Kingsbridge Armory

North America’s largest indoor winter sports facility is coming to the Bronx!  In case you missed the news, Mayor Bloomberg and his cohorts announced Kingsbridge Armory will be converted in sports facility housing 9 ice rinks, 1 of which will have also have a 5,000 seat arena.  I had heard about this project last year when the Rangers and Mark Messier became attached to it, but by no means did I think it would get the green light.  Seriously, like Jagr once said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “hockey in New York is the fifth, or maybe sixth, popular sport, right behind golf.”  Well come 2018, when the project is expected to be complete, the Bronx to become a hotbed for all hockey activity in New York City.

Read more about the rink: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/kingsbridge-armory-house-world-largest-ice-skating-center-article-1.1326481

Van Cortlandt Park Ice Rink

This past winter a new ice rink opened its doors in the Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park.  Previously it was the only borough in the city lacking a rink.  Not only that, but the rink was outdoors!  I heard it about it thanks to the news and facebook, since it’s operated by the same company which does World Ice Arena and City Ice Pavilion.  Typically I don’t head up to the Bronx much, but thanks to a good friend of mine, big Steve G, I had an excuse to go visit regularly this past winter.

Previously Steve and I played outdoors in the winter at Lasker Rink in Central Park.  Due to circumstances, we ended up both not registering there this season.  During the holidays Steve shot me a message to take a visit up north at Van Cortlandt’s new rink for pond hockey.  It turns out this was the same neighborhood he grew up in.  Next thing you know it was Thursday night and after a quick 22 minute drive from North Flushing, I made it to the rink.

Parking at the rink is really simple thanks to the metered parking on the street right next to it.  Because of the meters which are in effect until 10pm, there’s ample spaces available to jump right out and into the facility.  The facility is an outdoor rink built atop fenced in tennis courts.  Next to it is a building, which appears to be temporary for the winter.  There’s no locker rooms, although there are bathrooms in a separate temporary building which you walk outside to get to.  But it’s not really an issue because the place is pretty much dead around the time pond hockey starts.  On average we would only have about 4 skaters every Thursday, so it wasn’t a big deal changing in front of 3 other dudes doing the same thing.

The rink itself is a bit different.  There are literally only boards, no glass.  Because of this you were advised to keep your shots low.  There are no goalies either for pond hockey.  Instead you shoot on mini-goals, like the ones  used in knee hockey, albeit made of metal.  Early in the season I did want to work on raising the puck with a new SE16 stick Ray had given me.  I went to one end of the ice and swung the puck up high.  It really looked like it was going to sail straight out of the rink and right into the glass window of the building, but thankfully I didn’t have enough on it to go that far.  Whew.  Although the last night we went there I did ring one off the crossbar, but thankfully this was on the other end of the ice and the puck just went over the chain-link fence into the park.

It wasn’t packed since the rink is in its first season.  We did however get to meet a rotating cast of players who would show up every week as Steve and I were typically the only regulars.  The small amount of players made the games casual and fun, and best yet you really felt like you were out there on the ice alone on a lonely cold winter night.  Not only do you get ample time with the puck, but it really gave you a lot of ice time to work on things, such as I did to practice hockey stops on my offside foot.  I started off very awkward, but by the end of the season I had finally gotten the muscle memory down.

There’s really no better way to experience ice hockey than outdoors in the winter in a park.  It’s why I liked playing as Lasker Rink so much, and it holds true at Van Cortlandt as well.  In fact Van Cortlandt beats out Lasker, because it’s also located right next to the street under the shadow of the elevated 1 train.  On one side you get views of darkened outlines of trees, while on the other you get sounds from the train rolling into the station and applying air brakes.  Very uniquely New York.

Playing out there with Steve was a pleasure.  We were able to play 2 on 2, do drills, joke around on the ice, and then head out for a few beers a Riverdale Diner down the road.  A true hockey winter experience.  The rink closed up shop for the season last month, but I’m looking forward to seeing it again next year.  I did bring my helmet camera one night, which you can see the highlights below:

Skating Dead Jerseys

Originally written last October.  Forgot to hit post. ;-)

It was a complete bitch to make, but after over a month in development, the team jerseys finally came in.  I’m probably biased, but I think they’re really sweet looking.  The logo is 100% original, and I specifically designed it as a simple single color stencil for the jersey.  I kept our original green/white color scheme as well.

Putting together the logo was a real pain in the ass.  I won’t go over every pain staking detail, but converting the small tiny logo I had made last spring into something that could full on be printed in huge size on a jersey was hard.  Had to learn a bunch of stuff in Photoshop and Illustrator.  In late August I made a first attempt at a logo and printed it on a t-shirt celebrating our championship from last season.  After that I made a bunch more tweak to get to the final design.

For the actual jersey printing I went with Hockey Tron.  They had both the jersey color I was looking for, kelly green, and they could screen print the jerseys for us too.  It broke down to $28 for the jersey, logo, name, and number.  Pretty good deal.  I did try to go with Hockey Giant, Hockey Monkey, and even a local store; but they all either never got back to me or took way too long to answer questions.  Hockey Tron did a great job at responding immediately, putting all the info on their website, and making it really easy to place the order online.  They did forget to send me one extra blank, but quickly responded back and are sending me a replacement already.

Initially I was weary of their jersey quality as I had never seen one before.   I only even thought about getting Hockey Tron jerseys because someone on the SAS forum Hockey Players thread posted a little info about them as their rink used them for house leagues.  When I got the jerseys I was worried they might be too thin, but it’s actually really great as it makes them very breathable.  The shoulders are double-layered for extra strength, but then rest is kept light.  They still feel high quality and strong though.  Overall a great buy.

We may not be a pro team, but at least we now had a pro look.   If you want to join our fan club, you can also buy this as a t-shirt: http://www.redbubble.com/people/loqieu/works/9406304-skating-dead-hockey-club

The Skating Dead, Season 3

The Skating Dead arrive for Season 3 at World Ice Arena tonight at 10pm!  Talk about life after death.  As recently as 3 weeks ago I thought this team was going to have to take a season off.  But after showing up for the free try out skate, we found enough people to make it work.  After a frantic month of trying to put the team together, it all comes to fruition tonight when we face-off against Local 3.

This season should be very exciting as not only have we ordered custom jerseys like a real team, which hopefully should arrive in 2 weeks, but also because a bunch of teams from Midnight Hockey are joining in.  Add them to the 3 house teams from World Ice and we’ve got the makings of a legit league, finally.

Skate Mate

The last time I paid to have my skates sharpened was 2 years ago.  I went to DePhilip’s on Francis Lewis in Bayside and paid $10.  They didn’t bother to ask what hollow I wanted.  Most likely they have no idea what a hollow is.  Ever since then I’ve found it more economical, and consistent, to sharpen my own skates by hand.  I can do it whenever I want, and try to keep it about the same level.

I use the Skate Mate skate sharpener to keep my edges clean.  This is one of the few hockey related purchases I made at a Modell’s.  I would say 95% of Modell’s don’t have any hockey related equipment.  For whatever reason one of them had this way back in 2009, and I decided to pick it up on a whim.  It’s pretty simple to use.  You expand out the sharpener to fit over the blade, tighten it to just where you can freely move it, and then push it back and forth against the blade for about 3-5 minutes while applying little pressure.

The Skate Mate

It won’t get you the sharpest edges, but it will keep them sharp.  For me personally, I would prefer to keep a clean edge consistently, rather than have something extremely sharp for a few games and slowly degrade.  This way it’s easier to balance on the ice every week when you have the same edges, and you always know how hard to dig in for stops.  On average I sharpen my skates about every 6-10 games, mostly out of laziness.  Otherwise I would keep it to 4-6 as a happy medium.

The reason it works for all types of skate hollows, supposedly, is because the SkateMate cylinder which does the sharpening is cardboard coated with a ceramic abrasive material.  According to the marketing material, it’s better than the competition which primarily use whetstones instead.  The ceramic material wears down as you use it, but you simply shift the cylinder over a little, or can buy replacements should you wear it down completely.

One technique I like to use to ensure I sharpen enough is first color the bottom of my blade with a marker.  After that, perform the sharpening steps with the Skate Mate until all spots of the marker have disappeared.  Sometimes a little streak can still remain which you otherwise wouldn’t see, which is why you need to slowly wait for it to wear down during the sharpening.  Also I’m not picky, so even if a little streak is there, it’s good enough for me as long as the edge is still sharp.

My only qualms with the Skate Mate is sometimes the fasteners used to tighten or widen the blade holder get stuck.  I’ve had to use pliers to get them loose enough to use my fingers.  Also the Skate Mate also has two flat ceramic abrasive pads on the bottom, which are to be used to debur the edges causing by sharpening.  Unfortunately there are no replacements included in any of the kits, so once those wear down you’re out of luck.  But for me deburring isn’t a big deal, and I don’t bother wasting time on it anyway.

Overall I rate this product an A.  It keeps your edges sharp, although isn’t a replacement for professional sharpening.  Definitely worth keeping in your hockey bag just in case.

Waxed Laces

Do yourself a favor, and buy a set of waxed laces.  It wasn’t until last Fall where I switched over thanks to Ray buying me a pair, but it’s a huge world of difference.  As soon as I got them, I knew I need it on all my skates.  Your skates become easier and quicker to tie, the laces won’t bite your hand anymore because of the fabric, you’ll be able to easily get the laces in tight (and probably too tight), and they’re barely more expensive than a regular pair.  It will also allow you be to an egregious attention whore like myself by getting them in the glaring neon colors available.

City Ice Pavilion @ Long Island City

Located in Queens on the roof of a Sleepy’s Mattress store is City Ice Pavilion.  Even though you’re across the street from a prison and right in the middle of a warehouse district, the location is pretty central to the city.  The rink is right off the LIE one exit from Manhattan, and two blocks from the 7 train.  For any New York hockey player, this is probably the second most popular rink, right behind Chelsea Piers.

The rink is very unique.  You may have noticed I said it’s located on the roof.  But it’s not outdoors.  It’s actually situated in a bubble, the same as what tennis courts use in the winter to stay open.  With all this considering, they still have decent lighting and netting hanging from the ceiling, but things can get a little dicey with high winds and precipitation.  There are times the weather causes the rink to close as a precaution.

Inside the bubble

In addition to this the ice quality is somewhere between a C+ or a B-.  This may be due to the constant use of the ice surface due to all the programming, the compressor size since it’s on a roof, or the warmer temperature found inside the bubble during certain times of the year.  But if you get used to the bouncing puck, then you’ll be able to skate fine.  Although the wait time during surfacing can be quite considerable since occasionally you have to wait for it to dry.

One interesting thing is the rink stays open almost all year, with only 1 or 2 week breaks.  But like I said, the constant programming might also add to the wear on the ice.  The silver lining is not only is the surface full NHL regulation size, but they also have a mini-rink in the back which you can rent for $10.  There are also a decent amount of bleachers available around the rink should you have an audience as well.

Only the rink is on the roof though.  The second level of the warehouse consists of a pro-shop, offices, lockers, and other random stuff.  This means you need to take an elevator or stairs to go between the rink and locker room.  The wait is not bad at all though, especially during late night games.  But the elevator can smell, although no worse than the locker will.  One the bottom floor is the a parking garage, and there is also ample street parking for the late night league games since it’s a warehouse area.

One thing this rink does very well is organization.  The rink constantly updates scores, reminds you about upcoming schedules, locks the locker room during games, tells you how long you can stay in the locker to drink beer, and even puts your team logo on the locker room door to know which room you have.  The price of the rink is also the cheapest in the city for ice hockey.  And with an ample pool of players, there are enough teams and divisions to make play equal.

If you’re an open hockey player, then times are about the same as all the other rinks.  During the week open hockey is scheduled for the lunch hour.  On Friday and Saturday nights you can find it from 10pm-11:50pm.  Price is $25 to skate.

Overall I would give this rink a B+ and recommend it to anyone looking to play.

City Ice Pavilion
47-32 32nd Place Long Island City, NY 11101