This winter has been a bit of a bust for snow sports, and the lack of snow followed by warm spells has meant that it hasn’t been easy to make the traditional outdoor skating rink. If temperatures exceed 32 degrees, which they have been doing, the backyard ice rink is likely to become the backyard pond.
Now Wayne “Iceman” Doughty is looking at creating a rink that could still stay frozen when the temperature outside is 45 to 50 degrees. But this is no mere “build it and they will come” field – make that ice rink – of dreams, nor is his notion just a frozen pipe dream. The Ferrum, Penn. Resident knows a thing or two about ice, and while maybe not in his veins, it is his business. He runs a cooling, refrigeration and heating business and has created a rink that can freeze water pumped into the rink via a heat pump. His current backyard rink looks a bit like a pool, but is about 12 inches deep.
And while he might not have ice flowing through the veins, it appears hockey is in his and his son’s blood. The rink is still a work in progress, but chances are when it is finished he might have a new business where people will come to have him built it!
[Via The Franklin News Post: ‘Iceman’ builds ice hockey rink at his home]