Although it has been 40 years since our family moved from our home in Sarnia near the shores of Lake Huron, I can still clearly picture the house and yard on Chudleigh Road. One of the things I remember best, and with fond memories, is the rink my mother made in the backyard every winter.

Each fall as the temperatures got cold and started to routinely dip below freezing, the rink was framed with boards and the snow where the ice would be was packed down. Next came the job of making the rink’s base using a garden hose and slowly transforming the packed snow into an ice base which, after numerous floods, would eventually turn the base into a smooth, glistening sheet of ice.
As the rink began to take shape, patience was in short supply and I usually hit the ice, literally, well before it was ready, stumbling over bumps and areas that required more work.
But even that was fun.
Because I was so young, I didn’t realize, or appreciate enough, the incredible work that went into making the rink. Creating the rink’s base was a big task. Once this was accomplished, there were numerous floods and repairs needed to build up the base and make the rink smooth. Flooding the rink on cold nights was necessary.
The first skates of the season were the most exciting, but every day spent on the ice was memorable. The morning after a flood was particularly special. You couldn’t resist the beautiful, sparkling surface that beckoned. If it was a weekend you would hurry downstairs, quickly eat breakfast, put on your skates, grab a puck and hockey stick, walk across the patio and glide onto the ice.
If it was a weekday, you had to agonizingly wait all day until school was over before you hurried home to skate on the frozen lawn. But the wait was worth it. An outdoor light or two enabled us to play at night.
While I enjoyed playing hockey and scoring the big goals when I had the rink to myself, it was more fun when I was joined by my two brothers. Our friends also regularly joined us, making for some great hockey games. During the winter, our backyard was a popular gathering place.
Our little frozen corner of the planet provided us with exercise, fresh air and a place to safely practice our hockey skills, socialize with friends and live out our dreams pertaining to the greatest sport on Earth. For us, endless hours spent playing hockey with friends and family was just a fun, entertaining way to spend the winter.
Because our rink in Sarnia provided my brothers and I with so many benefits, my wife Lynn and I have made a rink for our children, Liam and Gleannan, for the past 10 years.
Affectionately known as the “Mulmur Forum,” our rink is situated on a relatively level piece of lawn, and is about 30-by-45 feet in size. It was on this small piece of frozen turf where Liam and Gleannan learned to skate and hone their hockey skills.
This rink has also hosted birthday parties, family get togethers and memorable hockey games, where up to 15 people have been on the ice at the same time.
While there is work that goes into making and maintaining a backyard rink, once a thick base of ice has been built up, the work is minimal and consists of flooding the ice from time to time, and the occasional shoveling. Shoveling the rink can be good exercise and I enjoy flooding the rink – especially late at night, when the stars put on a fantastic show.
Memories can be funny things. Seemingly simple things can become indelibly etched in our brains providing wonderful memories for a lifetime. I’m sure my mother didn’t realize just how much pleasure I got from the frozen lawn she created each winter in Sarnia more than four decades ago. But the rink was an important part of my childhood. Little wonder I can still remember the rink in the backyard on Chudleigh Road like it was yesterday.
My mother didn’t live to see Gleannan and Liam.
She would have enjoyed watching them skating and playing hockey at the Mulmur Forum like my brothers and I did in Sarnia. And while she likely didn’t have any idea the lasting positive effect the rink would have on my life, it is a large reason why we build a similar sheet of ice each winter for our children. The Perrett family rink has become a wonderful tradition and one Lynn and I are proud to continue. Thanks Mom!