On Feb. 21, Ottawa will be filled with the sounds of sticks, pucks, and skates as the city celebrates its love for hockey.
It is the inaugural year of Hockey Day in Ottawa, a day organized by the city to celebrate the game of hockey. Although lacrosse may be the national sport, hockey is king. Communities around the city will partake in various activities at the 233 outdoor rinks in the city between 1-3 p.m.
“Our objective with that (Hockey Day) is to hold as many simultaneous outdoor rink activities,” says portfolio manager of seasonal recreation Luc Simard, 39. “Some will be hosting hockey games, some will be doing special carnivals, some will be teaching skills in skating, or different games kids can play … just a number of different activities to get people outside so people can enjoy the rinks.”
The celebration coincides with CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada when all six Canadian National Hockey League teams play against one another.
It is just another event in a period of hockey fervor in the capital city. Despite the recent struggles of the Ottawa Senators, the successful World Junior Championships earlier this year has shown how much the city loves hockey.
“There is a hockey hotbed here,” says Les Gagne, 39. “Teams from all over the world love to come to the nation’s capital to play hockey.”
Gagne organized the Beaver Pond Hockey Championships Feb. 13-15 on the Rideau Canal. The championships were so popular he had to turn people away from the 26 teams participating.
The reason events like these are so popular is because they appeal to childhood memories says Gagne. People remember playing shinny, a casual, unregulated ice hockey game played outdoors as kids.
“It allows players, fans of the game to bring alive the child inside again, one more time,” he says.
In Centretown, there are two outdoor rinks: Jack Purcell and McNabb. Both of these rinks are maintained by volunteers who are provided grants by the city says Simard. Out of the 233 rinks, only 39 are maintained by city workers, the rest are operational through their communities.
“The rinks are owned basically by the community,” he says. “Each community is responsible in some way to provide a service and volunteers are called upon to assist in that.”
It is usually the same group of volunteers who operate the outdoor rinks every year. But at Jack Purcell, the group maintaining the rink could not continue says Simard. A new volunteer group came forward and needed training. The training included proper snow removal, rink flooding, and rink supervision.
The biggest challenge to outdoor rinks is weather. With the warming temperatures, some rinks have been closed. Gagne says the Beaver Cup would be played at ansdowne Park if the Canal was not operational.
But Simard is confident the Ottawa winter will continue its chilly ways so outdoor rinks can continue to thrive in the nation’s capital.