OTTAWAâItâs too cold for kids hockey on the governmentâs $5.6-million ice rink on Parliament Hill. In the midst of a cold snap across much of the country, the Canadian winter has forced the cancellation of some of the only hockey games allowed on the outdoor rink, where pucks and sticks are banned during public skating times and a list of rules prohibits games like tag and racing. Games scheduled as part of a kidsâ hockey tournament in Ottawa were cancelled and moved indoors Wednesday as temperatures dipped below -18 degrees. âBasically, itâs too cold, so the ice condition is not good right now,â said Simon Ross, spokesperson for Heritage Minister MĂŠlanie Joly, whose department organized the âCanada 150 Rinkâ as part of Ottawaâs year-end bash to close out the 150th anniversary of Confederation. âThe exact word,â Ross said, âis âhigh degree of ice chipping.â â Ross added that, while the hockey tournament will be moved indoors until the temperature warms, the ice is still good enough for public skating. âAll of the teams will be able to skate on the ice rink,â he said. The rink was built this fall on the front lawn of Parliament and opened to the public Dec. 7. Initially, it was scheduled to close after 26 days on Jan. 1, but Joly reversed course 24 hours after announcing the timeline and said the rink would stay until the end of February. The project made headlines for its multimillion dollar cost, as well as a list of rules for public skating that banned the use of smartphones on the ice, prohibited hockey sticks and pucks, and barred skaters from organizing âmultiplayer games,â such as tag. But there was some hockey organized. Journalists from the Parliamentary Press Gallery played their annual game of shinny against politicians earlier in December. And part of the $5.6-million cost of the rink went to organizing the kids hockey tournamen ...
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