[Paladin2]

Hockey was apparently meant to be played outside.

All over Canada there are (were? - I traveled all over Ontario in the 70's) outside rinks in the small towns. Even my college rink was outside (in the 60's-70's).

[Betis70]

Yup. My college (UConn) had an outdoor rink till after I graduated in 1992. Some bitterly cold nights watching games there, as the school is on a bit of a high point, so the wind would whip across the soccer field and freeze us all. They’d also have snow blowing over the glass and collecting in the corners.

I loved playing pond hockey as a kid, even if we were never very good.