The Skateway

The Rideau Canal skateway is the heart of Winterlude, and this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the skateway. This is the largest outdoor rink in the world, 7.8 kilometres of skating routes with a total area equalling 90 Olympic rinks. Each year, before, during, and after Winterlude, this stretch of the Canal is offered up for skaters. Weekdays can be quieter, but weekends can be busy on the ice. This first shot I took from the Bank Street Bridge looking east.

Some days later, it was more grey, with light snow falling. 

This was the view to the west.

I headed down to the ice surface.

Here we have a view of the bridge itself, turning around from where I was standing in the above shot.

Most years during Winterlude, the bridge itself hosts a series of photographs with various themes. This year it's been the history of Winterlude, with photographs from various sources mounted on the walls of the main arch. This first one shows members of the Ottawa Senators team, a kids hockey team, and mascots of Winterlude carrying a Canadian flag on the ice during a shinny day. Shinny, for those who are wondering, is an informal variation of hockey often played on a pond. On that date, 110 games were being played on the ice. The Senators usually will get out on the ice once during Winterlude.

The skateway chalets, spots along the ice where you can get your skates on, have changed over the last fifty years.

A contrast between seasons: this view, taken from the Mackenzie King Bridge, shows the same spot in winter and summer. I've photographed this view many times.

Dow's Lake, a reservoir for the Canal further upstream from this spot, hosts Winterlude activities, including speed skating in the past. We'll carry on with this tomorrow.

The Skating Rink On Parliament Hill

As a conclusion for Canada 150, something was added for the winter season to Parliament Hill: a skating rink. It opened up in December, and will stay open through Winterlude. These first shots were taken before the rink was open, in between snowfalls in early December. I photographed from near the base of the Peace Tower, and then descended to rink side for the second shot.

I came by one evening after it first opened for skaters. The lighting around the rink gradually shifts over time, from blues into pinks and purples. It creates a moody, dream-like sensibility. I photographed first when the ice was empty, then when skaters were on the surface.

On another day, young figure skaters from the Minto Skating Club were on the ice doing a demonstration. I have featured members of this club before on the ice at Ottawa's City Hall.

While the rink has generally been about skating, as opposed to hockey, it has hosted some games for the latter. Parliamentarians, for example, played a game here against journalists one day- a useful thing, I think, to have politicians from all parties playing together on the same team. And during the weekend of the Ottawa Senators- Montreal Canadiens outdoor game at Lansdowne Park, a number of Senators from the last twenty five years split up into two teams and played an alumni game here. I came by after the game was over. The last player still on the ice at this point was the goaltender Patrick Lalime, who played for the Senators from 1999-2004.

One final view of the rink from the perspective of the steps leading up to the Peace Tower. I took this one on one of the evenings when I was taking in the winter light show over the holidays.

Cheering Our Team

Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs might want to wipe their tears with their blue and white handkerchiefs and avoid this.

The NHL playoffs get underway here tonight. At season's start, many experts said that only one Canadian team, the Montreal Canadiens, would make the playoffs. Five of seven teams have made it- Montreal, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the Winnipeg Jets, and the Ottawa Senators. The Senators had been written off by late January as having two percent chances of making the playoffs. Then something odd happened.

A goaltender was called up from the minor leagues with no NHL play after the team's two regular players were sidelined with injuries. Andrew Hammond went on to start winning games and recording shutouts, as well as tying a goaltender's record going back seventy plus years. The team kept winning. And winning. And winning some more. In the final two months of the season, they became the hottest team in the game. And so it was last weekend that they secured a playoff berth. The city is happy, and Ottawa will be meeting Montreal in the first round. Those final weeks of the season, the team played with heart, fire, spirit, integrity, and character. It's been fun to see it all happen.

Elgin Street south of City Hall is home to a good many restaurants and pubs. It has been tradition here during the playoffs to add the Sens Mile mark to the street signs on Elgin. Such has now been done, including at this intersection (the church behind it is Knox Presbyterian, which I showed you during Doors Open last year).

A Senators flag is hanging in this hair salon down the street. This is typical of many businesses along Elgin Street. The deeper our team goes into the playoffs, the more of this we'll see.

And the team flag is flying outside the Heritage Building at City Hall. I will be back at the City Hall property tomorrow for something rather different... involving a different kind of senator. 

Hockey Central

Several weeks ago I was out in Kanata, in the west end portions of Ottawa, where the Senators play at what's now being called the Canadian Tire Centre. This was in the morning, so the parking lots were empty, the only people present being those who had business to see to. 

The place is very different on a game night, or when some other event is going on. Thousands of people will come through these doors into the building to catch some hockey or a concert. The team has, over the last few years, consistently been a contender, breaking hearts some years ago by getting all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and just missing by that much. They've gotten off to a rough start this year, but it's still early. Hope springs eternal, and our time will come...