INNISFAIL – Seven years, and seven outdoor rinks.
Seven is considered to be a lucky number, and in biblical terms is said to represent perfection or completeness.
For Innisfail’s Patrick Teskey this could be true because his passion for hockey and the importance of outdoor rinks to Canadian culture received a huge unexpected boost in 2020. It was news the former newspaper editor added to his ongoing mission to honour his late grandfather Frank ‘Gus’ Teskey, a proud newspaperman and passionate fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Up until this year Patrick did not know he was not the first Teskey to build a backyard rink for his kids. His father’s sister and his uncles told him grandfather Frank was the first family member to create an outdoor rink in Toronto’s East York, the neighbourhood where the family was raised.
“He would flood the backyard rink, and neighbours next door actually had a big garden and they loved it every spring because they did not have to water it because when the rink had started to melt it actually watered the garden next door,” said Patrick.
And if Frank was passionate about creating his outdoor rink for the kids it was equally true for the way he felt about the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“I never met Frank. He tragically passed away from a heart attack nine months before I was born. He was a long-time reporter and photographer for the Toronto Star,” said Patrick, a former newspaperman himself, which included being an editor with the now defunct Innisfail Province. “I have a print of his down in the basement of George Armstrong holding the cup during the 1967 Stanley Cup parade.”
A few years ago, knowing Frank’s passion for hockey and the Maple Leafs, Patrick named his outdoor rink in honour of his late grandfather. In fact, he created a logo, a dot at centre ice that honours him.
The logo is designed from the original one the Leafs had way back in 1927. Patrick added the following to his creation: Frank ‘Gus’ Teskey Gardens, Innisfail, Alberta, Canada, and Leafs Nation.
“Having been in newspapers I like fonts, and I found one that worked, and then laminated and printed and threw it out there,” said Patrick, who is now the marketing and communications coordinator for the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. “For the most part it has done pretty well but the last little bit of the warm streak has kind of forced it to the surface, and it’s migrated across the rink at times.
“Right now, I am trying to make sure it stays put, and that the rink stays in good enough shape as I can keep it when it’s plus seven,” he added.
Like every other year, Patrick begins to put together his 40-foot long by 14-foot-wide rink before winter’s deep freeze. It’s a really big deal for his son Matthew, 8, and his younger six-year-old brother Joshua, who both play in the Innisfail Minor Hockey Association and begin to enthusiastically pepper their dad about putting up the outdoor rink as early as August.
Patrick said he’s committed to starting early on his annual project as it still has to be warm enough to be able to get the stakes down deep in the ground to hold the rink frame up. Teskey said he then lays out a tarp over the skating area and spends two afternoon hours flooding it over.
“It’s a very basic rink. I don’t claim to be a carpenter. It’s pretty basic, a frame that I have just rebuilt over the years,” he said.
But when it’s completed, his two sons get to experience what thousands and thousands of other Canadian kids have had the sheer joy to experience – playing hockey against the thrilling chill of the outdoors, during the day and under the stars.
“This is just for my kids to go out and have a place of their own and have fun,” said Patrick, always mindful he’s carrying on the tradition set by grandfather Frank.
“Eventually you have to kick them off,” he added with a smile.
