoyed volunteering at the USPHC like the first. I continue to meet amazing people as well as keep in touch with some from previous years. Also, I get to spend a morning being outside on a big sheet of ice enjoying what nature has to offer (warm or cold). Through the years lots of efficiencies have been made in the Tournament operations as they have really upped their game, but at the core, it has stayed true to its roots of just getting people to play hockey outside as intended.
Next year...
When you start to think about it 5 years is a long time to do anything in my opinion. Even though I couldn't help out this year, I hope to make it to Nakomis and watch a couple of games. It really is an exciting event to watch in person and I haven't experienced anything quite like it.If you have made it this far and want to see what it looks like check out the US Pond Hockey Championships YouTube channel as they have some amazing videos from 2016 and 2017. I hope they put one out again this year as they get some amazing shots of the games and tournament. I am looking forward to hopefully helping out again next year as I always have a great time volunteering. Oh, and did I mention they give out some good hats. ?
5 years of Volunteer Hats from the US Pond Hockey Championships
Rinks are all ready to go!
These kids are going to make me work this afternoon… But what a beautiful day it is today at 0°F #backyardrink #hockey
