Winter is coming — Set yourself up with the best outdoor rink kit
As a youth hockey player, there are few moments with the game that are more enjoyable than shinny with neighborhood kids. Outside in the elements, just skates and sticks in weather so cold you can see your breath. Sporting winter gloves inside your hockey gloves to keep your fingers from going numb. Picking teams by blindly separating a pile of random sticks into two piles of random sticks. Skating until the sun goes down, before getting your dad’s construction lamp out of the garage to illuminate the ice for a few more minutes before dinner.
The sound the ice makes as a skate carves into it just hits different when you’re outdoors.
Some people enjoy such moments on a frozen lake or pond. While it can be ideal, you are usually at the mercy of Mother Nature. Victim to soft spots, rough patches and other natural occurrences. Others get by with makeshift, home-made rinks pieced together with plywood and two-by-fours. Each piece typically fits together with the next one in a very specific sequence, of which is forgotten year over year.
Why not spare yourself the time, frustration and uncertainty? Enjoy the game the way it was meant to be played every winter with EZ Ice Rinks.
The Easiest Way To An Outdoor Rink
Aptly nicknamed ‘the 60-minute backyard rink’ because it can be assembled on any surface, with no tools, no hammering stakes and no frustration. EZ Ice Rinks starts out as small as 10 feet by 10 feet in dimension. From there, it can be expanded as big as a full-sized NHL sheet of ice. Kits are customizable in size, and can be upgraded with ease.
From personal use in the backyard, to community recreation centers, EZ Ice Rinks are great for any use. They can be set up in the backyard, on patios, parking lots or tennis courts. Work on your personal game, get some extra shots on the net, skating and small-area stickhandling with an intimate setup at the house. Provide a service to the entire neighborhood or local community with a large skating rink equipped with full-size boards, netting and foam safety pads.
10% off your next EZ Ice Rink order
Easy, Affordable, Do-It-Yourself Outdoor Ice Rink
With 10-foot by 10-foot rinks starting out at $1,480.00 USD, EZ Ice Rink boards are made out of the same plastic as NHL sideboards. They come in three different heights: classic is perfect for shinny, double height provides a little extra and arena height offers game-like realism. All of them are able to withstand slapshots in excess of 100 miles per hour. There’s an option for behind-the-goal style netting to keep stray pucks from ending up in the neighbor’s yard. Plus, rounded corner options and foam bumpers for extra safety.
‘That’s a lot of money!’
Is it? After the cost of lumber and what you’d spend in 2-by-4s and plywood, not to mention the time investment. You get what you pay for with EZ Ice Rink; something durable, long-lasting and easy to set up as well as maintain.
The Story Behind EZ Ice Rink
While studying mechanical engineering at Yale University, CEO and inventor Dylan Gastel launched EZ Ice Rink in 2016. Now, a team of 20-plus employees sells EZ Ice Rinks out of their offices in Newton, Massachusetts, USA.
“Truly, my best childhood memories are skating with my [siblings] and my teammates in my backyard,” said Gastel.
His goal is to help grow the game of ice hockey, so that others can fall in love with the sport as he did. Growing up in Rhode Island, he’s had a passion for the game since he started skating at three years old. Now, he’s managed to share that passion with the hockey community by developing an outdoor rink that can be assembled by anyone, in any backyard, all across North America.
“I wake up every single day knowing that I’m getting kids off a device and onto the ice,” said Gastel.
