Incredible backyard rink has ice-level bar, golf cart Zamboni (Photos)
It's the middle of winter, so backyard rinks are in full bloom. Many you see are of the no frills variety -- some wood acting as the boards and a fresh sheet of ice with hockey equipment littered on top.
But for Justin Lachapelle, a resident of St-Lazare, Quebec, he's taken his love for the Montreal Canadiens and his ability to build a backyard rink to an entirely different level.
Not only does his 64-by-32 rink have re-used boards from a local rink, painted lines and face-off circles to make it look like Bell Centre, there's also a dressing room and, most importantly, a rink-side bar for post-game pops:
Lachappelle told the Gazette that it took him eight years to build -- "Eight years of insanity" to be exact. It takes approximately 10 hours of maintenance for every hour of play, he said. Now that's commitment.
Lachapelle starts working on the rink as the temperature begins to drop, usually in November, waiting until the temperature is low enough to maintain a base layer of ice.
“You have to be pretty nuts. You have to look at the three-day weather forecast and get out there. If it’s 3 in the morning, you’ve got to get out there at 3 in the morning and water accordingly,” he said.
To help clean the ice in-between games, Lachapelle turned a golf cart into his own ice resurfacer, he is demonstrated in this video he created:
All that's left now is the Mystery, Alaska-style game against the real Montreal Canadiens.
- - - - - - -
is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
