Outdoor Rink
Our outdoor rink is free to use and our lights are turned off at 10:00pm every night.
The Silver Springs Community Centre Outdoor Rinks consist of a complex of four rinks of various sizes intended to match the skill and skating interests of most outdoor skating enthusiasts. They are located on the Community Centre grounds, on the east side of the building. With almost 50 years of history, the rinks have grown with the community to keep up with growth and demands of the outdoor skating public. The four rinks are cleaned and flooded daily on regular maintenance schedule by 7 teams of volunteers. Weather permitting, they rinks are normally open from ~ Nov 15th to ~March 15th and have night time lighting on until 11 pm. Benches and picnic tables are provided to change skates and a port-a-pot is on site during the skating season.
In the summer the rinks’ asphalt bases serve for basketball, pickleball and badminton courts as well as lacrosse and ground hockey venues.
History
First built in 1975 with no hockey boards, the rinks have evolved into the four ice surfaces, including a designated hockey rink which was dedicated to Canadian National and Olympic Hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser in 2007. As an adolescent, Hayley lived in Silver Springs and spent many hours at this rink. Throughout the 1980’s and early ‘90s, The City of Calgary supported the outdoor rinks, providing portable hockey boards and loam (for rink construction), then in 1996, the SSCA received grants to build the hockey rink. In 2001, the plywood boards were upgraded to puck boards, and over the ensuing years, other rink and equipment upgrades have been made possible by donations and grant funding from both the City of Calgary, and the Alberta Provincial Government.
Volunteers
A dedicated group of 45+ volunteers build and maintain the four ice surfaces each year, without them our well-loved rinks could not be possible. If you would like to join this wonderful group, please contact the SSCA office at: administration@silverspringscommunity.ca.
