Who plays ODR still?

[Snip Genos]

So I just moved to a bigger city and noticed they have so many outdoor rinks. I wonder if you guys all take advantage of skating rinks in your area? It would be so cool to find some good competitive ODR in my new town.

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[RedWingzz]

So I just moved to a bigger city and noticed they have so many outdoor rinks. I wonder if you guys all take advantage of skating rinks in your area? It would be so cool to find some good competitive ODR in my new town.

Ottawa has tons of ODRs, and they are always busy.

 

[Cams]

Windsor area only has one 1 true outdoor rink left that you can play hockey on (Lanspeary Park), and it books up fast. It's small, but I don't mind playing. Mind you.....the last time I skated on it, it happened to be a warm day, so that's quite OK. The odd time it actually gets super cold here (not very often!), playing on that rink was not fun....too cold! (I can just picture readers on here from places like the Canadian prairies, N Ontario, Minnesota laughing at my version of "cold").

 

[Yukon Joe]

Man... last Saturday it was a fairly warm (but still below zero) afternoon, I went to my local ODR (in Edmonton) and it was completely empty... I was in heaven. I brought a bunch of pucks, just practiced stickhandling and shooting. After a while 3 people came out, but still lots of room to just practice.

I absolutely adore ODRs, but I don't know about @Snip Genos asking for "competitive" ODRs. What I love about them is you can have a bunch of teenagers, some beer leaguers like me, little Timbits players... and we all share the same rink.

 

[780il]

Definitely. I live in Edmonton and there’s one in the field a 2 minute walk away from my house.

I usually just play on the side rink with my buddies though, the more conpetitive game’s happen in the actual rink and I’m not very good lol.

 

[JMCx4]

South of the 49th Parallel, my hometown just opened a 4-rink complex that includes a refrigerated NHL-sized sheet outdoors with an arching roof over it. It's getting more use as local players & leagues hear about it, and I'm on my way to a second public skating session there. I grew up skating outdoors, and there's nothing better to connect me to my surroundings. But St. Louis winter weather is unpredictable these days, so I doubt outdoor hockey will have a rebirth here.

Besides Minnesota in the U.S., I've been particularly impressed by the collection of outdoor rinks managed by the City of Madison, Wisconsin. Most are adjacent to park lakes with maintained ice on lagoons in winter, so during very cold periods you have a choice of surfaces. They also monitor ice conditions daily & post on the Parks website which rinks and lagoons are open for use. Most if not all of their outdoor rinks are natural ice (no refrigeration), so they are completely dependent on weather conditions. Cheaper for the city, more challenging for outdoor skating enthusiasts.

 

[JackFr]

Coming from Halifax to Toronto for university, the ODRs have been maybe my favourite part of the city. I play indoor 2-3 times a week but outdoor hockey is still my favourite.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

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[Filthy Dangles]

Man... last Saturday it was a fairly warm (but still below zero) afternoon, I went to my local ODR (in Edmonton) and it was completely empty... I was in heaven. I brought a bunch of pucks, just practiced stickhandling and shooting. After a while 3 people came out, but still lots of room to just practice.

Lucky, that does indeed sound like heaven. I live in New York city area and ODR are very scarce. We're lucky if ponds and lakes freeze over for a few days at most in my area and the actual Outdoor rinks that are refrigerated and maintained are really hard to get ice time on. Public skating sessions get all the priority.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Toronto has a bunch of ODR, pretty much all I skate/play on now a days.
Most nights there's a bunch of peeps out having fun, the odd hero/cool dude/muscle goon here and there but for the most part everyone is out there having fun.

 

[PG Canuck]

Depends on the weather here. Last handful of winters it gets cold then warm then cold then warm so it’s hard to maintain rinks around the town.

 

[Ryan52]

now that i live in toronto, i play alot more. tons of odr here