Friday, January 31, 2014

30th Time Welcome Jesse

Pictured above;Austin with Bud's new recruit Jesse *,Next, Andre and Giuseppe. Kurt's report ; Giuseppe, Austin, Andre, Kurt and new recruit Jesse, cleared and flooded 3 coats on each. Bud the Blog Poster added; Now 59 coats on lower and 58 on upper.Cold and well done.*To see if Kurt reads this blog.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Grant's Skinny Hockey Update

· Jean Blackstock: The CEO and brains of the operation · Grant Parks: Coach · Todd Layton: Coach · Danielle Parks: Assistant Coach · Paulina Westergard: Assistant Coach Hi guys. I have been meaning to send out a Shinny update… Shinny last Tuesday was fantastic! 22 children participated and there were many new faces out there. Quite a few of the children were at the younger end of the spectrum. We mainly focused on parallel turns during the skills development portion of the session, followed by a fun game, hot chocolate and of course – SHINNY! The session is supposed to run from 5:30pm – 6:30pm, but we went until 7pm because everyone was having so much fun. And, quite a few kids stayed on until 8pm (including Coach Grant). J Moving the hockey rink to the lower rink was a great decision. The size of the ice is wonderful (much like the size of a real, indoor hockey rink) and the quality of the ice was better than many indoor arenas. I would like to thank the Ice Guys for keeping the ice ship-shape for the shinny program. It is a special service/program for the community and it is greatly appreciated by all

Monday, January 27, 2014

29th Time three coats each rink.

John is sending some pictures .But tonight, Kurt, Andre, Ian, Brad, Jamie, Austin, John & Bud added three coats to each rink. Now 56 on lower and 55 on upper.The upper is showing some wear and tear and Kurt wet Austin's pants.;-)

Friday, January 24, 2014

Thursday's Report, 28th Flood

Budonce, John, Kurt, Kris, Biagio, Brad & Andre' cleaned and added two coats. So total of 53 on the lower rink and 52 on the upper.

Monday, January 20, 2014

McNaul Story in Jan. 15th Calgary Herald

Hockey passion unites Calgary family dealing with challenges of autism Minor Hockey Week focus on McNauls, who are raising one son with the condition and another who is a thriving peewee hockey player BY JEFF MACKINNON, CALGARY HERALD JANUARY 15, 2014 Calgary Herald Some of the McNaul family’s happiest moments take place at the Rosemont outdoor rink. Twelve-year-old Matthew plays shinny there every night that he’s not at one of his minor hockey games. Jamie is among the crew of neighbourhood dads who diligently keep the ice in tip-top shape. Patrick and mom Shino Nakane are watching most nights too. But back in 2001, the same rink was the scene of one of the family’s saddest memories. It was the day Jamie, Shino, two-year-old Patrick and newborn Matthew stopped by the rink during a stroll through Confederation Park and saw a father and son passing the puck around. Patrick, who is now 14, had just been diagnosed with severe autism and the family feared Matthew, now 12, would be autistic, too. That scene hit hockey-loving Jamie hard. “My husband looked a Patrick’s little face and said with tears in his eyes, ‘I guess that will never be us,’ ” Shino wrote in a submission to Hockey Calgary for Esso Minor Hockey Week. “Jamie looked at me and said, ‘I just wanted to play hockey with my son.’ ” Shino said she grabbed Jamie and promised him that Matthew would learn to play. “After the words slipped out I thought ‘what am I saying? I don’t even know if Matthew will have autism or not.’ ” she recalled. “But as I looked at my family, I knew hockey was going to keep us together.” It has. Matthew grew up to love hockey and plays pretty much all sports. He’s a defenceman in peewee and the family spends a lot of time enjoying the game. “Ideal scenario I’d have both boys in it, but who knows, maybe one wouldn’t have liked it,” said Jamie, who is an assistant coach on Matthew’s McKnight team. “As a dad all you can really do is share your interests with your kids and they either stick or they don’t.” Patrick is able to kick the soccer ball around with his brother and dad at Confederation Park in the summer. “This past year, Patrick could pass the ball with Matthew and Jamie, and I was watching the three of them, which was so great to see both my kids doing something with their dad,” said Shino. Jamie said he is very appreciative that he gets to experience hockey as a dad. “Certainly in the autism community there are families with one child or that have multiple children with autism that can’t take part,” he said. “We’re certainly hard done (by), but there’s a lot of potentially more challenging situations,” Jamie continued, after Patrick had entered the living room of their home to greet a guest. “On the continuum where this one ranks in relation to having a child with cancer I personally don’t feel like I’ve been dealt a bad hand.” Esso Minor Hockey Week continues a busy stretch of hockey for the McNauls. They were out at the Rosemont rink virtually every day over the Christmas break. The whole family was, including Patrick, who loves hockey in his own way. He especially loves walking around on the ice. “In the summer if we walk a certain way, he’ll veer off and head toward the rink,” Shino said. “I don’t think he understands that there’s no ice there, but there’s something he’s drawn to about the area. “I think it’s the kids and the families. Everyone’s having a good time and there’s laughter and activity. There’s a buzz about outdoor hockey that he really seems to enjoy being around it.” And an activity that the family once thought may never be a part of their lives has become one of their favourite things.

27th Time, Welcome Tim, Temp. +2 C

New guy Tim as well as Andre,Kurt,Ian, Austin,Brad,Jamie, Biagio and Bud cleaned and added two coats to each rink. Between coats they took a break for pizza and Calgary Beer. Now 51 coats on lower Hockey rink and 50 on the upper Family rink.

Friday, January 17, 2014

26th time Kurt's report

Last night, Grant, Kris, Andre ,John and Kurt, cleaned & flooded. Drank a bit til 9:00, there were 23 people skating at 8 pm and we let them play on the lower while we scraped the upper. We put a light coat on each. Stopped to quench ourselves, then put another light/ medium coat. We missed Bud. Kurt.......... Now 49 coats on lower & 48 on upper.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

It's all Downhill from here ;-)

Based on the last couple of Ice Ages ,and a prediction that this years season will be over by March 10th. We peaked January 8th. So LETS PLAN A PARTY, please let Captain Kurt know what day.

Monday, January 13, 2014

25th time ,warm weather but lots of snow, welcome Graham -6 C

Kurt, Glenn, Claire, Glenn, Giuseppe, Andrea,Austin,Graham and Bud cleaned and added two coats .
We also had some beer thanks to Kurt , sausages thanks to Spolumbo's and Rye thanks to Rob & Lisa. Now 47 coats on lower and 45 on the upper.

Thursday, January 09, 2014

24th flood time ,Kurt's Report

Two coats on each.so now 45 coats on lower & 44 on the upper, Tonight's team; Claire, Andre, Ian ,John ,Brad , Kurt and Two unknown volunteers.

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Jan. 7 , 2014, Calgary Herald Story

“It’s a good year,” said Kris Olsen, who helped make two rinks in Confederation Park in early November, the earliest the community rinks have been created in recent memory. Many communities in Calgary have a strong contingent of committed “rink rats” — men and women who spend hours flooding their community rinks, often in the middle of the night in extremely cold conditions, said Leslie Evans, executive director of the Federation of Calgary Communities. “It’s a job that takes an incredible amount of passion and belief in the value of ice rinks, and it’s important work,” said Evans. Since 1966, volunteers have maintained the two rinks in Confederation Park and since 2008 about 10 volunteers, dubbed the Rosemont Ice Guys, have been recording their adventures in a blog that tracks tips and tricks, and counts how many coats of ice each rink has. “There is a very strong ice culture in Calgary of guys and girls that make outdoor ice. As soon as you find them, everyone is as passionate as we are about it,” said Olsen, who is one of the Rosemont Ice Guys.

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

23rd time, broken shovels , more press, first floods on 2014

Bud was down at 7 pm and found three broken shovels and only two handles, he put them in his truck to take in for re[pair.At 8 pm,Ian,Kris,Austin,Andrea,Claire and Giuseppe, cleaned and add two coats, now 43 coats on lower and 42 on upper.Thanks Giuseppe for bringing some yummy homemade Limoncello.Also, The Calgary Herald did a story on out door rinks and interviewed Kris .