Bad Ice/ Good Ice

[Eman24dx 0]

Last night I had a game in Buffalo, and it was the worst ice I have ever skated on. I seriously felt like I was sinking. The puck was always wet and it was almost impossible to shoot, pass, anything. We won 1-0 but we should of had at least 5 goals. Just felt like I needed to start a topic for us to vent about bad ice.

On the other hand "Good Ice" The best ice I have ever skated on was at the HSBC. The HSBC is not known for great ice but the few times we played pickup it was great. Any other stories of Good/Bad ice?

[BoMbA17 0]

The best ice ive skated on recently is bayonne high school in jersey. The rink was designed by the same guy who designed the meadowlands. On the other hand, my local rink, the staten island skating pavillion is the worst ice ever.

[Chadd 916]

Best ice I've been on is at the Hershey Park Arena, just about perfect. The rink down the street sucks ass most of the time anymore. They fired everyone with a clue about making ice.

[Sir Douglas 22 0]

Choate Rosemary Hall here in Wallingford, CT was the best ice until they put some money into it a year ago...worst is Blake in New Haven.

[hockey_player_11 0]

I played at a rink up in baysville, ont, a tiny town. Matter of fact I think it was the only rink for miles. It was hands down the best ice I've ever played on.

[Vapor 0]

The best ice ive skated on recently is bayonne high school in jersey. The rink was designed by the same guy who designed the meadowlands. On the other hand, my local rink, the staten island skating pavillion is the worst ice ever.

I love Kropi! I always score in that rink... I have like 50 goals in that rink, literally. (btw... who do you play for)... but my favorite ice is Warinaco in Roselle NJ, outdoor rink (3 walls), the fastet ice ive ever skated on, just crisp, and beuatiful ice. I have to agree with you that the SISP has TERRIBLE ice, played agaisnt Monsgr. Far. there, terrible ice, along with terrible refs

[Irbe1 0]

Best ice I've been on is Rexall Place, it never seems to get bad either. Three periods without flooding and it was still great at the end of the game. Fastest ice I've ever been on too.

The worst would be Parkland arena here in Edmonton, horrible. An outdoor rink by my house has better ice (during the winter obviously). Had a beer league game there last week, by the end of the game we could barely handle the puck because of the snow buildup. It is probably -10 in that arena. Your nipples harden as soon as you open the door during the summer. ;)

[mik3 1]

The best ice ive skated on recently is bayonne high school in jersey. The rink was designed by the same guy who designed the meadowlands. On the other hand, my local rink, the staten island skating pavillion is the worst ice ever.

I love Kropi! I always score in that rink... I have like 50 goals in that rink, literally. (btw... who do you play for)... but my favorite ice is Warinaco in Roselle NJ, outdoor rink (3 walls), the fastet ice ive ever skated on, just crisp, and beuatiful ice. I have to agree with you that the SISP has TERRIBLE ice, played agaisnt Monsgr. Far. there, terrible ice, along with terrible refs

warinaco is great, as is bayonne. the pavilion heh...like 2 years ago I heard a rumor that the place had burnt down, and was amazingly happy. I later heard otherwise "frown" worst ice I've played on in new jersey was chimney rock by far.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Best ice I've been on is Rexall Place, it never seems to get bad either. Three periods without flooding and it was still great at the end of the game. Fastest ice I've ever been on too.

The worst would be Parkland arena here in Edmonton, horrible. An outdoor rink by my house has better ice (during the winter obviously). Had a beer league game there last week, by the end of the game we could barely handle the puck because of the snow buildup. It is probably -10 in that arena. Your nipples harden as soon as you open the door during the summer. ;)

Rexall Place = Skyreach/Northlands?

That's the best sheet in the NHL.

Best ice I've been on - Cabin John in Maryland. HPA was pretty good - it was too cold though - it was brittle.

My ice is pretty good. My boy really takes care of it. The pro rink is atrocious right now - we're tearing it down in Aug.

Worst ice - Miami Arena.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Copps Coliseum here in Hamilton has been really really good at times this year, and really really bad at others. As weather got warmer it was bad...adn there are so many event through the season..having ice after a week of the circus or a eweekend of motorcross really sicks...I'd hate to be the Bulldogs and have to play gmaes that matter on it.

By far the best ice in town is at Market Street Arena in Dundas. It is a small rink...the local Mens Sr. A team plays there...but it is absoulately fabulous...they re-did everything...the boards, the ice surface, the netting...before last season and it was fantastic.

[Chadd 916]

The ice is never right at 8AM, it's usually sticky.

[Flo Hockey 7 0]

I heard from a friend of mine that one time when his son was in juniors they played an exhibition in Mexico City and when they would go into the corners their skates were hitting concrete. Worst ice around here is Biff Adams in the middle of the ghetto and the coldest damn place ever basically an outdoor rink with a cover. Best ice is the home ice great rink with loads of tradition. Roseville Arena.

[#94 3]

Choate Rosemary Hall here in Wallingford, CT was the best ice until they put some money into it a year ago...worst is Blake in New Haven.

Yeah, well the former owner of Snapple payed for the whole rink just so his son could play at Choate.

[Irbe1 0]

 

Rexall Place = Skyreach/Northlands?

That's the best sheet in the NHL.

Thats the one. Only other NHL ice I have been on is the Saddledome, Rexall is definately better.

[Veltri 0]

played at the hill school in pennsy this year, the rinks outdoors, at the bottom of a hill, so the wind blows down into the rink. it was about 10 degrees out that night, so it must have been 20 below inside, freezing, but the ice was fast as hell, great ice.

[bulletproof_funk 0]

University of Ottawa ice sucks IMO. Two sheets built several years ago in a pretty nice facility (minus the thieving). I've skated winter and summer there. Their zamboni guys need some serious lessons as they'll pass over the goal crease areas several times, leaving big puddles of water that don't go away till 15 min. after. They also miss big spots too. Even when it's dry, it's the slowest ice I've ever skated on, early morning or evening. Maybe it's because the rinks seem bigger, but I definitely spend more energy skating there than any other rink in Ottawa.

As for good ice, Nepean Sportsplex Arena 3 (Yzerman Arena) had some pretty hard and fast ice when I played there a couple years ago.

[biff44 0]

Man, I wish I had a buck for everytime I saw a Zamboni driver screwing up the ice in the summer. If you work in an old rink with a worn out compressor, please DO NOT FLOOD THE ICE with water every time you resurface!!! Cut way back on the water. On really hot days, do some resurfacing with only cutting the ice--no water. For cripes sake, use your heads!

[Chadd 916]

You need to put water down, you can't just do dry cuts.

[Lightning 0]

The best ice i have skated on is in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa before game 7 of the Finals. They have been working on the ice alot down there the past 2 years. Its rated as being in the top third in the league.

Worst ice would be some hole in the wall rink outside of Atlanta. They had a nice sand to ice ratio going on!

[biff44 0]

I disagree about the dry cuts. Was at a tourney during a heat wave where they lost one leg of the electrical power plant--so no compressors. After 30 minutes, they dry-cut the ice. It got rid of all the snow, and most of the bumps, and allowed another 30 minutes. You can't keep doing it, because the ice will get too thin and jeapordize the painting. But doing a dry cut every once in a while will be just fine.

And you certainly can do a lot of resurfacings with maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of the normal water, and then make it up in the late evening with a heavy pass.

[steve66 45]

Worst- little rink Called Whitley Bay. The zamboni is probably the original zamboni run by pedal power and it cannot even get into the corners cos the rink is so small and the boards are almost square. So there is a huge step down from the ice sheet to the corner where snow just collects. The pad itslef is real wavy, a surfer would be happy on there!

Best ice- a random outdoor rink in Helsinki... just beautiful, followed by the National Ice centre in Nottingham. Olympic ice sheet, crisp and hard.. very fast.

[Chadd 916]

With a failed compressor you have no choice, you never mentioned that. That's a somewhat special circumstance and really has little to do with proper ice care in a normal situation. No compressors at all should have made the ice unplayable fairly quickly, regardless of any cuts.

[thejackal 46]

My school has the best ice i've skated on. Any rink I play at during the season is relatively good. The worst is probably where I play right now, 4 Glaces at Longueil. The ice is so slow and it's so sticky i have trouble raising the puck, either that or I try too hard and put it over the net

[dietzie27 0]

his original post

If you work in an old rink with a worn out compressor, please DO NOT FLOOD THE ICE with water every time you resurface!!! 

[Chadd 916]

his original post

If you work in an old rink with a worn out compressor, please DO NOT FLOOD THE ICE with water every time you resurface!!! 

It either works or it doesn't. "Worn out" really means nothing. Either it keeps the ice at the correct temperature or it doesn't. If that's the case, it's broken.

That's not a viable solution for resurfacing the ice. Smaller quantities of water is better than dousing it, as is waiting for it to fully freeze. Chances are that the people running the rink really don't care about proper ice maintanance if they're running equipment that doesn't work properly.