Who has Saskatchewan’s coldest rink?

It all started during a provincial game in Edam.

Coming off the ice, hands and feet were frozen, and there were warnings from others during the deep freeze of February that Edam’s rink was, in fact, the coldest rink in the province. It didn’t seem too bad at first, even though it was cold on the ice, there was always going to be a ‘colder’ rink, and knowing that it could always be worse in a cold, small town rink in Saskatchewan.

Through the cold, I posted a tweet, which garnered much attention: “Who has the coldest rink in Saskatchewan?”

Tons of responses followed, with towns from across the province vying for the honour.

I posed the question on Twitter, and started a series of polls. Three rounds and over 1,200 votes later, it is down to two.

Edam and Annaheim garnered the most votes, knocking out Montmarte and Ituna in the final four.

The two towns combined have a population slightly below 700.

Annaheim’s rink was built in 1974, and the tin roof and crack in the back door creates its own polar vortex in the sense that you can have a windchill on its ice surface. Edam, on the other hand, has experienced a fire, a rebuild, and a twinning. Despite that, management was able to secure the base of the original ice surface when it was built back in 1967.

The year 1967 became a base-line when researching some of the nominated rinks. It seems the coldest rinks were built within the centennial year in the province, and old airplane hangars that were moved over coincided with the chilliness of most of the rinks put up to the test.

Chris Braun from Annaheim’s Recreation Board first stepped onto the ice back in 1983. He has fond recollections of how cold it was, but he said it seemed normal.

“It was the rink, so I mean it was cold, sure, but it was winter, so everything was cold,” he said. “I (remember) when we were kids, we weren’t allowed to wear hockey gloves, we needed to wear our Ski-Doo mitts, it was that cold.”

Growing up in small-town arenas, there was a sense of survival when it came to long weekend tournaments or late-night rec matches. Braun said as they grew, they adapted. Replacing those Ski-Doo mitts with standard hockey gloves, it made it a bit easier, but it was the little tricks they learned along the way to keep warm and keep playing the game they loved.

“I remember kids around laying on the floor up with their feet on the bench,” Braun said. “(They were) trying to dethaw their toes.”

The sense of community pride doesn’t just stop when you hit the town limits. Braun said Annaheim and area residents came together to vote for the coldest rink because they know how cold it gets.

“Everyone’s played in this rink,” he said. “They know it’s cold. Guys from Lake Lenore, Meunster, Humboldt, Naicam, they’re all voting too.”

“It was the rink, so I mean it was cold, sure, but it was winter, so everything was cold, I (remember) when we were kids, we weren’t allowed to wear hockey gloves, we needed to wear our Ski-Doo mitts, it was that cold.” –_{Chris Braun on Annaheim’s Rink}

The village of Edam’s hockey program continues to run today. The village seems to orbit around the arena, which doubles as a curling rink.

Darcy Poole, the president of Edam’s rink board, said he’s been in and around the arena his entire life.

“It’s cold, (if) you’re sitting on that bench, you get that wind blowing through the side doors, you better hope you have your long johns on,” he said. “I’ve been to a lot of rinks, and it’s one of the coldest.”

Poole coaches, and said he saw many kids come in frozen after shifts or periods. Regardless, he knows the people of Edam have a strong sense of pride in their rink.

They still ice minor and senior hockey in Edam, and their ‘Three Stars’ always seem to be competitive, regardless of how many they have iced for any particular game. When asked if Poole had a message to the village of Annaheim, he was modest in thinking about the finalist that they’re squared up against.

“I haven’t been to Annaheim’s rink before. Maybe one day we’ll play them, and we will see whose rink is colder,” he said.

On the other side, Annaheim’s message supplied by Braun was a little different. He truly believes that the village will be victorious, and wanted to thank Edam for “doing well being the runner up.”

“I feel sorry for Edam, there’s no way they’re going to win this,” he said. “There is no doubt that we have the coldest rink in Saskatchewan.”

From now until Thursday, March 1 at noon, you can vote here or on Twitter at @BradyLangBFN.

The votes will be tallied, and on March 2, we will reveal the winner.

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brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangBFN