FRANKLIN, Wis. (WTMJ) – A Wisconsin man is really passionate about hockey. He is so into the sport that he\u2019s even built a massive ice rink in his own backyard.<\/p>\n
The ice rink isn\u2019t just for his sons. It\u2019s for the team of 10-year-old players he coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just a fast-paced, high-energy game that I have always loved,\u201d Jake Howell said.<\/p>\n
Now, the Howells\u2019 backyard is filled with strikes and screams, and the Shaw Timberwolves have a rink all to themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to go to a rink to skate. I can just go to my backyard and mess around,\u201d Emmett, Jake and Jamie Howell\u2019s son, said.<\/p>\n
Now, the coach and his wife, Jamie Howell, host the practices, and they have grown the rink year after year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the biggest it\u2019s ever been and I don\u2019t think it can get bigger unless we tear the deck down,\u201d Jamie Howell joked.<\/p>\n
The rink is 80 feet by 40 feet. While kids skate, parents stay warm by the fire and watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing their love and passion for the game is probably one of the best things I\u2019d say in life, especially for my son,\u201d Jake Howell said. \u201cWe have our own little microcosm of culture here, but we would love to see that grow in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the coach and his team, the backyard rink does more than build memories. It\u2019s something they depend on. <\/p>\n
In their area in Franklin, the team only has access to one indoor rink and they often share that ice with two other teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes down to it, there just isn\u2019t enough ice for the kids,\u201d Jake Howell said.<\/p>\n
The Southeastern Hockey Association of Wisconsin is raising funds for a new rink, according to Jake Howell.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a lot of money and desire from the community,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
But for now, the personal rink is bringing the Timberwolves together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are all my friends, and every time, they have my back,\u201d Emmett said.<\/p>\n
The rink also sparked a lifelong love for the game, from the backyard to beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I hope they get out of it, that passion, that fun, and then when they grow up, they think back to this and how much fun it was,\u201d Jake Howell said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WTMJ via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRANKLIN, Wis. (WTMJ) – A Wisconsin man is really passionate about hockey. He is so into the sport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[49721,439,5,1371,787,40,4,1551,209,130,2499,3973,12668,9460,1971],"class_list":["post-388199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-backyard","tag-good","tag-hockey","tag-ice","tag-league","tag-news","tag-nhl","tag-rink","tag-scores","tag-team","tag-video","tag-viral","tag-wisconsin","tag-wow","tag-youth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115830596883835409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}