This is a short video of me skating on Woolaver’s Pond in Newport, Nova Scotia. I spent countless hours of my youth skating and playing hockey (shinny) on this pond. I imagined that I was Bobby Orr, rushing down the ice to score a goal. My friends and I were absolutely devoted to that pond.
If there was snow on the pond, we’d clear it. If the weather was frigid, we’d bundle up. There was no stopping us. We made wooden goals with burlap bags as the netting and lost many pucks in the cattails.
Climate change in the past two decades has meant that there are very few days in the winter when skating on the pond is possible. It is either unsafe (the ice is not thick enough), or the constant freezing and thawing makes the surface unusable. Also, kids just aren’t into pond hockey like they used to be. On a sunny Saturday in the 1970s there would have been dozens of people on the pond, and even skating parties in the evening. These days, it’s empty.
I was so glad to be back on the pond. I wished that perfect day would last forever.
I should note that the skates I was wearing were CCM Tacks circa 1976. Sadly, they are broken and have become my pond skates. You can see where I have wrapped black tape to mend the holes and cracks in the plastic.
