Hamilton street to be transformed into permanent hockey rink

By the time the Victoria Day long weekend rolls around, the City of Hamilton will have transformed a section ofRoxboroughAvenue into a fully functioningball hockey rink.

The section of streetbetween Graham Avenue North and Province Street Northhas been closed to traffic since 2014, linking the parking lot at Queen Mary School to Honourable Bob Mackenzie Park. But the 80 metre striphas largely remained empty since then.

By mid-May, coloured lines will be painted ontothe roadand an eight-foot-high temporary chain link fence will be erected. According to design plans posted on the city's website, the rink will be 11m by 34m in size, roughly a quarter of the sizeof a standardNHL-sizedhockey rink.

The temporary rink is expected to remain upuntil a permanent rink can be built in its place. A consultant has already been hired by the city to design thefacility, which is expected to have the ability to convert from aball hockey zonein the summer to an ice hockey pad in the winter.

The idea to transform the street into a permanentstreet hockey/ice hockey venuecame from Ward 4councillorSamMerulla.

"This puts a whole new spin on 'take back the street,'" he said in a phone interview on Sunday. He called this project the first of its kind in Canada taking a permanenthockey rink and building it in the middle of a city street.

"The area itself is going through a significant renaissance," he said. The projectis part of a push from the city to "incorporate more pedestrian, cycling and activity-based capital expenditures."

He said growing up in Hamilton, he was an active street hockey player. "That's all we did," he said.

"When I was a kid, I would have probably been out there 24-7... had we had an opportunity to have such a rink ourselves."

Encouraging an active lifestyle

"This particular development, I think, will tie into really trying to encourage kids to become more active," he said.

When it's constructed, he said he hopes to seeboth children and adults using the facility. He said he'll be out there for sure.

Bob Penner and a small group were playing ball hockey in the parking lot of Queen Mary School on Sunday afternoon. He said he's excited for the new rink to be built.

"That is a smart idea," he said about the construction of the rink. It will help the neighbourhood by encouraging more foot traffic and keeping the area safe from crime. It will also give younger people something to do, he said.

"What do kids have to do here now, seriously?"

Penner, 55, said he and a dozen or so friends and their children have come together inthe school parking lot every Sunday for the past few years to playa game of ball hockey. When the temporary rink is built, he said the group will relocate there.

The boards will help keep them from chasing the ball down the street, he said, and pointing to a wide ledge at the schools entrance, he said "we've lost quite a few balls up there."