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    Backyard Rinks


    How To: Make A Backyard Rink

    How To: Make a Backyard Rink

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    Dan Craig, the NHL’s Facilities Operations Manager, is once again getting ready to make the outdoor rink for this year’s NHL Winter Classic. Building rinks is nothing new to Craig, who launched his career straight out of high school in western Canada. After a few years in Northern Alberta, Craig found himself making the ice for the Edmonton Oilers in 1987, and in 1997 he became the NHL’s Facilities Operations Manager.

    Dan Craig took some time out of his busy schedule preparing the Winter Classic rink in Boston to give readers a few tips on how to successfully make a backyard rink.

    How big should a backyard be for a homemade rink?

    It all depends on your yard and how much shade and square footage you have. You have to also think about spring, and where the water runs to when the rink starts to melt. Sometimes people make mistakes by building the rink too close to the house, then it melts and the water is either in your basement or your neighbor’s basement. [A good size is] 30 feet by 30 feet, but it can vary in size. I have one that’s 40 feet wide and 90 feet long, and I get photos all the time of ones bigger than that.

    What tools do you need to start off?

    Basically your homemaking tools, like a garden hose, a hammer, a power drill, a tape measure, and a shovel. I’ve always put picks with pressure-treated 2x4’s screwed together. Then I drill holes to place big long nails in the ground to hold the sides up. The biggest part is what kind of tarp you want to use to lay down on the ground (you can get this in any size); this goes down first, then the side pieces. Before you get into cold weather, you want to make sure everything is level as much as possible; you also need to make sure you have shade so the surface doesn’t get soft when you have really nice sunny days.

    What’s the best time to start the ice process?

    Once everything is in place, I usually don’t like to start the ice process until it’s above the minus 4 F (minus 20 C) mark; once it’s over minus 7.6 F (minus 22 C), you should be out there spraying small layers of water to make the ice. I’m out there when it’s minus 4 F to minus 7.6 F (minus 20 C to minus 22 C) with my hose, spraying from one end to the other, creating thin layers for about three to four hours at a time. You can also do this to maintain the ice; most people make the mistake of thinking a one-inch layer of ice will hold for the entire season. With more inches of ice, you can enjoy the ice longer when it starts to get warmer.

    Dan has more info along with some details on the Winter Classic after the jump...


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