It is every Saskatchewan hockey player’s dream: a backyard rink.
Called “The Rink of Dreams”, the outdoor rink sits on the side of Buffalo Pound, Sask., and was built by Dakota Kuntz and his son, Trip.
“We just both love hockey so much and we were wasting so much time driving into town to get to the outdoor rink so we decided to just build our own,” Dakota said standing beside his son.
Dakota said the rink has been running for four years, but this is the first time they went all out with the design.
“It’s a lot of hours of teamwork, shoveling and keeping stuff ready,” he said.
This year, the rink has a skate path to get down to ice level, a mini stick rink, a fire pit, its own Zamboni, lights for nighttime games along with three nets and a trophy as well.
For Trip, he and his teammates practice on the ice outside of scheduled practice times and he hopes it pays off in the long run.
“I wanna make the NHL someday,” Trip said with his goalie pads on. “My favourite team is the Vegas Golden Knights.”
The family said on most weekends, people from across the Buffalo Pound community drive down or even sled over to the rink for a quick game.
The father-son duo has been gaining a lot of attention for their creation online.
On TikTok, the pair has garnered over 26,000 follows and 629,000 likes on their hockey content page as of Feb.10, 2023.
Many sports accounts have shared videos of the rink, including the NHL — something both won’t soon forget.
“It was really cool seeing yourself posted by your favourite league that you want to be in one day,” Trip said.
As for what’s next for the rink?
Well, maybe it’s even more rinks. The family wants to open more rinks on the lake, open a shack to rent equipment and grow the game in the community.
“I always tell Trip to dream big and if you’re going to do something, do it to the fullest,” Dakota said.
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