Windsor always had the earliest ice and usually the best ice.
I'll third this. Windsor is excellent. Never had an issue with pick-up games there but it's easier if you go with a group to help get the ball rolling.
I can't wait for ice to get going in my area; I usually hit up SJFCC, Tuxedo, or Woodhaven. Just started goaltending last year so I love the practise showing up at those rinks gives me. (I could use the practise too, some of my beer league games I've been called up for from friends this year has shown I need it.)
I might even go out this evening and see what I can find. I'm close enough to Riverview that I could walk there. At Pembina & Stafford I'm not super close to any rinks but there's a few within a 20 minute walk. And I can take one bus out to SJFCC so that's not bad at all.
Scratch going out tonight, I grabbed my stick from storage and the hand I sprained last week started acting up. Suppose I need to wait a little longer. And I went poking around Royal Sports and couldn't find pucks anywhere.
In St. James, a good place to go would be Woodhaven.. It's basically in a "valley" (at the bottom, in between two hills) which blocks all wind. Also has a clubhouse.
This sounds like paradise haha, a bit of a drive for me but might be worth checking out!
Scratch going out tonight, I grabbed my stick from storage and the hand I sprained last week started acting up. Suppose I need to wait a little longer. And I went poking around Royal Sports and couldn't find pucks anywhere.
This. Does anyone know where to get pucks, preferably a lot and really cheap? Growing up I never had a problem as my house was full but over the years I've diminished my supply and am down to single digits. It didn't help that I lost upwards of twenty last year
I usually head down to Canadian Tire for pucks, they seem to be reasonably cheap there. I never really need them though I have a bunch of friends that are coaches so they have buckets of them...
Yeah, looks like Canadian Tire has 12 pucks on sale for 12.79. They're regular 15.99 and that's the price for 12 at Sportchek right now. Might head down to CT tomorrow.
I went looking for ice saturday in St James. Woodhaven was flooding, Heritage Victoria was flooding and Morgan has ice but it's terrible (good enough for working on your shot but no shinny).
In St. James, a good place to go would be Woodhaven.. It's basically in a "valley" (at the bottom, in between two hills) which blocks all wind. Also has a clubhouse.
i love going to woodhaven. with the rural type setting it almost seems like paradise. i look forward to going there when i get back to winnipeg in 2012. always get into a pretty good game of shinny there as well.
This. Does anyone know where to get pucks, preferably a lot and really cheap? Growing up I never had a problem as my house was full but over the years I've diminished my supply and am down to single digits. It didn't help that I lost upwards of twenty last year
Try this , you can't expect it to be like a store but if you can visit Value Village several times it is a good place to look. When they get pucks they put 4 or so together and sell them like that , and of course inexpensively.
When my son was big into to hockey I did this and got over a hundred pucks , nice to not have to worry about digging in snow all the time !
Yeah, looks like Canadian Tire has 12 pucks on sale for 12.79. They're regular 15.99 and that's the price for 12 at Sportchek right now. Might head down to CT tomorrow.
How late is it acceptable to be out at these rinks? I was thinking of going now haha.
lights usually shut off around 10-11.
the best was back before Norberry did their renovation, the care-taker showed us where the lightswitch was, so we could keep the lights on one of the rinks on until we left. so long as we shut them off, he didn't care what time we left at.
unless they are being dicks about it, and provided that you have as much natural light as possible, playing outdoors can be done all night. i can't think very few better ways to spend a night. the biggest thing i missed about not being in winnipeg the last few years are the constant opportunities to go to the rink and just play around with skating, shooting, and stickhandling with the puck, getting into the occasional game of shinny. i look forward to experiencing that in late february, and hopefully the weather gods will be on my side to get in as many games as possible.
for now i have to settle for playing in the cbhk (canadian ball hockey league in korea). it's my last season, the league is ultra competitive with some excellent players all around. my team finished 2nd in the regular season amongst 8 teams and now the playoffs begins. if we can win 3 best of 2 series over the next two weeks we win the cup. go twine bulger!!!
Anyone want to go out tomorrow? I'm within walking distance of Earl Grey and Lord Roberts and can easily bus (if they allow hockey sticks on them ) to Riverview or SJF.
)
But when I'm going to a rink, I do prefer mulled wine, though. 
