by Mike Beggs
Good Life; November 2004

For the typical Canadian father, few things loom so romantic as building a backyard rink for your kids.

But heretofore, making and maintaining a rink has been an onrous process. And Mother Nture's more recent doses of mild winter weather have made it a bit of a shell game.

What's to do?

Well, one solution comes courtesy of the Burlington-based Custom Ice Inc., which builds residential rinks of assorted shapes and sizes (as well as municipal rinks, curling rinks, training rinks, and specialty rinks) across NOrth America -- tailored to location, space, climate, and budget. That ranges from the straightforward, to one Toronto area rink built with clear poly boards to provide an unobstruted view of the ice from the family patio, and another permanent ice pad constructed inside a barn.

Former NHL forward (and ex-Leaf) Dave Gagner is the front man behind this intriguing venture, partnering with professional engineer/ice industry expert Brendan Lenko. The 34-year-old father of three had wanted to build a rink for his own children (while at the same teime identifying the need for kids to learn to skate and play hockey in a free and easy environment). He hired Lenko to do it.

"When I retired from playing, basically my wife and I came back to Oakville - she was looking for the perfect housed, and I was looking for a lot perfect for a rink," he relates. "Everybody I talked to said the winter here doesn't really cooperate anymore. I decided to look into refrigeration - and I wanted my own. And I was looking for a career transition for myself." He soon realized, "there were a lot of guys likeme, who have a passion for hockey and want something more reliable in their backyard."

With the help of its' "Rink Mate", or "MIni Mate" chiller units, Custom Ice can Provide you with five months of continuous ice. Compare that to the traditional prospect of getting your ice in January, and having it last for 60 days. And this eliminates the need for those freezing late-night floods - you just turn on the hot water.

Customers range from fellow ex-Leaf Tom Fergus, to a Brentwood, Ttennessee mother who was sick of driving her son to the arenea, to Oakville computer executive Lindsay Sparks - who put in a 75-foot, by 45-foot permanent concrete pad three years back, and has "never been disappointed" with it.

Sparks rink converts to a tennis/basketball court during th esummer months. The father of four starts it up in beginning to mid November and shuts it down the 15th of April, and stresses, "you have ice the whold time." " I grew up playing outdoor hockey as a youngster, and there's not much of it anymore. (My wife and I) really wanted to create that environment for the kids, and to use the winter Canada has to offer," he comments.

"You put a little music on out there. Snow is falling. It's fantastic." He finds this patch of ice, "really pulls the family together." And that's not to mention the neighbourhood kids, who clamour to get on this pro-like surface - which includes boards, real nets, and blue and red lines.

"We have constant games going on. If the rink isn't used two to three hours every day, I'm suprised," he continues. "(And) we built a cabin in the back with a fireplace in it, just to add to the whole experience. Couples come over, and while the kids are skating we can have a hot tawdy."

Custom Ice's line of residential rinks also includes the Do It Yourself rink kit (which comes with prefab piping, and quick-connect fittings), and the promising Pool Rink kit (providing an inset which fits safely and securely over the top of your inground wimming pool, complete with wooden trusses). They come with a whold range of options, including Boards, Ice Covers, Piping, Refrigeration Resurfacer, Lighting Systems, and - you got it - the "Rink Rover" (a Zamboni-like machine, which eliminates the need for hand scraping, shoveling, flooding and removing snow).

These rinks will run you a minimum of $18,000, to start.

But Sparks, for one suggests it's not really out of reach for the average home owner. "our kids are so busy, we take less family trips than we used to," he reasons, "and if you amortize that over five years or more (it soon adds up)."

"I actually do (see it growing in popularity). It's amzing how many pople want to stay active. And life seems to picking up in complexity - so staying close to home is a good thing."

Gagner deems his own rink to be, "priceless" His kids spend a minimum of 25 hours a week out there, and he notes, "you always know where they are."

Five years in, he and Lenko, "have to travel all over North America to meet the demand." At this point, about half of their jobs are residential. They've done only a handfurl of municipal rinks, despite the incredible competitiion for ice time!

Gagner argues that smaller Private Rinks, Park Rinks, Studio Rinks, etc. all offer more fun for kids to skate on, and are far less in demand. "What we offer is age-appropriate facilities. The cost is much lower, and it frees up ice time for the older kids," he adds.

"A lot of municipalities look at building new facilities for millions of dollars. And this is a fraction of that."