Winnipeg family shoots, scores with elaborate outdoor rink

There are backyard hockey rinks, and then there is what Winnipeg's Jeff and Leslie Scarcello have built for their family and the North Kildonan community — an ice rink fit for NHL greats, complete with a massive scoreboard, benches, plenty of extra hockey sticks and a firepit to warm up.

Coupling the family's large backyard with their love for skating, the outdoor rink was a no-brainer.

"I love skating and so do the kids," Jeff Scarcello says. "It was an opportunity to build something and we typically go a little overboard when designing things, so it grew from there."

Three years in, this rink can comfortably accommodate more than 20 kids. And with lights strung though the trees, the couple's kids — four-year-old Emily, two-year-old Oliver and eight-month-old Owen — can even use the rink at night. For Jeff and Leslie, it was a way to bring the community together.

The rink measures nearly 10 metres wide and 20 metres long, with one-metre tall boards around the back and half-metre tall boards around the sides. There's even another metre of mesh extending up around the back end, just to keep any stray shots from finding the neighbours' windows.

"The mesh is pretty handy for that," Jeff says.

Since the Scarcello kids started showing an interest in the backyard rink, it's become even more fun to build, he said. 

"Every year, our kids are super excited about it," Jeff explains. "As soon as there's snow, the kids are asking when the rink is coming in, so it's really fun to do for them."

The Scarcello backyard connects to a half dozen homes. About half of those households have children. Jeff says kids are always coming over to use the rink and they have plenty of skating parties with the neighbours.

And for those who don't skate, there's a firepit with benches and hay bales. 

Maintaining the outdoor rink has become a community effort. The Scarcello family stores the boards and braces over the summer. In the fall, their neighbours come over to help put everything together. Once it gets cold enough, they start running the water.

"This year, we ran the hose for 54 hours," Jeff Scarcello says. "The rink is 14 inches deep in one end and six to eight inches in the other." 

The cherry on top is the electronic scoreboard. When Scarcello first saw it on the online classified site Kijiji, he thought it was one metre by one-and-a-half metres. Little did he know it's actually about twice that size, and weighs 70 kilograms.

But Jeff says it's been a great addition because it lets the kids keep score during hockey games.

The response to the outdoor rink has been positive, as this North Kildonan community is tight-knit, he says. 

"We're fortunate to have lots of little friends over all of the time," Jeff says. "All of the kids have really gotten into it." 

The neighbours have even told him their kids are getting better at skating because of the rink. "It's easy to come here. You get your skates on, skate for 10 minutes, and then you go home," Jeff explains.

"You're not driving 20 minutes to find open rink time."

And will there be future expansions to the Scarcello family's rink?

"We're going to get through this year first," Jeff laughs. "We have everything pretty much set up for what we need."