How far do you travel to play? How far do you drive your kids?

[xstartxtodayx 343]

2 part question... 

A.) How far do you travel to play hockey yourself?  How far do you live from the nearest rink or rinks?

B.) How far do you drive your children to play or learn to play hockey?

 

I know they're similar questions, basically, how far does everyone live from their nearest rink?  Growing up in Nassau County on Long Island I was about 10mins away from a rink, I learned to skate and play on that rink, then as I got older I played on a bunch of rinks all between 10-35mins from home.  Now I live out on the north eastern end of Long Island and the closest rink is a 45-60 minute drive (depending on traffic, etc).  The league I play in plays at all different rinks since hockey rinks are few and far between on Long Island (in total I think we have about a dozen, most of which are in Nassau County which is the western part of the island).  Most games I drive an hour plus to play, between 45-70 miles each way depending non the location, all late at night of course since those are the only hours us old folk get.  Some drives home I contemplate if the drive is worth it and wonder how crazy I am for doing it, then again I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Now that my kids are getting old enough to play I'm faced with that issue as well... they've been doing skating lessons at the closest rink (45min drive each way on Sunday mornings, well 45 mins there and over an hour and half home since all the citiots head to my neighborhood to pick pumpkins and apples and drink wine this time of year).  My 9yo daughter seems like she might drop hockey in favor of swimming (yet another hike for us), but my 6yo son is just starting a learn to play program next month and I know he's in it for the long run (they both play roller hockey near home so already have a love for the game).  So yea, does it ever get any easier???

Sorry this wasn't much of a question as it was a vent, just wanted to see if I was alone in living so far from a sport that I love.

[BenBreeg 493]

When I was a kid the rinks were about 25-35 minutes away.  Those were the two closest to me.  

Now with the post-Mario hockey boom there are a lot of rinks.  One is 10 mins away but is old and the org is small so we don't do anything except camps there and four others are about 20 minutes away.

Edited October 16, 2019 by BenBreeg

[marka 526]

Howdy,

I have a rink about 5 minutes from my house.  Unfortunately, they've basically completely screwed up any adult hockey there, so I drive to other rinks.  One is 35 minutes, the other is 45 minutes.

Mark

[jmiro 55]

So the local ice rink is 10-15 away.  There is another 25min. I am currently driving my kid to the 20 min one due to better programs.  With that being said he still has skating lessons at the local rink, we do stick and shoots, and I play there once a week. To play roller the outdoor rink here is 15 from our house and I travel once a week 1 hr each way to play in a league in another town.

When I was a kid the closest rinks were 45-1hr away.  Also take into consideration if your kids play where does the league have games at.  Here most of them are an 1 to 2 hours away with a couple being in the 3 hour range. Our local rink doesnt even have inhouse for the kids. There are several parents here that drive their children 2-2 1/2 hours each way several times a week to play on various elite teams Pittsburgh.  There are also parents that won't even drive 25-30 for the in house league. So there kids dont play anymore. So to answer your question I guess its personal preference.  

Edited October 16, 2019 by jmiro

[badger_14 601]

The nearest ice rink, I could walk to in 10 minutes or so, and do so to get my skates done.  The rink I typically skate (when healthy) at is a 15-20 minute drive at that time of day (0700 on a Saturday).  I happen to live in an area (metro Boston) where you can't swing a cat and not hit a rink.  Do they all have adult hockey times?  No, but they all absolutely host kids programs.  

I would prefer to travel a half hour at most.  I have to get there, get dressed, play, get undressed, and get home.  For a 9pm session/game, more than that is simply not worth it for me.  However, as noted, I have the luxury of many, many rinks in that 30 minute radius.  

Before I had a car, I was willing to travel further because the rink had to be transit or foot accessible (with gear).  The year I learned to play, it took me nearly 2 hours to get to the rink. Two buses and a half-mile walk.  Glad I don't have to do that anymore. 

[caveman27 208]

I grew up in a town where the arena was less than 5 minutes away.  There was an outdoor ink about a 15 minute walk away. There were other rinks about a 25 minute drive away, one east and one west. When I was in midgets, we played some games in Canada, across the border, since that was a 30 minute drive away. Since I was in a small town, the house league team had enough to field one team per level (Midget C, Bantam C, Squirt C, etc) so we played other local town teams. 

Where I am, one rink is 25 minutes away and the other is 35 minutes away. I have no idea where the kids play, but the nearest out-of-town rink is an hour and 15 minutes south east and another is an hour and 40 minutes north. 

[2nhockey 21]

Geeze... reading this...

I live in western SD and am very fortunate to be within 20 minutes of either my adult hockey rink, the youth hockey association rink or the outdoor ice. So for practices or adult league games, 20 minutes. But... the next closest sheet of ice is 3 hours away, and it goes up from there. The kids’ league play is an average drive of probably 6 hours each way. Some of my daughter’s tournaments are 9-13 hours away each way, and more than once we’ve flown for league games. This weekend is a tournament in WY she’s skating in. 4 hours each way. Hockey is not a school sport here so we miss a lot of school or work... typically leave Thursday night or Friday morning, skate all weekend, and crash into bed Sunday night/Monday morning around 2:00 AM, short nap and then school and work Monday morning...

Adult hockey is local but some of us will participate in adult tournaments and those drive times will vary but minimum is 6 hours each way...

 I can’t really identify with complaining about a 2-3 hour drive to play... 

[badger_14 601]

On 10/18/2019 at 1:08 AM, 2nhockey said:

Geeze... reading this...

I live in western SD and am very fortunate to be within 20 minutes of either my adult hockey rink, the youth hockey association rink or the outdoor ice. So for practices or adult league games, 20 minutes. But... the next closest sheet of ice is 3 hours away, and it goes up from there. The kids’ league play is an average drive of probably 6 hours each way. Some of my daughter’s tournaments are 9-13 hours away each way, and more than once we’ve flown for league games. This weekend is a tournament in WY she’s skating in. 4 hours each way. Hockey is not a school sport here so we miss a lot of school or work... typically leave Thursday night or Friday morning, skate all weekend, and crash into bed Sunday night/Monday morning around 2:00 AM, short nap and then school and work Monday morning...

Adult hockey is local but some of us will participate in adult tournaments and those drive times will vary but minimum is 6 hours each way...

 I can’t really identify with complaining about a 2-3 hour drive to play... 

That's dedication, on top of the cost to play already!  Do other youth sports have similar issues?  Are there more flexible school options for kids? 

[EJB 488]

A: 10 minutes.

B: To practice is 5 to 20 minutes depending on the day/ice, do this 4 days a week.  She flies to all tournaments/games.

[the_game 452]

On 10/15/2019 at 2:52 PM, xstartxtodayx said:

2 part question... 

A.) How far do you travel to play hockey yourself?  How far do you live from the nearest rink or rinks?

B.) How far do you drive your children to play or learn to play hockey?

 

I know they're similar questions, basically, how far does everyone live from their nearest rink?  Growing up in Nassau County on Long Island I was about 10mins away from a rink, I learned to skate and play on that rink, then as I got older I played on a bunch of rinks all between 10-35mins from home.  Now I live out on the north eastern end of Long Island and the closest rink is a 45-60 minute drive (depending on traffic, etc).  The league I play in plays at all different rinks since hockey rinks are few and far between on Long Island (in total I think we have about a dozen, most of which are in Nassau County which is the western part of the island).  Most games I drive an hour plus to play, between 45-70 miles each way depending non the location, all late at night of course since those are the only hours us old folk get.  Some drives home I contemplate if the drive is worth it and wonder how crazy I am for doing it, then again I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Now that my kids are getting old enough to play I'm faced with that issue as well... they've been doing skating lessons at the closest rink (45min drive each way on Sunday mornings, well 45 mins there and over an hour and half home since all the citiots head to my neighborhood to pick pumpkins and apples and drink wine this time of year).  My 9yo daughter seems like she might drop hockey in favor of swimming (yet another hike for us), but my 6yo son is just starting a learn to play program next month and I know he's in it for the long run (they both play roller hockey near home so already have a love for the game).  So yea, does it ever get any easier???

Sorry this wasn't much of a question as it was a vent, just wanted to see if I was alone in living so far from a sport that I love.

There's only one solution, move off the island, ha!

Here are my answers:
A. anywhere from 5 minutes to 35 minutes.
B. 5 or 10 minutes

As an ex-Long Islander I can see where you're coming from. I dread any time I have to go back there, the time it takes to get anywhere just gets exponentially worse each time I go back. (not even gonna bring up taxes, etc.) 

[boo10 323]

Being from the GTA, I can't imagine what it's like to have so few arenas available.  I literally have hundreds of ice pads within an hour's drive.

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

A). The closet rink(s) I play at are both 18 miles (25-30 mins) away. There is a rink in town but I do pick up there when ice is laid down AND I'm actually able to make the ice time.

B). N/A

[2nhockey 21]

On 10/20/2019 at 9:48 AM, badger_14 said:

That's dedication, on top of the cost to play already!  Do other youth sports have similar issues?  Are there more flexible school options for kids? 

It is relatively remote here so all the club sports have similar issues. The school sports aren’t quite as bad because the kids can pile on a bus and parents don’t have to travel. When my daughter was playing in Minneapolis with some girls from a Montana they made it sound as if they fly to a lot of their games... as far as school goes, no breaks except the attendance rules aren’t strictly adhered to for athletes. School sports don’t have to worry about it but hockey... I get letters all the time about her absences. She goes to her classes before we travel and drive time and hotel time is homework time. She’s a straight-A student but her study habits are anything but orthodox.