Rink change area: big and clean, rubber flooring throughout, logos everywhere

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Comments about this rink: e-mail us at [email protected].

2021 - 2022

Nov.27, 2021

Opened for the season

Dec.3, 2021

Marked as closed for "ice conditions." Temp is 0 celsius, heavy cloud

Dec.4, 2021

Marked as closed again, this time for "mechanical problems"

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2020 - 2021

COVID-RELATED RESTRICTIONS: To find out how to book a skating time, go to the city's outdoor rinks web page.
All shinny hockey has been removed except for Greenwood (and only children and youth are allowed there). The city's opening rules are described here and our rinks blog is here.

Nov.28,2020

Opening day

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Earlier rink diaries

2019 - 2020

No reports

2018 - 2019

Jan.29, 2019

The rink has been marked as open until yesterday and then it was listed as "snow removal in progress" (with over 25 cm of snow). At 1 p.m. it was again listed as open.

Nov.25, 2018

This rink opened yesterday and was open this morning, but at 4 pm it was listed as closed.

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2017 - 2018

Feb.13, 2018, from Geri Dempsey

4pm: School already out but an almost-empty rink, aside from a senior playing shinny by himself (86 he told me!). He's been using the rink for 30 years and was very happy with the new rink house; "let's hope the kids don't ruin it" he kept saying. A dad and his young daughter came to skate and play shinny by the time I left. The ice looked great, the new rink house was clean (if empty) and at least has windows out to the ice. The staff room is at the back and looks out to the change area with a small window.

Jan.13, 2018:

Morning, 11 a.m.: Tory on twitter

Evening, 6.30 p.m.:

From the MLSE media release:

The last big reno was in 2009(see diary entry below). This one was done in 2017 -- so every 8 years?

Jan.12, 2018, public notice from Councillor Grimes:

Nov.24, 2017

This rink gives the impression of a lot of last-minute work being done. A worker is going in and out of the change room and a carpenter is bolting down the players boxes. The boards look new but they don't even have any logos on them yet -- very unusual especially for MLSE.

October 2017: announcement on city councillor Grimes' website (but not mentioned on the city of Toronto rink site):

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2016 - 2017

This rink opened on time on Nov.26 2016.

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Rink diaries from earlier years:

2015 - 2016

March 10, 2016

Although it was scheduled to stay open until March 20, this rink was closed for the season today.

Feb.1, 2016

8 p.m.: Temp. 3 degrees, rink listed as closed.

Dec.29, 2015

All the city's outdoor rinks were closed today until later afternoon, because of the heavy, extremely wet snow. But Adam Beck opened in the first group of three. Good ice-making by the grouchy zamboni driver from a month ago? Who knows?

Nov.28, 2015

The rink was scheduled to be open, but there was only thin ice. A sign was posted on the door, saying the ice is "too soft so the rink is closed," and the doors were locked. Some knocking brought the zamboni driver to the door. He said, "can't you see how warm it is outside? Of course the rinks can't be open." I told him that quite a few rinks were open and the ice was fine. He said, "they have much better cooling." I said, "no, some of the ones that are open have the same amount of cooling as your rink. When did this rink start making ice?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "I'm busy, I can't take any more time to talk."

And slammed the door.

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2014 - 2015

March 19, 2015

The rink was open, but although there were two staff on site, they had only one skater by 2 pm, and the rink didn't look like it would recover, since the sun was strong. Temperature: 1 celsius.

March 17, 2015

Rink marked "closed" for today, by 3 pm.

Jan 1 2015 (New Year's Day)

At 10.50 there were 7 shinny players -- two little kids with helmets, the adults without. The rink was open and the building was open -- no rink staff present.

Dec.2 2014

The rink opened on Nov.29, closed on Nov.30, reopened on Dec.2.

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2011 - 2012

Saturday Dec.3 2011

No signs to say they're open, but there was a member of staff inside the change room who said they are open. The ice is pretty good, but uneven and rough in some areas. There were 4/5 kids playing shinny.

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2010 - 2011

Monday November 15 2010

There's a little vehicle on the rink scrubbing the surface. The rink looks clean and ready to go. But no ice will be made for another week.

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2009 - 2010

Monday November 16th, 2009

This rink is scheduled to open on the 21st of November. At around noon, there were friendly maintenance staff working on the building from the inside. The walls in the change room were freshly painted, with big blue male and female for the bathrooms. The staff pointed out that a new door and window were installed, adding more light to the single brick room and improving visibility. The existing doors and window were re-framed. The rink itself was partially cleared of leaves and there was a little water on the pad. The compressors did not appear to be on yet. There was a City of Toronto poster up saying that the rink was scheduled to open on the 21st of November, weather permitting and to call 311 for more information.

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Overcast. The rink has ice. Lots of water remains on the surface though. The rink house is still under construction. The sinks and urinals are still not installed. The plumber in the building said he was hoping to finish his end of thing today. Only 2 of the big rink lights were raised by 10am this morning. Its unclear, unlikely... that the rink or building will be ready for opening day tomorrow.

Tuesday November 24 2009

All the light standards are up and apparently the electrician is in the building, hooking everything up. The sinks are mostly in, just one urinal left to go. New flooring is being laid. The two doors of the garage are being enlarged to accommodate bigger vehicles.

The compressors are not on, and the rink has no ice and no ice-making staff.

Wednesday Dec.2 2009 1.40 pm

This rink was supposed to open on Nov.21, but even today, it's still closed. The first thing to meet the eye in the rink parking lot is a big asphalt truck. A company is repaving the path around the outside of the building.

Meanwhile, the ice looks terrific, despite a sunny day of 12 degrees celsius (although the sun is at its lowest at this time of the year, without much melting power). The mats are laid out, the benches in place, but the rink is locked, and there are no staff to say when it will be opened to skaters.

Monday December 28, 2009

At 2.45 there were 4 pleasure-skaters on the ice, plus 1 rink guard. There were 12 skaters inside, some about to leave and a few just arriving, and 2 more rink guards, who were comfortably settled on a bench by the window and deep in conversation. I asked them for a holiday schedule and they were quick to go look for one, but there were none to take home. There were yellow signs of revised holiday hours posted prominently, saying that the rink would be open but unsupervised on New Year's Day.

I asked the rink guards, "why are there so few skaters? Is it always like this?" They said that sometimes it's busier, "but not on the holidays, because a lot of people are away."

Comparison to nearby Wedgwood Rink, an unsupervised compressor-cooled tennis pad: at the same time, there were 37 skaters on or around the ice, with more people arriving. And Valleyfield Rink, the same kind of unsupervised rink, had 31 skaters, with more coming down the rink steps.

Tuesday January 19, 2010

At 5.20, there were 10 shinny hockey players on the ice, all wearing helmets. One skater was sitting in the change room, talking to the zamboni driver. I asked about attendance and he said there are regulars who come for the public shinny. He said that the tennis pad rinks without boards have many more shinny players because they don't have to wear helmets, and he finds it tough to be always harrassing the skaters at this rink, to put on their helmets.

See Diaries tab

Views of the rink

From The City of Toronto Website 2014-15

For the skating schedule, go to Sir Adam Beck, then click on Skating.

Rink Diary

2021 - 2022

Nov.27, 2021

Opened for the season

Dec.3, 2021

Marked as closed for "ice conditions." Temp is 0 celsius, heavy cloud

Dec.4, 2021

Marked as closed again, this time for "mechanical problems"

---

2020 - 2021

COVID-RELATED RESTRICTIONS: To find out how to book a skating time, go to the city's outdoor rinks web page.
All shinny hockey has been removed except for Greenwood (and only children and youth are allowed there). The city's opening rules are described here and our rinks blog is here.

Nov.28,2020

Opening day

---

Earlier rink diaries

2019 - 2020

No reports

2018 - 2019

Jan.29, 2019

The rink has been marked as open until yesterday and then it was listed as "snow removal in progress" (with over 25 cm of snow). At 1 p.m. it was again listed as open.

Nov.25, 2018

This rink opened yesterday and was open this morning, but at 4 pm it was listed as closed.

---

2017 - 2018

Feb.13, 2018, from Geri Dempsey

4pm: School already out but an almost-empty rink, aside from a senior playing shinny by himself (86 he told me!). He's been using the rink for 30 years and was very happy with the new rink house; "let's hope the kids don't ruin it" he kept saying. A dad and his young daughter came to skate and play shinny by the time I left. The ice looked great, the new rink house was clean (if empty) and at least has windows out to the ice. The staff room is at the back and looks out to the change area with a small window.

Jan.13, 2018:

Morning, 11 a.m.: Tory on twitter

Evening, 6.30 p.m.:

From the MLSE media release:

The last big reno was in 2009(see diary entry below). This one was done in 2017 -- so every 8 years?

Jan.12, 2018, public notice from Councillor Grimes:

Nov.24, 2017

This rink gives the impression of a lot of last-minute work being done. A worker is going in and out of the change room and a carpenter is bolting down the players boxes. The boards look new but they don't even have any logos on them yet -- very unusual especially for MLSE.

October 2017: announcement on city councillor Grimes' website (but not mentioned on the city of Toronto rink site):

---

2016 - 2017

This rink opened on time on Nov.26 2016.

---

Rink diaries from earlier years:

2015 - 2016

March 10, 2016

Although it was scheduled to stay open until March 20, this rink was closed for the season today.

Feb.1, 2016

8 p.m.: Temp. 3 degrees, rink listed as closed.

Dec.29, 2015

All the city's outdoor rinks were closed today until later afternoon, because of the heavy, extremely wet snow. But Adam Beck opened in the first group of three. Good ice-making by the grouchy zamboni driver from a month ago? Who knows?

Nov.28, 2015

The rink was scheduled to be open, but there was only thin ice. A sign was posted on the door, saying the ice is "too soft so the rink is closed," and the doors were locked. Some knocking brought the zamboni driver to the door. He said, "can't you see how warm it is outside? Of course the rinks can't be open." I told him that quite a few rinks were open and the ice was fine. He said, "they have much better cooling." I said, "no, some of the ones that are open have the same amount of cooling as your rink. When did this rink start making ice?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "I'm busy, I can't take any more time to talk."

And slammed the door.

---

2014 - 2015

March 19, 2015

The rink was open, but although there were two staff on site, they had only one skater by 2 pm, and the rink didn't look like it would recover, since the sun was strong. Temperature: 1 celsius.

March 17, 2015

Rink marked "closed" for today, by 3 pm.

Jan 1 2015 (New Year's Day)

At 10.50 there were 7 shinny players -- two little kids with helmets, the adults without. The rink was open and the building was open -- no rink staff present.

Dec.2 2014

The rink opened on Nov.29, closed on Nov.30, reopened on Dec.2.

---

2011 - 2012

Saturday Dec.3 2011

No signs to say they're open, but there was a member of staff inside the change room who said they are open. The ice is pretty good, but uneven and rough in some areas. There were 4/5 kids playing shinny.

---

2010 - 2011

Monday November 15 2010

There's a little vehicle on the rink scrubbing the surface. The rink looks clean and ready to go. But no ice will be made for another week.

---

2009 - 2010

Monday November 16th, 2009

This rink is scheduled to open on the 21st of November. At around noon, there were friendly maintenance staff working on the building from the inside. The walls in the change room were freshly painted, with big blue male and female for the bathrooms. The staff pointed out that a new door and window were installed, adding more light to the single brick room and improving visibility. The existing doors and window were re-framed. The rink itself was partially cleared of leaves and there was a little water on the pad. The compressors did not appear to be on yet. There was a City of Toronto poster up saying that the rink was scheduled to open on the 21st of November, weather permitting and to call 311 for more information.

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Overcast. The rink has ice. Lots of water remains on the surface though. The rink house is still under construction. The sinks and urinals are still not installed. The plumber in the building said he was hoping to finish his end of thing today. Only 2 of the big rink lights were raised by 10am this morning. Its unclear, unlikely... that the rink or building will be ready for opening day tomorrow.

Tuesday November 24 2009

All the light standards are up and apparently the electrician is in the building, hooking everything up. The sinks are mostly in, just one urinal left to go. New flooring is being laid. The two doors of the garage are being enlarged to accommodate bigger vehicles.

The compressors are not on, and the rink has no ice and no ice-making staff.

Wednesday Dec.2 2009 1.40 pm

This rink was supposed to open on Nov.21, but even today, it's still closed. The first thing to meet the eye in the rink parking lot is a big asphalt truck. A company is repaving the path around the outside of the building.

Meanwhile, the ice looks terrific, despite a sunny day of 12 degrees celsius (although the sun is at its lowest at this time of the year, without much melting power). The mats are laid out, the benches in place, but the rink is locked, and there are no staff to say when it will be opened to skaters.

Monday December 28, 2009

At 2.45 there were 4 pleasure-skaters on the ice, plus 1 rink guard. There were 12 skaters inside, some about to leave and a few just arriving, and 2 more rink guards, who were comfortably settled on a bench by the window and deep in conversation. I asked them for a holiday schedule and they were quick to go look for one, but there were none to take home. There were yellow signs of revised holiday hours posted prominently, saying that the rink would be open but unsupervised on New Year's Day.

I asked the rink guards, "why are there so few skaters? Is it always like this?" They said that sometimes it's busier, "but not on the holidays, because a lot of people are away."

Comparison to nearby Wedgwood Rink, an unsupervised compressor-cooled tennis pad: at the same time, there were 37 skaters on or around the ice, with more people arriving. And Valleyfield Rink, the same kind of unsupervised rink, had 31 skaters, with more coming down the rink steps.

Tuesday January 19, 2010

At 5.20, there were 10 shinny hockey players on the ice, all wearing helmets. One skater was sitting in the change room, talking to the zamboni driver. I asked about attendance and he said there are regulars who come for the public shinny. He said that the tennis pad rinks without boards have many more shinny players because they don't have to wear helmets, and he finds it tough to be always harrassing the skaters at this rink, to put on their helmets.

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Diary 2008-2009, Diary 2007 -2008