Jets Official Backyard Rinks make for fun community hubs

Though Canada Life Centre is a gathering place for Winnipeg Jets fans on gamedays, there are many backyard rinks throughout the city where hockey-loving Winnipeggers congregate in between the team's home games.
These rinks may not be surrounded by 15,000 seats or feature on-ice projection, but you'll see the same passion for the game and community spirit on them as you would at the Jets' downtown home.
In recognition of that passion and community spirit, the Jets sought out to find the 12 best backyard rinks in and around Winnipeg. In total, 168 rinks were entered into the competition, with the following 12 rinks claiming bragging rights, along with official Winnipeg Jets game pucks, an autographed Jets jersey, Jets rink signage, and a visit from Mick E. Moose and the community promotions team.

The Jaman Family
This was the third year the Jaman family from Anola, Man. built a backyard rink, which included lights surrounding the surface and an adjacent dressing area. For them, the rink is always made with the purpose of getting to spend some quality family time together.

Harvard Gardens
The Harvard Gardens on Harvard Street in Winnipeg literally unites the neighbourhood by turning three separate front yards into one amazing rink. With under-ice lights, lines painted for hockey, ringette and curling, and even a slide running onto the rink, there's something for everyone from the community to enjoy.

The Riddell Family
The Riddell Family put together a true rural Manitoba backyard rink, complete with square straw bails as boards. Being out on the ODR didn't mean they had to miss a second of Jets game action as the rink was accompanied by a fire pit area with a TV.

The Stade Family
Backyard rinks are in the Stade family's blood. They installed a gravel pad and curb to hold water for winter rinks on their St. Adolphe lot before they even moved onto the property. Feeding off the ice-making knowledge of their father and utilizing a replica of his original copper pipe flooding machine that he created 35 years ago, they keep adding to the rink year after year.

The Unruh Family
This was only the second year the Unruh family had built a rink in their East St. Paul backyard, but their ODR looked truly professional. A rink with top-notch boards, lights, and even a Jets logo at centre ice provided the perfect place for the family with three kids under the age of 8 to learn how to skate and enjoy the outdoors with family and friends.

Moe's Rink
Moe's Rink in the Lafreniere's backyard in St. Pierre Jolys, Man. is where the family's five kids have learned to skate. With several other families living nearby, the beautiful and sizeable rink enveloped by trees on all sides is a hub for outdoor fun in the winter.

Duncan Gardens
Taking up an area nearly the size of an NHL rink and receiving 30 hot-water floods each winter from volunteer ice managers, it's a wonder the Duncan Gardens in La Salle, Man. hasn't hosted an outdoor NHL game. Dozens of kids from the neighourhood make use of the rink day and night in the winter, and it even served as a training facility for several professional and junior players for the 2020-21 season when indoor ice was hard to find.

The Azaransky Rink
Many community hockey rinks are affectionately referred to as "barns", but the Azaransky Rink in West St. Paul truly deserves the moniker. The 40-foot by 80-foot ice surface is surrounded by boards made of wood salvaged from an old horse barn that was scheduled to be demolished, and the Azaransky family has breathed new life into them with steady action on the rink from their kids, friends, and neighbours.

The Baunemann Family
The Baunemann family has turned their Winnipeg backyard into a hockey haven with their ODR. Though it's been a place for fun and games, the custom-made scoreboard, mini-Stanley Cup replica, and seating for spectators around a firepit that borders the rink have made it a place for friendly competition too.

The Rauch Family
This isn't the first year the Rauch's have built a rink in their backyard in Winnipeg, but each year brings a new surprise for their hockey-loving boys. This year was in-ice lighting, creating illuminated red and blue lines and a centre face-off circle. With lights hanging around the perimeter of the surface, the rink was fit for action well past dark for friends and family.

BUDdy Light Lounge
Placed amid a tree-lined clearing on their yard, the BUDdy Light Lounge built by the Beaudette family in Lorette, Man. is a truly beautiful rink. Though stunning during the day, with lights hanging above and in-ice red and blue line lights, the rink truly glows at night.

The Reyher's Rink
For the Reyher family in East St. Paul, hockey is more than a sport - it's an opportunity for teammates and friends to truly become a community. The family has also made their ODR into much more than the average backyard rink. Lined with professional boards, glass at both ends of the rink, and tall lampposts, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you're at your local community centre and not someone's homemade ice surface.