There are few parents better equipped to build a backyard hockey rink than Jeff Nash in Edmonton.
Nash has long been involved in hockey, starting his childhood career in minor and minor leagues, and then working as an official. He spent several years ice-making as a Zamboni before being hired by Hockey Canada to produce video, a period that gave him the opportunity to work at the 2010 Olympics. Most recently, he led video production for Edmonton Oilers for five seasons, including while building New Town Square, Rogers Place.
The passion and experience culminated in his current role as host of a video series about the history of the Hockey League’s many rinks, called Arenas around the League.
So Nash knows a good ice sheet when he sees one. And he knows how to build a skating rink that does not destroy the grass in the spring.
“We got that much snow and then cold weather, and I decided, ‘Hey, you know what?'” A father-of-four recalled to CTV News Edmonton. I’ve built hockey rinks before.”
“I’m quite sure [my kids] He looked outside and went, “What’s dad doing with the plank and the plank and the snow?”
As it turns out, it will be a while before they get to see my dad, but Nash has continued, and plans to show his viewers (to the best of his ability) how the pros do it.
To steal his baseball streak, online followers promised, “If you build it…”
FOR MINI ZAMBONI
Snow dumping in mid-December was the first major step in construction.
Over the course of about four days, Nash built the base layer of snow: filling in the low spots, packing everything, and packing it back in by dragging his kids on a sled across a 23-by-12-foot area, finally sealing it with layers of mist.
“When they build ice in the NHL, they don’t just throw water and it freezes,” Nash said. “They actually have to build up layers.”
“I wanted to build it the way they build it.”
The plastic-free design should help prevent nash grass from dying in the spring, as the snow foundation will act as a barrier between the ground and the ice and the rink will gradually melt. Nash posted a full explanation and documentation of the process on his YouTube channel.
A bout of warmer weather nearly killed the project, but temperatures fell to -20°C again.
“Slowly it gets thick enough that you can actually put the hose down, and now it’s thick enough to use my little zamboni to sink it,” said Nash.
Is this Mini Zamboni? Drink cooler with bottom drain spout. Nash hangs a towel over a coat hanger and attaches it to the cooler to pull, and the towel tumbles with water across the ice.
By this point, Nash had taken possession of his children.
“Once they understood my dad’s madness, I think they were really excited about it,” he said.
Help the older children shovel the snow and draw the lines. The Nash Ice doesn’t quite fit the NHL plate, which is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide, but it is close. Its blue stripes are three feet four inches from the center of the ice instead of 50 feet. Nash’s facing circles are 43 inches in diameter, and the NHL’s are 30 feet in diameter.
His skating rink was completed with a loonie at the center of the ice, as in Canadian tradition, and Edmonton Old Northlands Coliseum emblem, red snowflake compass.
The latter is a nod to the 1980s home of the Edmonton Oilers. Nash says not only does he consider this decade to be his team days, but that he was known at the time to deliver some of the best ice in the league. In a video revealing the completed rink, he called it a fitting tribute to some of hockey’s best ice makers.
“I’m not going to pretend this is the best ice in Edmonton, but at least it will look good,” he says.
death less
Besides the achievement in detail and precision, the first skating rink that Nash built for his family was a huge success.
“When I was doing a flood late at night, I just thought to myself: It was a godsend because I was able to get the kids out of playing with it,” he told CTV News Edmonton.
Extreme temperatures in Alberta have left the family of six feeling trapped, especially when the provincial government announced Extended school leave in vacation due to COVID-19.
“Once they could skate on it, the game started,” Nash said. “They wanted to play on it almost every day.”
The maintenance that ice requires also doubles as an opportunity for mental reset.
“We’ve all been through Twitter and it’s all very grim at the moment,” Nash said. “Just getting a short break from that is worth it.”
Conditions permitting, he plans to build ice again next winter. The family is already debating which logo deserves a center ice.
“It was great to see them play and reconnect with a game I grew up playing too.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton Sean McClune