Rink Diary

2021 - 2022

Nov.27, 2021

Opened for the season

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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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Rink diaries from earlier years

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.

Jan.21, 2019

This rink is one of two in the city listed as "snow covered, ongoing snow maintenance." The snow was two days ago, on Saturday.

Dec.4, 2018

Finally opened for the season today.

Nov.27, 2018

This rink has been marked as "opening delayed" since Nov.24, and indeed the door to the change room was locked. But the lights were on, and a man inside told me he's doing a small plumbing contract for the city. He said that the heat hadn't gone on in the building and that's why they didn't open the rink. But now he thought it would soon open.

The ice, however, looks pretty substantial, so the compressors must have been on for a while. As usual, there was no sign anywhere, telling why the delay or when the rink might open. Nor is there any more specific information on the city's rink website.

Nov.24, 2018

This was scheduled to open on Nov. 24, but by the evening, it was listed as "opening delayed due to mechanical issues."

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2017 - 2018

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2016 - 2017

The contract, awarded July 20, 2016, called for the work to be completed by Dec.31, 2016. The winner was Frank Pellegrino Contracting, the lowest bidder, approving a price of $1,526,291.00 including all applicable taxes and charges.

Jan.14, 2017

This rink is listed as OPEN for the first time this rink season, but the change room is listed as "temporarily closed."

Jan.7, 2017

The city's rink website now says this rink will open on January 15, 2017.

Jan.1, 2017

Despite the original announcement giving a completion date of December 23, the rink is not finished, nor are there any signs on the fence to tell what stage the construction is at. There is new cooling equipment, visible on the rooftop of the mechanical building. It shows the name of a Quebec refrigeration company RefPlus. A condenser is still sitting on the ground, presumably awaiting installation. The fence is mostly up, although flimsy in parts, and a cat tractor is parked inside the enclosure.

Announcement on the city's rink website:

The park and nearby trail will be closed from August 22, 2016 to December 23rd, 2016 due to construction activity onsite. The improvements include the replacement of the Ice Rink and Refrigeration equipment and accessibility improvements to the Park and Change room building.

It is anticipated the Ice Rink will be operational for the winter 2016/2017 season(weather permitting).

The last sentence is wrong, but it suggests that the rink may be open for one week of the 2016 season, anyway, and all of the 2017 season, or at least until the sun gets too high and the ice doesn't hold up.

Oct.25, 2016

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2015 - 2016

March 11, 2016

This rink was closed for the season today, although it had been scheduled to keep running until March 20.

Nov.28, 2015: opening day

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2014 - 2015

Dec.2 2014

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

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Rink Diary 2011 - 2012

Saturday Dec.3 2011

Good ice. No opening day sign. Boiler room open, with no staff to be seen around.

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Rink Diary 2009 - 2010

Monday December 28 2009

At 4.30 this rink was lively with 31 people on it or around it, and more coming down the steps toward the ice. About two-thirds of the skaters were playing shinny hockey, the rest were pleasure-skating or talking to each other at the side. The shinny players were further sub-divided into some adults playing with little kids (one man was shoveling the snow off the ice at their end) and youth playing along one side and in the middle.

There is a rink clubhouse/washroom, but like all the clubhouses at these smaller neighbourhood rinks, it was locked (and skaters told me they haven't been unlocked for years).

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Rink Diary 2008 - 2009

Wednesday Dec.10 2008

The rink was in very bad shape after two days of unsettled weather including a day of snow mixed with rain. At 7 pm it had been plowed but not scraped and there were big holes all over it. Even so, two young boys were skating in between the holes, while a man was putting his skates on. When asked when the busiest time of this rink is, they said -- all the time.

A zamboni driver said that it's a popular rink, but that the neighbours living nearby don't appreciate the shinny hockey noise and there have been times when someone has poured salt ion the rink.

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Rink Diary 2007 - 2008

Saturday March 1

11am The ice has been cleared of the snow that fell last night and is in good shape. There are 3 adult men and five children skating at the rink. No one is playing hockey. One of the fathers comments that the ice is "pretty good, actually." None of the skaters was here when the ice was cleaned, but they say it must have been earlier in the morning.

Sunday February 24

7:15-8pm There are 19 people at the rink when CELOS arrives. Eleven are on skates. The rest are parents and other family who have come along with the skaters.

The ice is hard and smooth, but very snowy. A couple of the hockey players wonder why the Zamboni doesn't come more often.

During a previous CELOS daytime visit, some young hockey players complained that the lights aren't bright enough at night. However, on another visit two older players disagreed, saying that while the lights didn't reach all the corners, they were bright enough. This is CELOS' first night-time visit to Valleyfield. The lights could be a little brighter, but they are adequate. As the older players said, the corners are a little dark, but the light does cover most of the ice surface. Some of the people know each other and there is a lot of friendly conversation. The skaters are of all ages. There are several parents with young children. Some of the parents are on skates, some are not. The rink is unsupervised so there is no one here to tell the parents without skates to stay off the ice. Also, there is no one here to make skaters wear helmets. Some children and hockey players do wear helmets, but many don't.

Five boys decide to play a game of shinny. They choose sides by putting their sticks in the middle of the ice and having one boy toss the sticks to either side of the rink. The shinny game dominates most of the ice, but there is still room for other hockey players as well as pleasure skating. During the 45 minutes that CELOS is at the rink, people are coming and going.

Saturday February 23

2pm There are 13 hockey players on the ice, mostly teenagers who appear to be 14-15 years old. Most of the ice surface is being used for a fast-paced game of shinny. At one end of the rink, three hockey players ares playing a separate game. On another side of the rink a father is playing hockey with his young boy.

During a previous CELOS visit, some young hockey players complained that the lights aren't bright enough at night. The players said half the rink is covered in darkness. On this visit, CELOS asked two older hockey players about this. The older players said the lights are bright enough. They said the lights don't quite reach all the corners, but do cover most of the ice. The older players don't see this as a problem.

10:30am There are sixteen people at the rink: 10 hockey players, 3 pleasure skaters and 3 moms sitting on the bleachers by the side of the rink. The moms have brought their own food to the rink. The ice is in good shape.

Saturday February 9

3:30pm It is drizzling and most of the ice is covered with a thin layer of wet snow. Four boys have brought shovels and have cleared just enough ice so that they can play hockey. The boys say the City cleans the ice once each morning Monday-Friday but only once each weekend. The boys complain about the poor quality of the ice.

They also complain that there aren't any mats at the side of the rink which is very slippery. The puck often slides off the rink surface onto the side and the boys have trouble walking on their skates over the rough ice at the side. The boys also complain that the two stairways that lead down to the rink are often slippery because they're not salted. Today one side of each stairway is reasonably clean meaning it's possible to go down the steps single-file.

The boys say they sometimes take the plastic boards that the City puts up and use them to clear the snow. When City workers come by, they take the boards away. Knowing this, the boys sometimes hide the boards in the snow so that the City won't take them away.

The boys say when the rink is busy there can be as many as three shinny games going on at once. Pleasure skaters are forced to go along the edge of the rink. The older shinny players take over the centre of the ice, while the younger players play separate games at either end.

Asked how what they would do to improve the rink if they could, the boys enthusiastically offer suggestions. First they want boards and nets. (Shinny players at Queensway, another Etobicoke 'minor' rink, said the same thing.) The boys say they have seen nets stored in the refrigeration building next to the rink. The rink is on a tennis court and there are fences at either end but not on the side. The boys point to holes at the bottom of the fences where they lose their pucks.

The boys also want the changerooms open so they can put on their skates inside like people do at Westway, just down the street. One of the boys remembers when he came to the rink years ago with the Beaver Scouts they were able to use the changeroom. He says his parents remember when the changerooms were always open. One of the boys shouts out that the rink needs washrooms. The other boys agree. They live too far away to go home so they relieve themselves in the bushes.

Another boy says they want hot chocolate. "Come on," he says, "we're kids we need something to drink." Asked if there is someplace they can eat, they say there's a Pizza Hut down the road, but it's not very close.

Thursday February 8

5:10pm The rink is completed buried in snow. A few minutes later, the rink operator at Westway a short walk down the street says that in Etobicoke the priority after a snowstorm are the larger rinks (the so-called 'majors'). Valleyfield is a 'minor,' i.e. an ice pad without boards, nets or changerooms. The operator at Westway said a roving crew was out cleaning the minors. However, it's worth noting that 'minor' rinks are sometimes busier than the 'majors,' partly because there are no permits and the ice is always available and partly because there are fewer rules. Players at Rivercrest, another 'minor' rink, said they played there because they didn't have to wear a helmet.

Saturday January 12

2:15pm The ice is in good shape. There are six pleasure skaters. An older man who is there with a few young girls says that about 4pm the rink will be filled with shinny players.

Saturday December 8

1pm This is a single pad rink with no nets or boards. The changerooms are locked. The ice pad is located at the bottom of a hill. There is snow and ice on the steps leading down to the rink from the parking lot, but they have been salted a little. There are 17 shinny players on the ice. It is a fast-paced game. The players are good skaters and have obviously had a lot of practice. One of them is a girl. Two men are standing on the side watching the game. One of them says Valleyfield is "a nice little spot, always busy." The other man says he sees boys playing shinny here in the morning when he's on his way to work. The rink was open a few days earlier than Dec 8.

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Content last modified on December 03, 2021, at 12:15 PM EST