Backyard rinks are a labour of love

During Matt Calvert’s 11-year career in the National Hockey League, the one thing he felt like he was missing out on was skating on the backyard rinks in his hometown.

“Out there, it’s just you, a hockey stick and a piece of rubber in the outdoors, just enjoying yourself and building relationships and having fun with whoever you’re playing with,” he said. “Honestly, some of my best memories of my childhood were spent outside.”

Calvert grew up in Brandon and moved to the United States when he was 20 to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL. Four years ago, when he moved back to Brandon, he decided to build his own backyard rink.

“I have two boys myself now, and it was something I wanted them to experience and an activity we could do throughout the winter together,” Calvert said. “Especially when you have, you know, there’s five, six, months of winter in Manitoba.”

Calvert’s sons, Kasey, 9, and Beau, 7, both play hockey. Calvert says the expectations in youth hockey are high, and at times the parents can take it too seriously, focusing on their child’s future rather than simply embracing the love of the game and appreciating the life lessons it teaches.

He views backyard rinks as somewhere to be creative and free.

Calvert said his rink – which he described as his “favourite place in the world” – is a space where he, and his kids, can skate without any pressure or expectations.

The Brandon Wheat Kings alumnus played for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche during his more than a decade in the NHL. He emphasized that he valued his time and experience in the NHL, but at the end of the day, it’s a job.

“When you get to the outdoor rink and in the outdoors … and you hear the carving of the blades and see the kids’ smiles and how much they enjoy doing it with Dad or Mom – or whoever it is – that’s hockey right there.”

He described their rink as a “meeting ground” for his kids and their friends from around the block.

“We’ve got a ton of kids in the neighbourhood, so they know that the lights are on, they come over,” he said. “We have a lot of motivated little hockey players and competitive kids in the area.”

Over the years, Calvert has invested in building the best possible rink.

When Calvert and his wife, Courtney, built their home, they decided to put a cement pad in their backyard with a sports court on top, which is made with composite tiling. He uses this as a base to freeze his rink.

He surrounds the surface with EZ ICE hockey boards, which slide together to fix them in place.

Every year Calvert buys a new liner and lays it down on the surface, pushing it into the corners against the boards. Once it’s cold enough, which he said is usually minus five during the day and minus 10 at night, he floods the space – which he compared to an enclosed bathtub.

Generally, he said a rink should be filled in layers and can take some patience, but if there are no holes in the liner and it’s cold enough, the rink can be filled in one go, which is what he does.

“It’s generally pretty straightforward,” he said.

To maintain the ice, he said it’s important to shovel and scrape it after it snows to make sure it doesn’t freeze and create bumps on the ice. He said he then uses his handheld Zamboni that’s connected to a hose to spread an even layer of warm water, creating a smooth surface.

“I’ve made all the mistakes that you can make, and I’ve fortunately learned from them,” he said, emphasizing that the most important thing to remember is consistently keeping the ice clear.

Mike Waddell, who is tending to his backyard rink at his Cornwallis home for the 26^th year, builds his a little differently.

He said hockey has always been a part of his existence. His grandfather was an avid fan and played recreationally, and his father played competitively in high school.

While Waddell said he played recreationally and tried to play competitively at one point, he’s always enjoyed outdoor hockey – particularly a classic game of shinny.

He decided to build his rink because he enjoyed the challenge of trying something new and wanted something for his kids — who were one, three and six years old at the time — to do that was low or no cost.

The rink became Waddells’ “outdoor living room” during the winters, he said.

While his first attempt was an “abysmal failure,” over the years he said he’s adapted and learned.

“I started to actually ask for help from people who have done it before … and I’ve gone through various ways of doing it over the years,” Waddell said. “Every year is a little bit different … Each rink takes on its own personality,” he said.

Waddell keeps a backboard up all year and uses railway ties that he’s “scrounged up over the years” to line the rink. Once the edges are even, which he said sometimes takes a few boards stacked on top of each other where the ground is lower, he may or may not use a liner.

While it’s quicker to use a liner, Waddell said in his case, it can be an issue when his chocolate lab, Java, likesto run through the water and make holes in the liner. This year, he’s opted out of using one.

Once the prep work is done, it’s time to fill the rink, one layer at a time.

He estimated that it takes roughly 30 to 40 layers until the rink is ready to skate on. If certain areas melt away, he packs down snow in that area before doing the next layer.

“You have to be slow and patient with it,” he said. “It’s a labour of love that can take some time.”

Waddell can get caught up in trying to perfect the rink, but over the years, he said, he’s learned that a backyard rink isn’t about perfection.

He will ask himself if his 11-year-old self would be okay to skate on the ice, and if the answer is yes, he knows it’s ready to use.

“It’s a very rewarding thing to know that as a family, we’ve made something that has become a tradition,” he said. “To know that you’ve created something unique … it’s kind of like a snowflake – everyone is going to be unique.

Waddell said the backyard rink community is strong. When he bumps into someone else who has one, it’s common to share tips and even gear.

Waddell’s children are in their twenties and thirties now, but he said the rink still gets used between two and three times a week.

He said his daughter and son-in-law plan to build their own backyard rink, and he hopes his grandchildren carry on the tradition and do it for their kids down the road.

Kat Sigurdson said her sons, Finn and Gray, can’t wait until it gets cold enough to set the rink up.

This is the third year Sigurdson’s husband, Sean, has built a rink for their sons. She said they started playing hockey a few years ago and “want to spend all their free time on the rink.”

She said the roughly 28 by 30-foot rink – which takes up the majority of their backyard – is somewhere her boys can develop their skills in an unstructured setting.

Winters can be hard, she said, and today, it can be tempting for kids to sit online or watch TV, so having a rink right outside the door, where they can get exercise, have fun and get fresh air, makes her proud.

“It makes me happy to know that we are able to give them this opportunity. I know that not all kids get this. I just take joy in it because they are happy,” Sigurdson said. “I think that’s all you can ask for as a parent.”

Marilyn and Phillip Ostash’s “backyard rink” sits on Shoal Lake. The couple lived in Brandon until 2019, when they built their home in Shoal Lake, which looks out onto the lake in the summer and the rink in the winter.

Phillip said they have three kids, one of whom – like himself – played hockey, and four grandchildren.

He said his wife has a group chat with the neighbours and offers up the rink for anyone to use. One of his neighbours, he said, has a lot of kids and grandkids, so this year he decided to put the rink between the two houses.

“Everybody and anybody can use it,” he said. “We love it. Our doors (are) always open.”

He said he waits until the ice is around five inches thick before he goes on it to clear off space he wants to use. This year he said he made the rink larger than usual – roughly 135 feet in length.

Once he’s mapped out the space, he drills two holes on each end and freezes in boards so that he can attach his 16-foot LED lights.

He then uses his homemade Zamboni that he bought off Facebook Marketplace to flood the rink.

Phillip said the homemade Zamboni is made up of a 45-gallon drum with a small hole on the top to fill it with hot water and an eight-foot PVC pipe attached to drag the cloth, which he said is a bunch of cloths sewn together.

He said there are little holes in the pipe that the water comes out of. He pulls the Zamboni along the ice until the water runs out, and he fills it up again. Usually, it takes about three drums to fill the rink.

This year, Phillip said the whole family is coming from Brandon and Calgary for Christmas, and the grandchildren will no doubt be out on the ice.

“The kids get excitement over it,” he said. “They’re going to be out there all the time.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com