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You are on the [Rink Diary] page of folder [Westway Rink]
For the cover page of this folder go to the 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
Rink diaries from earlier years:
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
2019 - 2020
NO reports
2018 - 2019
Opened: Nov.28, 2018
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.28, 2018
This rink is now listed as open.
Nov.27, 2018
This rink is still marked as closed for construction on the city's website. However the machinery is running. There are no signs but perhaps city workers feel that it's self-explanatory -- the front entry path is not paved yet. This rink has entrances from two sides as well as the front, but evidently the people who run the rink feel that nothing can begin until the front walkway is done.
There is a vast parking lot, and also room to park on a small street nearby.
thin sheet of ice?
steam coming from condenser -- power is on
the construction is a pathway to the front door
a newly paved parking lot
Nov.24, 2018
This rink was scheduled to open on Nov.24, but the city's website says it's "closed for construction." The schedule tab shows it opening on Nov.27.
2017 - 2018
Dec.19, 2017
The rink has been open since Dec.2, but is now closed again for "ice conditions."
Dec.1, 2017
This rink has been closed more than open so far. "Mechanical problems" maybe? But the web site only says it's closed for "ice conditions."
The rink was scheduled to open on Nov.25, 2017, but was not consistently open until early December.
2016 -2017
Jan.1, 2017
both the rink pad and the building were open on New Year's Day
sign says the rink is closed
Despite a sign taped over the metal schedule near the front door saying the rink would be closed although the ice pad would be open, the rink building was also open -- warm and clean, with skaters' belongings in little bundles on the benches. At 10.15, the zamboni driver was just walking into the building. He seemed surprised to see the sign that said the rink was closed, but agreed that a happy surprise is better than an unhappy one. There were four skaters.
2015 - 2016
March 11, 2016
This rink was scheduled to stay open until March 20, but it closed for the season today.
Feb.1, 2016
8 p.m.: Temp. 3 degrees, rink listed as closed.
Dec.27 2015
This rink has been listed as closed since Dec.24.
Nov.29, 2015
The rink was closed. There was no response at first to a knock on the door, then a staff person came out and said that the ice was too thin. He said that they had been flooding the rink since Monday, every evening from 6 pm to 2 am, but still not enough ice.
Note: the city's compressor list names this system as "good." So why couldn't it open on time?
Really?
2014 - 2015
Dec.2 2014
The rink opened Nov.29, closed Nov.30, reopened Dec.2.
2011 - 2012
Saturday Dec.3 2011
Decent ice, but no sign up about opening date.
2009 - 2010
Dec.28 2009
ice resurfacer
At 4.20 pm, the rink was just being resurfaced, by a tractor/champion combo. 11 skaters (youth) were waiting in the change room, to go and play shinny hockey. They said that they always have to wear helmets, even when there's no rink guard -- the zamboni driver enforces the rule.
January 11 2010, e-mail for K.J. to CityRinks
What is the policy regarding parent-child shinny 8 and under on outdoor rinks in Toronto?
Should there be adults on the ice who are there with no kids? Should there be adults and teens playing a game but none of them are 8 or under? If there are more adults than kids, is it ok for the person in charge to allow the adults to use one half of the rink and the parent/child 8 and under to use the other half?
West Way every Saturday same issues.
January 14 2010, e-mail from Recreation Supervisor Terry Hickingbottom to CityRinks:
Our staff are expected to follow the posted schedule, we will review with the particular staff to correct this anomaly.
January 14 2010, e-mail from K.J. to CityRinks
I received an e-mail first thing this morning and then spoke to a supervisor, I believe its all been worked out OK now.
Thursday January 21, 2010
this rink has a formal entranceway
At 3.30 the rink had no skaters. The zamboni driver says the kids will come soon for drop-in shinny, but later on it's solid permits. He says he has very little drop-in, since the rink is so near the main roads and everybody knows about it. It's always booked. He says the kids from the neighbourhood come around sometimes to see if by any chance a permit has cancelled and they can skate.
Monday January 25 2010
I asked the dad who wrote in about the parent-child schedule, if everything was going well in that program now. He sent back this message: Oh yah its great now lots of fun.
2007 - 2008
Saturday March 1
10:40am The ice has been cleared of last night's snow and is in good shape. A permit group is playing a vigorous game of shinny.
February 7
5:20pm There are half a dozen shinny players on the ice, all wearing helmets. The ice looks reasonably good, but is rough near the boards. The operator says the rink was able to open on time this morning despite yesterday's snowstorm. He says last night while it was still snowing he cleared the ice 5-6 times so that when the roving crew came in the morning there wasn't much snow to clear. Asked about nearby Valleyfield which was still covered in snow, he says in Etobicoke the priority are the 'majors' (larger rinks with boards and changerooms). Once the big rinks are cleaned, the roving crews go to the minors - smaller pads like Valleyfield and Buttonwood. He said a roving crew had taken Westway's snowblowing equipment and was out cleaning the smaller pads as we spoke. When it was pointed out that Sunnydale Acres, a 'major', was still covered in snow, the operator says there was an equipment problem there, but he didn't know the details. Three young men are inside the staff office along with the rink operator. They may have been rink guards.
January 12
It turns out the phone message was a false alarm. The rink ice was a bit thin toward the boards, but really not bad, and the hockey players said the ice was fine. The zamboni driver said he hadn't heard anything about the rink being closed.
hockey players say ice is fine
Westway changerooms
January 11
The city's rink information line 338-RINK, outdoor section, seems to have lost all of its information. At midnight on Friday, it had only an announcement that Westway, West Mall and Sunnydale are closed "due to the unseasonable temperatures...The remaining outdoor rinks in Etobicoke/York will have skateable ice.....except Humber Valley." Then it says to call back on Monday. If you stay on the line, the same message repeats, and if you still stay on the line, you get transferred to a PFR office that says they're closed for the weekend.
Second problem is that the other city rinks didn't lose their ice, although they all had the same weather -- so why did those three? And why will it take all weekend to restore it, when the nights are this cold? This sounds like a maintenance issue, not a weather issue.
Content last modified on December 03, 2021, at 12:43 PM EST