Rockcliffe Park Hosers.
The Friday night crew of the Rockcliffe Hosers love to shovel the snow, talk and joke and eventually, hose the Rockcliffe Park skating rink. In Rockcliffe Park, the rule is “If you have kids that use the rink, then you have to hose the rink,” This season, there are 117 Hosers with crews ranging from three to five guys.
Michelle Nash
The skating rink in Rockcliffe Park has a volunteer hosing
group unlike any other.
Dubbed the Rockliffe Hosers, there are 117 volunters: 115 men
and two women. This group of volunteer parents hoses the neighbourhood rink
seven nights a week.
Brian Montgomery, the head Hoser, started this group in 2001
when he was working with the Rockcliffe Park Resident’s Association as the head
volunteer rink coordinator. Instead of waiting around for volunteers to come to
him, Montgomery laid down one rule – parents in the area who have kids using
the rink will hose the rink.
“We don’t ask. We tell them, if you have kids, you are
flooding the rink,” Montgomery said.
The name and the reputation of the rink volunteers grew from
there.
“It is a fun connotation. And flooding a rink is a very
Canadian thing to do. It gets the men out and they have fun,” Montgomery said.
The hosing recruitment begins in August and if there are new
members of the community, they are told at parties and social functions of
their duties once November rolls around.
In the beginning, Montgomery
knew very little about hosing down a rink. He tried hosing down the rink in the
day, which didn’t work out. He later found that at night; the rink has a longer
chance of freezing and creating a good reliable surface for the kids to skate
on.
The rink has come a long way since Montgomery first got started, although getting
the men to come out at night, after working all day he said can be hard. But
these dedicated volunteers manage to make time. Montgomery notes that once everyone is out,
they end up having a great time.
“They are meeting the people in their community and working
together for their kids,” said Montgomery.
Gordon Douglas, is part of the Friday night crew. He said it
was a no brainer to come and hose the rink.
“I grew up skating on this rink and I wouldn’t have it any
other way. You just do it,” Douglas said.
Flooding the main hockey rink was one thing, but a few years
ago Montgomery
decided to create a puddle pond in the middle of the park, about 500 metres
from the main water source. The city told Montgomery
there would be no pressure for them to make the smaller rink work, but the hose
and the Hosers proved them wrong.
“I believed it would work and it does. Now, you have a rink
for the hockey players and a safe rink for the little kids to learn how to
skate,” Montgomery
said.
The weather this year, however, has not been very
cooperative. Montgomery
has noticed a change in the weather over the 10 years he has been working on
these rinks. His ultimate goal is to have concrete chillers and a field house
for change rooms and storage.
“It would make the skating season longer and more
predictable,” he said.
The project, which will take over the phantom road behind Rockcliffe Park public school, will expand the rink
and give about an extra 20 days to the skating season. Working on this long-term
project for some time, Montgomery
estimates the price tag at about $500,000.
“We are going to raise the money ourselves,” he said.
Along with the Friends of Village and some institutional
grants, Montgomery indicated he sees this project is within reach, plus it’s something
that will make the long Canadian winters that much more enjoyable for those in
the community.
As for the rinks this season, they have been blessed with
some cold weather. The Hosers have been busy shovelling off the snow and, in
some cases, a volunteer snowplow comes and helps. The group also connects about
four pieces of hose together to reach the puddle pond. It takes one Hoser while
the rest watch, judge, talk and laugh – the strongest part of this volunteer
group.
“I think these guys do more talking than hosing, but it does
get done... and that is the point, getting to know each other and enjoying
coming out and helping the rink,” Montgomery said.