A construction project that yielded serious results

MONTREAL - If hockey moms are the best moms, then surely it follows that hockey dads really are the best dads, of course. Jake Evans' father, Wayne, is no exception.

When the recent University of Notre Dame grad and Canadiens prospect was just 12 or 13 years old, he asked his dad for a rather unique Christmas present.
"It was getting close to the holidays, and one day we were driving in the car and I just said - "Dad, I don't need any gifts. If you could build a hockey rink in the basement or just a place to shoot pucks, that would be amazing!" recalled the 22-year-old forward, who wrapped up his NCAA career in early April.
After consulting with his wife, Marilyn, Mr. Evans obliged, and it wasn't long before construction began in the family's 1,500 square foot basement at their home in Etobicoke, ON.
"One of my buddies is a contractor, so I called him. It took two days to put together," mentioned Mr. Evans, who believes his son got the idea for the indoor rink from his cousins - Michael and Patrick Kennedy - both of whom played collegiately at Cornell University and had a shooting range of their own. "It's about 20 feet by 15 feet with two full-sized nets down there. There's full goalie equipment. We have four devices that fire the puck back at you. You send the puck in and it typically comes back harder than you sent it in."

The build itself involved plenty of raw materials.
"We use rink boards on the floors and we use ¾ inch plywood on the walls. We also have the electrical outlets covered up with wood and all the windows are covered with plexiglass. We also put plywood on the ceiling and wire mesh over the top of the lights," detailed Mr. Evans. "Basically, you can't skate on it, but you can go on there and shoot pucks and not worry about breaking anything."
It was on this rink, according to Mr. Evans, that his son's competitive spirit was on full display.
"We used to play ball hockey down in the basement. If I beat him, he was just so mad. He would come up and grab me and say - "We're playing again!" Then, it got to the point where he would give me two goals for every goal he had to score," shared Mr. Evans with a laugh. "The last time we played, which was about a year ago, he gave me five goals for every goal he scored. That was fun, but I'm 61 now."

Jake's competitive nature is one of many things Wayne admires about the talented centerman. His raw skills aren't too shabby, either.
"He sees the ice so well. He's just like his mother, he's got eyes in the back of his head. He can see things on the ice that I can never see," praised Mr. Evans. "He's also got a fifth gear. Most people have a fourth gear, but he can find that extra gear when he needs it. He has the ability to just turn it up. That goes back to the basement, he would just not want to lose. He's not used to losing."
And to this day, the Evans fondly recalls his time spent training and horsing around with his friends down there.
"When I was younger, I used to get all these guys down there are we'd have some games," he concluded. "That place has been very fun and very special to me."