Rough Day

Feeling a bit under the weather today, which is not good because I have finals coming up this week and next, plus a ton of work hours as well.  Anyway I will bundle up and take on the cold to lay down some more water tonight which should take well considering it is already 32 degrees at 6 pm.  Should be under 30 by the time i finish my work and eat dinner. 11 days till Christmas Eve. My wish is to hit the ice for the first time after my family has our traditional dinner at La Strada on Christmas Eve. Hope it along with a few more Christmas wishes come true. Hopefully some nice pics tomorrow to show off the beginnings of the freezing process.

Rink Update!

We are finally getting some freezing weather!  The water in the rink now is freezing hard at night and actually lasting just about the whole day when the weather is not freezing. It is only just a thin layer right now, but it is getting me really excited!  I am a little under the weather today so I wasnt able to go out tonight and lay down some water on the upper portion of the rink.  The water that has collected so far from the rain and some flooding, has made its way down the slope to the front boards.  This means I need to start laying the water only at night when it is below zero and I need to do it very slowly in wide swipes so that it almost freezes on contact.  Anyway I feel like ill be skating before I know it! This experiment seems to show more promise every day,

The "HomeBoni"

This is a schematic of a homemade ice re-surfacer. I am thinking that ill need something to keep the ice nice and smooth in between skates during the winter.

Seems simple enough and apparently works wonders.

Preliminary Rink Names

I thought that since i'm putting so much time and effort into building my backyard rink that it deserves a name.  So far I have come up with two possibilities.  The Ice Cave (because im a huge Batman fan) and The Pond at 39 (because our house number is 39).  Here are the preliminary drawings.

The first one has a 39 on top of the old school Rangers shield.  There is also a picture of a huge tree on the left which is what is to the left of my rink. On the right side is a picture of our deck with two lights   on the posts.
The second picture is simply a batman shield on top of crossed hockey sticks.
Possibly more names and pics to come....

Governor Christie

I thought this was cool.  One of my jobs is doing the score keeping at Mennen arena for the house leagues there.  The guy in the yellow fleece is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  His son plays for the Randolph town team.  I have seen Mr. Christie at a bunch of his sons games and thought that its awesome that he takes the time out of his busy schedule to make sure he is at his kids games.  I believe his other two kids were with him as well.  It made me think about the flak he caught for taking a state police helicopter to see his son play baseball.  Seeing him at the rink as often as I do, shows me that the helicopter thing wasn't just some stunt or something.  The man makes sure that he is there for his kids which says a lot about him as a man, considering all the parents out there that would rather sit home and watch football or go shopping or whatever they do instead of watching their kids play. This is the kind of man that I would gladly have as a leader.

Updated rink shot

We purchased a huge roll of clear Husky plastic.  I believe that the roll was 100 feet long.  It is a 6 millimeter strength which is surprisingly thick.  We did this to make sure we had a nice smooth sheet across our base tarps which were pieced together.  This also gives us the overhang on the boards so that we will hold the water better.  You can also see the higher boards I installed on the near side.  This is our deepest side, especially the far bottom corner.  The higher boards allow me to secure the plastic up higher to account for the extra water.

Updated rink shot

Here is an updated shot of the rink. I spent about two hours cutting and nailing this thing together.  As you can probably see, it is not the most beautiful work but it is very secure which is the key.  The outline is made with 2x4's which are attached to those stakes you see.  The stakes I was able to hammer 6 inches into the ground. There shouldn't be a strength problem on the outer walls.

First pictures

Here is the first step of building my rink. We happened to have a 31 x 31 foot pool cover that was only going to be thrown out.  I thought this would be a perfect tarp to start the rink with.

Building My First Backyard Rink!

November 20, 2011.

I spent the morning like any Sunday, first to Church then in the basement ripping shots at the net. After watching some football, I had to go outside and rake the ton of leaves that had fallen in the last week.  It occurred to me when I finished raking and saw the open space of the backyard that I remembered my childhood dreams in the winter time of skating on a backyard rink.  I love shooting pucks in the basement but it is off of a rug and in a limited space.  This  "poor mans" shooting gallery has helped my shot tremendously, but what would happen if I could shoot any time I wanted, on a regulation net off of a large ice surface? The possibilities are endless. Not long ago I watched the documentary film Pond Hockey. The Canadians and northern states in America allow the players months of practice out on ponds and backyard rinks.  This practice proves invaluable for skating and stick handling skills.  I simply cannot wait for this winter and the ability to wake up and start playing the game I love at any hour I choose.