Pond hockey--ice thickness

[cris8 0]

We have had frozen ponds for about 2 weeks almost steady here in northern jersey. I usually play 4-5 times a week and have saved about 40 bucks a week by going to play on the pond with my buddies instead of open hockey. But i ended up with 5 stitches in my noggin.

And we just use those giant nails, the kind you would hold a big tent down with, drive them in to the ice to make sure its past 3 or 4 inches. And man made concrete bottom ponds are the best because they freeze quicker (usually shallower and the concrete bottom gets and stays colder than a normal pond) and you always have some type of concrete boards.

Where in NNJ? Just curious because my town has a couple of ponds but don't open it up unless we get a whole week of at most 20 degrees.

[InTeN5ITy 7]

Central Jersey

[Dundeestar 0]

You Guys accross the pond are so lucky to have frozen ponds and lakes, i dont think there has been anything like that here since about 1950 or so ill have to check for definate.

One of my life ambitions before i pop off this mortal coil believe it or not is to Skate on a pond, maybe one day. :)

The pics shown on here are absolutley brilliant, and some of the Ponds seem to be in really lovely Locations, who knows maybe Loch Ness might freeze over one day. :lol:

[coryroth24 15]

Central Jersey

Dude! Where?

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Beautiful picture :)

[InTeN5ITy 7]

Central Jersey

Dude! Where?

This is in monroe twp.

unfortunately todays weather probably destroyed it

[caldakid 0]

I'm in Canada, and I haven't seen a frozen river/pond in this town since I was 6.

arnt looking hard enough! already been on serpentine fen a few times this year :P

[cris8 0]

Our town ponds are finally frozen enough and open to skating. Going early tomorrow.

[minwookie 0]

Just got off the canal in Washington, DC. Nice solid layer, but was sort of choppy due to the snow/precipitation we've been getting.

Its sweet that the canal has the nice length aspect of it as opposed to a pond which can be limited due to its shape.

[Wallzy41 9]

My neighbors had part of their lawn destroyed by a new road installation in 2005, and now they get flooding in it come october, and the guy who owns it bought 10 sticks one year and maintains it so it's skatable, and so my friends, his son, and I play hockey up there. We have open invitation to go and shoot around, and the best part is, it's a natural pond. unfortunately, it's turned to grass for the next 2 seasons :'(. But when it is ice, it's brilliant. I'll have to take pics for next november. On the agenda: 2 NHL spec nets, a couple 30 dollar pairs of skates for a few buddies, a cooler, and a case of pucks.

[Wallzy41 9]

Update: 1 year later, the "evil neighbors" have struck. The state installed a drainage pipe, but my neighbors have a deal with the state that says they're allowed to freeze it over in winter and block the pipe for winter. I now have enough equipment to supply 2 people on the pond, but I don't know when we're gonna be able to hit the pond.

[doogie24 0]

Spent alot of time over the last few weeks at my local pond, the ice is very crappy and gets chipped easily, and when you are shovelling you can hear that deep "thud" sound of the ice cracking... its actually a really scary sound but we just ignore it, haha. Nothing like getting out there and throwing saucers and just having a relaxing skate. We get the lawn chairs and the boombox out, a couple six packs and make a day out of it. Just writing this makes me bitter that the ice is unplayable right now, and we don't know when it will be good enough. But like others said, when you do get the chance, there is few things better.

So I came here to search threads like this, and completely forgot I made this post almost exactly one year ago... crazy.

We are back at the same spot this year, but the plants and everthing are slowly creeping into the middle of the pond more and more each year. We shoveled last week, and played a few days ago, which all of us regret now. It was way too soft and there were air pockets everywhere, and we just carved the hell out of it. Today we went back after a few days of bitter cold, and it was much harder and way more playable. Lots of bumps and holes to be careful of though, due to us chipping and making holes everywhere. So this is what ive come to comment on, maybe this will help some other people in the future. If anyone has some advice/better techniques, please share!

So we bring a bunch of water when go, (usually fill up a few jugs and around 20 bottles) and when we are done we fill all the large holes/chips. Keys to our success so far have been using a strong brissled brush to get all the snow out of the holes (the holes are usually a half inch deep) and than fill them with water. The key here is NO SNOW. using snow creates slush, which freezes into a bumpy surface that is terrible and almost impossible to skate on. If the water freezes properly, it will usually be just as hard as the original ice. Also, dont spraypaint when the ice is a little soft... we also learned that the hard way... ;)

Heres a few pics of our spot in London, Ontario, Canada.

[dsjunior1388 81]

theres a nice little man made pond on Campus that my little brothers skated on with me over the weekend. A buddy from beer league knows of a pond or something, and was telling me about his makeshift zamboni, complete with hot water tanks and rags to evenly distribute the water, all rigged up to a truck. Says they may have a skate this weekend, I'll be sure to take some pictures.