Skating with children
CSA-approved helmets are highly recommended for all skaters, and children seven and under must be actively supervised by someone 14 or older.
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A Centretown park rink named for Jack Purcell, the retired postal worker who mended children's hockey sticks
For the latest skating dates, check the rink’s official information.
Jack Purcell Park Outdoor Rink is named for a longtime Ottawa resident who repaired hockey sticks for the children of his Centretown neighbourhood. Purcell, a retired postal worker, was known as "the stick doctor" for mending broken sticks in the basement of his Cartier Avenue home and handing them to neighbourhood kids. The repairs started in 1955, when his son Jon took up public school hockey, and later grew to include skate sharpening; city archives record 175 mended sticks in the 1964-65 season alone. Purcell died in 1966, and the Elgin Street community centre that carries his name opened eight years later, next to the park.
The rink is one of the City of Ottawa's outdoor rink locations, classed as a rink with puddle: seasonal boards, seasonal lights and a trailer for a building. It is a supervised rink.
The park around it was rebuilt in a makeover that started in July 2013 and was nearly finished by May 2014. As part of that rehabilitation the city installed ten racquet-shaped light poles at the park's east and west entrances, a nod to the famous badminton player of the same name rather than to the Ottawa stick doctor. Passers-by compared the poles to oversized question marks and to the goal posts from quidditch.
Admission, rentals and arrival details, researched from official rink information. Source checks stay current for 30 days.
CSA-approved helmets are highly recommended for all skaters, and children seven and under must be actively supervised by someone 14 or older.
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People in wheelchairs must wear a CSA-approved helmet on the ice, and wheels must be cleaned of sand and salt first; E-Z gliders are the only skating aid allowed.
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The City of Ottawa's outdoor-rink inventory lists this rink with boards, seasonal lights and a trailer.
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Follow the capacity limits posted on site, and do not go on the ice when the rink is at capacity.
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A source check records what the rink published on that date. Session-specific booking details take precedence.