Quote:
Originally Posted by zoomer
Both Montreal and Toronto are great hockey cities, but if any city finds the need to declare or argue it's the greatest in anything then it's probably not.
One thing I always found annoying about the folksy HNIC intros, stories, etc. is the small town Canada kids playing on a frozen lake or river, backyard rink, etc as the heart beat/origin story of hockey in Canada. Sure that was the case more so in the past, but how much of a case is that now? And more to my point is that has zero traditional or relevance in a lot of coastal BC. Would it kill them to occasionally throw in a few scenes of street hockey which is applicable across the nation. Outdoor rinks in winter don't exist in Victoria, how could they. There are no lakes or rivers that freeze to skate on either. The only area that might freeze every few years for a couple days is a marshy grassland area called Panama Flats, a bird sanctuary. It needs to flood first with a good amount of rain and then pray for a few days of really cold weather. And then avoid the spots of grass poking up through the ice.
Panama Flats by Petr Havlik, on Flickr |
If Toronto can pay for 47 outdoor rinks with artificial refrigeration, surely Victoria could afford to invest in some outdoor rinks like that too?
I guess the rain would be the biggest issue, maybe outdoor rinks in Victoria would need a roof.
We got quite a nice outdoor hockey facility built as a Legacy project for SJ hosting the 2022 Memorial Cup… but the city claims the Department of Transportation won’t let them flood it in the winter, because of the above viaduct and the risk of falling ice and snow. A roof would take care of that problem, as well as the frequent winter rain in SJ. It would be better to build a purpose built outdoor rink elsewhere with a proper ice plant to begin with, but this thing cost nearly half a million dollars and we keep it locked up all winter. Now that’s un-Canadian!
Cities like Winnipeg and Regina don’t need to worry about the cost of artificial refrigeration for outdoor rinks since their winter climates are so cold. I think Montreal has a leg up on Toronto as a hockey city since Montreal has much longer, colder winters than Toronto.
• Video Link
I think the outdoor rink has a rightly important place in Canadian history. This interview with the formerly great Bobby Orr was an incredible reflection on everything that’s gone wrong with Canada’s relationship with hockey.
• Video Link
I think Canada has a long way to get back to its roots where the game of hockey was such an important part of the national fabric and cultural identity, but it’s worth investing in making the game more accessible and affordable to Canadians. It’s very unfortunate that hockey has mainly become a sport for the children of the upper middle class and the ultra talented, but it doesn’t have to stay that way forever. We just need to invest far more back into the grass roots of the game, instead of the ultra organized, ultra competitive side of the game that has taken up the bulk focus of Canada’s hockey attention for the past few generations now… sure wasn’t like that when Bobby Orr was a kid!
Prev
Linear Mode
