Warm weather didn’t stop the Norfolk Aces youth hockey team from having a scrimmage in mid-February.
Team coach Steve Geary had a metal building constructed over his 3-year-old outdoor hockey rink, which had been a victim to the unpredictable weather in Northeast Nebraska.
Geary said he was tired of the constant mess of leaves, sticks, dirt, bird excrement and weather dictating his training schedule so he decided to tag his reverse mortgage again and spring for a building over his rink.
Geary said interest really took off after the City of Norfolk Recreation Department put on a learn-to-play hockey clinic on roller blades at the tennis courts last summer.
After the program ended in late July, Geary decided to continue the training on his backyard rink.
“I had the kids come over after school and on weekends in mid-September to play on my cement rink complete with boards and a backstop with high netting,” Geary said. “The kids just continue to improve. It has been very fun to watch them learning the skills to play this awesome game.”
December’s foggy, wet and colder weather didn’t allow the cement to dry. Any moisture on the roller hockey surface makes the conditions hazardous.
Construction on the building started mid-December. The poles were cemented in the ground just before January’s cold spell and 27 inches of snow.
The weather conditions made it difficult to complete the frame, and Geary had to scoop 20 inches of snow by hand off the 60-foot-by-35-foot rink surface.
“Tom Cook, the builder, got a little more work than he bid for,” Geary said. “(The weather) was a big pain. It couldn’t have picked a worse time to dump all this snow on us.”
The building was finally completed at the beginning of February while 5,500 gallons of water was put on the cement with a liner in mid-January. The cold weather froze the 5 inches of water completely to the bottom.
Practices were held even on days when temperatures reached the 40s. The temperature in the building was 10-15 degrees colder than outside during the day and at night about five degrees colder than outside.
With the sun off the ice, the ice remained frozen even during a string of temps in the 50s and 60s.
Geary said he will soon open the doors and let the warm air in to melt the ice and get ready for the roller hockey season.
Geary would ultimately like to see Norfolk…
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