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Shinny/Pond Hockey

Bene288

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That time of the year is getting close. I'll take a pond over a rink any day. Brings me back to my roots. The shoveling and hand resurfacing, the smell, the sound..nothing better in the world to me. Planning on getting into the New England Classic Pond Hockey Tourney this year, anyone else skate outside in the winter?
 

mriceyman

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Too bad my towns pond is off limits to skate now since they are afraid of getting sued. Such crap. Skated on that pond for 25 years and then boom. No go. Broke ass town would threaten with tickets and i have property on the lake! Still furious.
 

ScottySkis

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Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2

Not on ice but in long island I use to use the tennis courts on weekends for many hours of awesome rollerblading hockey.
 

mlctvt

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As a kid we used to get in 30-45 days per year. We'd contantly check the condition of the surface at various local ponds.We knew what ponds froze first etc. We'd plow any snow off, even got the fire depertment to flood it a few times. We'd build our own goals. Nothing was formal but each kid had something to do; provide firewood for the fire, extra hockey pucks, extra sticks etc. We would challenge other nearby towns to competitions. What memories!

I remember several hundred people coming to nearby ponds for weekend skating, iut seemed like the whole town was there.
I tried to get my nephew interested in doing this but the ponds just don't seem to freeze as much as 25-30 years ago. Maybe they still do I'm not sure? One thing I am sure of is I almost never see kids skating on local ponds any more here in south central CT.
 

Bene288

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I love out here how I'll get kicked off the ponds for being too thin. To the Colonie, NY police..8" thick ice could hold a truck. I won't go through. I can't stand this liability crap. Just put up a sign saying "skate at your own risk".

I miss Mass. winters. Shinny all day/night. An old couple had a house with a sweet pond on their property. Lucky for us this couple went to FLA every winter and had no nosey neighbors. We ran like 200ft of lead cord to the nearest outlet to run the sump pump. Some of the best ice I've ever skated on was on that pond. Wonder if the old couple ever found out what we were doing. We were pretty good about cleaning up beer cans and such..
 

Nick26

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perfect timing for this thread, I just took this picture this morning anxiously waiting for the lake to freeze...
 

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Bumpsis

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https://picasaweb.google.com/1041450...PerfectIceEver


Man! This really is perfect ice. I live for days like that. Black ice, blue sky and full freedom of skating in any way you please. Skating on a public rink simply doesn't compare.
Too bad that these black ice days are so rare. All it takes is just a little snowfall ot rain to mess up the ice. My favorite pond is Ponkapoag in the Blue Hills (Randolf, MA). It's shallow enough so it forms ice fairly quickly. But between rain or snow or freeze thaw cycles that we've had d
during the recent winters, it's tough to catch good ice.
 

Johnskiismore

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Yes, love pond hockey.... not really good at it but I try anyway! There is an old mill pond very close to my house that we are currently waiting for permission to use this winter. This should be good, a bunch of guys and girls that don't play very well getting together once a week to play. Beer will be involved

Skating on a great body of frozen water is awesome! Literally skating for a mile(s) is a pretty awesome feeling
 

Bene288

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This could be a good pond hockey year! The stagnant water had already froze once this winter. The thaw may have taken away any ice, but the water has remained very cold. With the upcoming week+ of single/low double digit highs and subzero lows combined with 35 degree +/- water, there should be plenty of natural rinks all over the Northeast. I'll be dulling my skates and making some new shinny boxes this week with hopes of skating next week!
 

ScottySkis

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This could be a good pond hockey year! The stagnant water had already froze once this winter. The thaw may have taken away any ice, but the water has remained very cold. With the upcoming week+ of single/low double digit highs and subzero lows combined with 35 degree +/- water, there should be plenty of natural rinks all over the Northeast. I'll be dulling my skates and making some new shinny boxes this week with hopes of skating next week!

I hope so for you, sounds like more fun then tennis court hockey I grew up playing in long Island.
 

kickstand

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This could be a good pond hockey year! The stagnant water had already froze once this winter. The thaw may have taken away any ice, but the water has remained very cold. With the upcoming week+ of single/low double digit highs and subzero lows combined with 35 degree +/- water, there should be plenty of natural rinks all over the Northeast. I'll be dulling my skates and making some new shinny boxes this week with hopes of skating next week!

My neighbor built a rink just last week, so his timing couldn't have been better. I'm hoping to make it over at least one night this week. And with all the little ponds and such in the area, tons of choices. I'm not a very good skater, but I love getting out there in the cold air and just moving around on skates.
 

bigbog

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Pond ice = fast ice! Yeah, I can remember those days...grade school-HS living ~10mi north of Lansingburgh... Bene. Along the top-half of the Hudson Valley lip...back then it was jostly country/woods...down to the last ~mile from the river....but has always been kind of depressing since skiing. The miles we hiked in those days, thru knee+ deep stuff(& dropoffs galore)...just to get to a little pond where we'd simply pass the damn puck around... Talkin' mid 60s to early 70s.....the area would get pounded with snow...but very sick kiddies...LOL...only ONE person I knew of...an older brother of hocky-friend used to ski...was clearly the smart guy..

Old Log Cabin Stories.....LOL.
 
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Bene288

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Pond ice = fast ice! Yeah, I can remember those days...grade school-HS living ~10mi north of Lansingburgh... Bene. Along the top-half of the Hudson Valley lip...back then it was jostly country/woods...down to the last ~mile from the river....but has always been kind of depressing since skiing. The miles we hiked in those days, thru knee+ deep stuff(& dropoffs galore)...just to get to a little pond where we'd simply pass the damn puck around... Talkin' mid 60s to early 70s.....the area would get pounded with snow...but very sick kiddies...LOL...only ONE person I knew of...an older brother of hocky-friend used to ski...was clearly the smart guy..

Old Log Cabin Stories.....LOL.

Sounds like paradise..
 

bigbog

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Sure reads like it...but didn't know it at the time....from a non-anything family..sigh. Ahh, make that "mostly"..not "jostly"..lol.
What one could have done with today's skis of width....:sadwalk:
 

Glenn

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My wife and I went ice skating on Sunday morning in Bratt near the Retreat. If there was any plus in the thaw (I'm digging deep here kids), the surface of the ice was awesome. A few bumps and rough spots, but overall, smooth. And you didn't have to shovel....the entire area was open.
 

Puck it

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Use to do this growing the 'Burg.

Right, Warp.

skating-on-the-rideau-canal.jpg
 
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