I would like to nominate the Argyle Skating Rink and it’s board members for the ODR contest.  The board members are:

Lisa Riley, Kevin Riley, Sandy Jamault, Bert Jamault, Meghan Hennig, Jordan Hennig

These dedicated volunteers work hard to offer Argyle and surrounding areas, with some winter recreation and fun.  The rink provides a space to come together in a positive, safe and inclusive way.  Due to COVID restrictions the warm up shack is closed but this year the board created three bonfire areas to allow skaters and chauffeurs to keep warm during their visit to the rink.  Hundreds of volunteer hours have been poured into maintaining, managing and supervising the rink, snow removal, flooding, as well as many other duties.  Great job!

Tyler Bay Curling and Skating Rinks. For the past 5 years I have been building an outdoor curling rink in my backyard. I made the curling rocks myself out of salad bowls, cement and drawer pulls.

This year I build a 10’x50’ curling rink and my kids wanted a skating rink too so I added a 15’x30’ skating rink as well. We use them all the time. It’s so great to head to the back yard and throw rocks or do laps. It’s the highlight of our winter. 

Our rinks are always open to friends and family to play on. 

I would like to nominate the Outdoor Rink in Stonewall. 

This outdoor rink is very well used and finds itself in the middle of 2 indoor arenas. All ages are out there during any condition, using this well loved community treasure. 

I would like to nominate Stony Mountain Community Centre for their fantastic outdoor rink. This is a community, volunteer ran facility that has selflessly shown resiliency through the COVID-19 pandemic. This space is well loved and has high usage for residents. 

I'd like to nominate my neighbour Mitch Dion for the work he's put into a little neighbourhood rink the past couple years. We live across the street from a park in Riverview in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where there is greenspace. Last year, with uncertainty of whether the community centres would be able to put in ice owing to public health orders around the pandemic, he flooded a small patch of the park and kept it in good condition, providing a net and pucks, for folks in the neighbourhood to enjoy. This year, he has moved the rink down the block, but made it bigger and better with the help of another neighbour. The space is well used, especially by folks with younger kids new to skating. It can't be cheap to flood that space, and certainly takes a lot of time. Would be great to give them some recognition, if nothing else.

I would like to nominate the Ice Crew at Sir William Osler Rink in Winnipeg Manitoba.  This small South Winnipeg rink is completely organized by a group of volunteers, they do all of the maintenance in the summer (fixing of rink boards etc) and maintain the rink all winter.  They do this all manually not having a tractor or resurfacer, it is snow blowers and shovels.  This group has made this rink an amazing place for their community.  They have created an amazing outdoor space with a very welcoming atmosphere:  outdoor mini lights up as well as hay bales and a fire pit.  All of this run by volunteers with donations from the community. 

It is amazing to see such a dedicated group of volunteers giving back to their community.  Our community is lucky to have them and we thank them for all they do to keep our community active and engaged in the winter months with a free accessible outdoor space!

Here is a video from their Instagram account of the wonderful winter space created by this group!

I would like to Windsor Community Centre in the best ODR Contest.

Windsor CC is known as having the best outdoor ice in Winnipeg.

We usually have our ice in first in the fall, due to our very dedicated ice maker.

When he initially puts in the ice he is here from 3:00am till all times of the evening.

Our ODR is always cleaned and ready to go.  The countless hours clearing the snow But it's always ready for 4:00-10:00pm Monday-Friday and on the weekends 9:00am-10:00pm.

We have a great community with people very dedicated to skating (even after this cold snap, there was never a day Without someone skating on the rinks).  We have all of ages of people skating here, from our JackRabbits Skating Program, Skating B-Day Parties, Teams practicing here daily, Tournaments To the Winnipeg Jets coming here to skate.