FAIRPORT, N.Y. — If you wanted to stay indoors after a chilling winter blast of freezing temperatures and significant snow, who could blame you? That’s not the idea some families in the Rochester area had. On Monday, with school cancelled due to the snow and the cold, they took their shovels and hockey sticks to a frozen waterway that’s better known for boats than outdoor winter fun.
Some things were meant to happen outdoors. It’s where the game of hockey started. Jake Fricano and his family, and some friends, laced up their skates and cleared snow-covered ice for some good old-fashioned pond hockey.
“Hockey is fun,” said Fricano, of Fairport. “It’s a special sport. Something about being on the ice is therapeutic. And watching the kids out here, it brings you back to your childhood.”
Their pond this day, wasn’t a pond at all — but rather, the Erie Canal.
“This is old-school hockey right here,” said Fricano.
The biggest rink in the neighborhood was a big hit on a snow day for the Fricano kids.
“I think it’s really cool,” said Lilliana Fricano. “Like, it’s like a little bit weird since I’m used to skating on a rink and stuff.”
“Oh, it’s a really fun, cool experience,” said Jax Fricano. “And, yeah, I think we should come out here more often.”
Freezing temperatures usually send people scrambling for the heat of the indoors. The chill of the outdoors — and a 351-mile-long sheet of not-quite-perfect ice helped turn what some consider a brutal winter day into a perfect day.
“It’s not the best conditions,” said Jake Fricano. “But it’s still awesome just to get out, have a good time and skate.”