Minnesota Rink Mom

 Dave Torrey Rink: 🧊🧊 Ritsche Rink: 🧊🧊 These are both fairly comfortable rink to sit in. They both have bench seating. Bathrooms are very nice and they have a nice concession stand. I don't get to this arena as often as the other 3 in my area but I do like the comfort level for watching my hockey players. The Dave Torrey Rink is the home of the St. Cloud Norsemen. www.stcloudnorsemen.com   #hockeymomlife

 🧊🧊🧊🧊 Where to start with this rink...for starter, they are on the wrong side of the river but can we talk about how cold this rink is? I spend about once a week at this rink and its cold. I need to have my bag with me that includes 2 blankets (1 for me to cover up with and 1 for me to sit on or for one of my children) a stocking cap and mittens. I almost always need my blanket, hat and mittens. When the heaters are on, I may get away with just my jacket and blanket but if its really cold, I need everything. I have a coworker that usual can be found wearing her snow pants and heated vest (this is her home rink for her son and 1of 3 home rinks for her daughter). My 3 skaters (son, daughter and husband) usually come off complaining that their feet are cold.  They do have a heated enclosed viewing area on one side of the rink for those that don't need to feel like your input(yelling/coaching from bleachers) makes a difference in your child's game. They also have a pretty good...

 Main rink: 🧊 Practice rink: 🧊🧊🧊 This is my favorite rink(the main rink)! This is the rink where I learned to love the sport by watching the St. Cloud State University Huskies play. Every weekend home game this is where we would spend our time while in college. We still go to games but we don't have time to go as often as we would like to.  Main rink: This rink gets the best rink rating! No matter when you are there or what you are watching the temp is always prefect! I can be there watching the Huskies play a game, my son play a game or my daughter practice there and I'm always comfortable in just a sweatshirt!  Practice rink: This rink is not my favorite. It's always cold-game or practice. The metal bleacher are horrible and not a lot of seating. The "glass" is very scratched up which making watching or taking pictures very difficult. My husband played in a adult league this summer for the first time and I spent a lot of time freezing my butt off. I found th...

 🧊🧊-Bernick's 🧊🧊-RDR Let me start with sharing my rating on the arena that I have spent the most time at. I gave it a 2 ice cube rating for both rinks. We are very lucky to have 2 rinks, Bernick's and RDR. RDR has ice on it year round and Bernick's durning the main hockey season only (Yes, hockey can be an all year sport). Bernick's is our original sheet of ice. Stadium seating on the upper level equipped with heaters to help fans stay fairly comfortable. I'm usually in my jacket with it unzipped or no jacket at all. I bring my blanket in with me but most of the time I don't even use it unless I'm there for a practice (usually they don't have the heaters on for practices). The bottom viewing area has metal bleacher and no additional heating.  RDR is our newest addition and we have really enjoyed the extra sheet of ice. The comfort level is about the same as Bernick's. There are metal bleacher on the bottom viewing area with heaters. The upper lev...

 Welcome! This is all very new to me and I'm trying to figure this all out as I go. Thank you for your patience as I learn how to do this all. I want to start this blog as a way for Minnesota youth hockey moms and all to know what the comfort level is in the rinks that we are sitting in as we watch our child/children play in comfort. My family lives in central Minnesota and have 4 rinks within 30 minutes of us. I have been a hockey mom going on my 8th season this year. My son is a first year Bantam and my daughter is in her last year at the 8U level. I have learned throughout the years that rink comfort levels are very different. I have been to some that are the perfect conditions- I can sit comfortably in my sweatshirt and jersey and enjoy the game and then I have been to the extreme opposite and I felt like I was going to die of hypothermia before the game was over. I am that person that posts on facebook asking others how the temperature is in the rink that I will be visiting th...