Pond Hockey in Detroit

**Jonfen** · January-03-14, 11:15 AM

With the extremely cold weather we're dealing with these days, it seems like the perfect time to play some pond hockey. Does anyone have an experience with this/recommendations on good spots within the city?

**belleislerunner** · January-03-14, 11:20 AM

Clark Park in Mexicantown is a good bet.

They just announced plans in concert with the NHL/Winter Classic to do a complete makeover of that rink, complete with a free zamboni, other upgrades.

If we get a few solid weeks of single digit nights, and no days above 32, [[which looks possible), the canals on Belle Isle will freeze and those make for fun pick up spots.

http://blog.clarkparkdetroit.com/?p=298

**TKshreve** · January-03-14, 11:28 AM

When it's cold..... really cold, the puck moves rather swiftly on the frozen ice. Careful though..... cracks and thin ice can be a disaster waiting to happen.

**Jonfen** · January-03-14, 12:02 PM

Clark Park is a good idea, although I can't seem to find a schedule online for when they have drop-in and I know that a lot of the time the rink is reserved for youth programs.

I'm nervous about cracks/etc, which is why I'm wary to just pick a random body of water and go for it. I've heard of people playing on/around Belle Isle, but I'm not sure which spots are ideal...

**EastsideAl** · January-03-14, 12:23 PM

When I was a kid [['60s-'70s) we played hockey, even peewee league hockey, on the canal ice on the south side of Belle Isle. It froze solid enough every winter for hundreds of people to skate on it nearly every day for at least 2-3 months.

After all, there's a reason why there's a [[now sadly vacant) "skating pavilion" built there. The pavilion had long heavy wooden benches for putting on skates, and would be full of people of all ages drinking hot chocolate and warm Vernors. There were even lights for night skating [[the towers are still standing on the islands there). Alas, I guess global warming has ended that scene for good.

I also remember playing on an actual outdoor hockey rink that was in Gallagher Park, which was near Kercheval and St. Jean, where Chrysler's berms and parking lots are today. And, with some Grosse Pointe relatives, skating on a big patch of ice on Lake St. Clair that the GP parks dept. used to clear every year. Which is also now another casualty our warmer times, I suppose.

**Hamtragedy** · January-03-14, 02:04 PM

Second on the the canals of Belle Isle near the Bell-Tower and the Skating pavillion [[you'll know it's the pavillion as steps hang out over the water, despite it being closed). Often the wind blows most of the snow off of the ice there. It should be really thick by now, since we've been in a fairly deep freeze since early December. If you see horse tracks on the ice [[in the snow), it means the DPD have been taking the horses out.

You can skate under the tunnels [[overpasses) by the Conservatory all the way back towards the Casino. We've lost hundreds of pucks on those islands [[Puck Island).

If you have kids, buy two of those plastic sleds and put them together, that way the rope will have double reinforcement. I was out there about 5 years ago, and a father and his kids drove up on us as I was pulling one of the chickadees in the sled. The little kids asked to go for a ride. After pulling them both, and getting the sled to slide on its end and the kids holding on for dear life, the father wanted to go. He had the ride of his life.

**401don** · January-03-14, 03:23 PM

I grew up in a small southern Ontario town. We used to love to play on irrigation ponds because the still water made great ice but it made parents nervous because they're so deep. A great alternative is just to look for ice in low level areas of open fields of which Detroit, sadly, has many.

**Dan Wesson** · January-03-14, 03:30 PM

Not pond hockey ceptin maybe in our own backyard.

But we did play a mean game of League Floor Hockey at the Kosciuszko School gym in Hamtramck.

**downtownguy** · January-04-14, 02:04 PM

Does playing in the basement of the abandoned DPS Book Depository qualify as "pond hockey?"

**Downriviera** · January-04-14, 02:54 PM

Lower Huron Metro Park in Belleville has 2 connected ponds, one for hockey the other for just skating. They have a couple of wood nets and they keep the ice groomed really well. Theres a fire pit with a couple of benches for lacing up. The pond is in a deep valley so almost no wind. Its one of the most picturesque places I've ever played. No alcohol, but with a flask of Wild Turkey 101, a wooden stick and a couple of road apples your in hockey heaven.

**detroitsgwenivere** · January-04-14, 04:13 PM

We used to play pick up in the ditches that run along the train tracks by Mound and 7 mile as kids. They weren't very deep but spread out wide enough to drag a net over and have at it. Coincidentally, my boyfriend says he played on the ice in the ditches running along the tracks by the fairgrounds when he was a kid, and during the summer would crayfish and tadpoles there too.

**ontheblvd** · January-04-14, 06:58 PM

The Clark Park calendar is posted on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clark...01102199902919

There is drop-in/pick-up hockey for adults on certain days. You may want to call ahead to check on the schedule. Sometimes special events are scheduled that overlap with the regular schedule.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · January-04-14, 07:19 PM

I mentioned in a post ages ago that I think it would be cool to build a really long rink in the Dequindre Cut, with room for hockey and free skating at the same time. Although I don't mind winter, I would not be skating in this below zero weather...

**Hardhat** · January-04-14, 07:47 PM

Back in the 1970s I learned to skate [[poorly) atop the pond next to the Activities Building at Patton Park. We even had a few pickup games of hockey there. Winters were so much colder then, just like this one. We never worried about falling through. I believe the pond is long gone, dried up and replaced by a pumping station.

**DetroitPlanner** · January-04-14, 09:39 PM

When I was a kid Rouge Park had a huge winter sports complex behind the Horse Stables. This included a toboggan hill, a warming shelter, and a huge ice skating area that seemed to be acres, but was probably much smaller.

A couple of years my brother built a rink in our relatively tiny backyard. Around the corner the family that lived on the end would build up the edges of an empty lot next to them and flood the entire thing. It seemed huge, but was probably no wider than 20 feet or longer than 80 foot.

Most of this is now gone. I have recently seen a pond in Hines Park W of Inkster though.

**mikefmich** · January-05-14, 04:54 AM

Ditto on the ice at Belle Isle for playing hockey.

Also, we frequented a field pond where the parking lot stood for Bishop Gallahger HS in later years. Before the HS went up, it was a field that frequently had enough frozen standing water to skate on.

**Bluenote132003** · January-06-14, 08:08 AM

Balduck and Cannon rec center both opened hydrants to form rinks. Balduck had the warming rooms to go along with the sledding, and would flood a low area just off the parking lot for skating. Cannon would flood the practice football field on the rec center side...we kids used to keep the snow off and have pickup games there...