Looking to get outside or just get active this winter? There are many choices in the City of Calgary for both leisure skating & shinny hockey with both indoor and outdoor options available.
What kind of ice-skater are you?
Are you looking to do some skating for fun without a hockey stick and puck? There are many popular places to skate with friends and family. This list is also kid-friendly so bring the whole family for the holidays! Keep in mind the weather is getting cold but some of these skating rinks may not be fully open yet so make sure you call in advance for the latest information.
The City of Calgary maintains a list of city-run rinks you can check out. The following list includes some of our favourites here at the clinic. Make sure to read the entire post for the Brentwood Physiotherapy safety tips for ice-related sports! So without further ado, here is our top 6 places to skate in Calgary:
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Bowness Lagoon Skating Area
This rink has quite a large area of ice and is a lot of fun to skate around the different canals, under bridges etc. They also have a set of propane fireplaces to warm up near the ice. This rink usually takes longer to freeze as it is an actual pond fed by the Bow River. We have not been there yet this year so plan ahead and make sure the ice is completely frozen. The rink can be accessed by a service road off of 48th Avenue. Find the location here:
Bowness Lagoon does not allow hockey sticks or pucks on the ice so if you are looking to play hockey read further down this list. Skate rentals are available here if you do not own your own pair of skates.
2. Olympic Plaza Skating in Downtown Calgary
The Olympic Plaza is a very nice rink with great views of the Calgary tower and other downtown buildings. There is a zamboni that resurfaces the rink so the ice is very good quality. Given its location right beside city hall and the city hall train station it is easily accessible and central.
Rentals available? Yes.
Hockey allowed? No.
3. U of C Olympic Oval Indoor Rink
Have you ever had a chance to skate at the Olympic oval? It is quite large at 400m all the way around. The long track world speed skating events are held here and was used for the 1989 Winter Olympics. A fun way to spend a day especially if the weather is extremely cold. If you go to the oval keep in mind that helmets are now required. Admission is $7 for adults, otherwise, Monday nights only cost a Toonie with a donation to the food bank! For more information on Olympic Oval events, schedules and prices check out the Calgary Olympic Oval
Skate rentals? Yes.
Helmet Required? Yes.
Hockey allowed? No.
4. Triwood Community Association Outdoor skating Rinks
Shinny hockey players unite! This rink in NW Calgary is perfect for a pickup game of hockey or even a leisure skate if there is not a game going on. Bring your hockey stick, gloves and puck to this great location. Right beside the Triwood indoor arena, this outdoor rink is routinely flooded and has netting to save your pucks from getting too far. Just be sure not to park too close to the rink, just in case 😉
Find the outdoor rink right here in Google Maps right beside the Triwood Community Association in the nearby baseball diamond.
Hockey allowed? Yes.
Skate rentals? No.
Boards and net? Yes.
5. Edelweiss Preparatory School Skating rink
Edelweiss Preparatory School is located in the quiet residential neighbourhood of Cambrian Heights, situated at 600 Northmount Dr. N.W. The playing fields in the winter time are flooded and well maintained as a skating rink. It is well lit with flood lights to make it safe.
6. Midnapore Lake
If you live in south Calgary there is a fantastic skating area on Midnapore lake, the only caveat is that you need to be with someone who lives in the area to access the facilities. You may be able to book for events by calling 403-256-0550.
On the lake, they have hockey rinks setup as well as a cleared skating path that goes around the lake. There is also a dedicated “skating only” area for those leisure skaters. All the rinks are surfaced by a zamboni or by hand. A great area for skating in the south of Calgary!
Top 6 Skating Rinks in Calgary
These are our top 6 list for rinks to visit in Calgary. There are many more amazing locations and we encourage you to share them with us on social media? Where do you like to go skating or play hockey? There are really too many rinks to list here so find a rink near your house and get out and be active.
Stay safe while on the rink
First of all, we encourage you to wear a helmet while skating. It’s good to protect the old ‘noggin! Better safe than sorry, especially for younger children. We have compiled a list of things to do to stay safe while playing shinny hockey or leisure skating
- Equipment: We already mentioned a helmet; you may want to consider a full face helmet to protect the face, shin pads, elbow pads, shoulder pads and other equipment especially when pucks and hockey sticks are involved.
- Warm up: Make sure your legs and back are properly warmed up before skating too hard. So take a few easy laps around the rink and do a few stretches. With the cold weather, you want to warm up those muscles before putting them to the test.
- Skating involves pushing out with the legs which engages the groin muscles (especially for intermediate to advanced skaters). During your warm up make sure to sufficiently warm up your legs and groin muscles.
- The most common skating injuries are groin or hip flexor strains due to inadequate warm-ups, overstretching inflexible muscles during a sprint, reaching for the puck and poor skating techniques
- Other injuries involve contusions/lacerations from puck strikes to the body, shoulder strains when taking a hit on the boards and concussions especially from illegal hits from behind.
- To stay safe on the ice when playing hockey, play safe, and be respectful.
The City of Calgary also has an adopt-a-rink program where various ice surfaces are flooded and maintained by people in the community. The City of Calgary runs the program and describes it as “a fun, simple and social program that gives people the opportunity to get together with friends and neighbours to help keep local skating rinks flooded, looking clean and well cared for.”
The following list does not include rinks run by community associations and other organizations. Find out more here and find a rink near you in all quadrants of the city:
https://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Pages/Volunteer/Adopt-a-rink-program.aspx
Thanks for reading our post and share your photos of yourself skating this winter! Use the following hashtags and we will repost!
#brentwoodphysio
#yycwinter
