Location

Inside Ramsden Park, west side of Yonge Street across from the Rosedale subway station. See Satellite Map

Phone: non listed, call 311

Double Pad.

Schedule

See Schedule tab

City Councillor

The City Councillor for this rink is Councillor Wong-Tam

Ramsden (Double Pad) Rink Profile

Rink change area: Recently renovated, to make it bigger and provide access to the staff. Rubber floor.

Staff: On-site zamboni staff, a building attendant in the daytime and in the evenings, and a rink guard in the evenings (and weekends).

Maintenance: Zamboni, run by on-site staff. Ice maintenance has been contentious. The jury is still out on this one.

Free shinny-hockey and pleasure-skating hours:

2011-2012

Free Pleasure-skating: Available a total of 56 hours a week, during prime time.

Free Shinny hockey: Available a total of 45:30 hours a week, during prime time.

*prime time means after 4pm weekdays and all day on weekends

Often excellent. This rink has a one-puck rule, so that there is always only one game going on. It's rare for people to be taking shots with another puck in the corner. The level of play during the over-eighteen time (and in the daytime between 9:00am and 3:30pm) is often fairly high. That means that beginners may have a hard time fitting in. Two Women's Shinny Times! Tuesday 7:00pm - 8:45pm and Thursday 9:00pm - 10:00pm. Beginner Shinny Friday 6:30-8:00pm.

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Comments about this rink: e-mail us at rinkissues@cityrinks.ca.

Opening and closing dates:

Opens: Dec 1, 2012
Closes: Feb 24, 2013

Rink Diary 2012 - 2013

See also: Editor's and Rink Users' blog

Ramsden Rink - Thursday December 6, 2012, sent by Will Lam

7pm-8:45pm Adult Shinny was quite crowded. Almost overwhelming numbers. It was 5-on-5 hockey and the benches could scarcely hold all the players waiting for their next change of shift. Still, the firm one puck rule is impressive as compared with Dufferin where multiple pucks and people playing in different corners of the rink -- and nearly running into each other -- is common.

A recently maintained surface was chewed up quite quickly with the amount of hard skating and the number of players. The ice maintenance is quite regular and frequent at this rink. Read More >>

Views of the rink

Dec.10 2006

new skates for Christmas

From The City of Toronto Website 2012-13

For the skating schedule, go to Ramsden Rink page on the City website, then click on Skating.

For up to date listings of open rinks (not the same as scheduled openings), see Current Conditions on the cityrinks.ca Home Page

If you notice a different schedule at your rink, please let us know mail@cityrinks.ca
See also the City of Toronto Outdoor Rinks web pages.

Rink Diary 2012 - 2013

See also: Editor's and Rink Users' blog

Ramsden Rink - Thursday December 6, 2012, sent by Will Lam

7pm-8:45pm Adult Shinny was quite crowded. Almost overwhelming numbers. It was 5-on-5 hockey and the benches could scarcely hold all the players waiting for their next change of shift. Still, the firm one puck rule is impressive as compared with Dufferin where multiple pucks and people playing in different corners of the rink -- and nearly running into each other -- is common.

A recently maintained surface was chewed up quite quickly with the amount of hard skating and the number of players. The ice maintenance is quite regular and frequent at this rink. Read More >>

Rink Diary 2011 - 2012

Dec.23 2011

Ramsden Rink is also going to be open on Christmas Day, great news. After rink advocate Gar Mahood sent out an e-mail to 97 Ramsden Rink friends saying he hoped the rink house could be accessible on holidays, Dufferin Rink got word that a donor was willing to pay for staff wages for all three Ward 18 rinks. The City said they'd accept that donation.

A Ramsden neighbour who takes his family skating there offered to donate the $179.36 it would cost to open Ramsden for 8 hours on Christmas too. He doesn't yet know if his donation is accepted, but Ramsden Rink is now marked "open" on Christmas Day. on the city's website.

Update later in the day, from Recreation manager Sue Bartleman: We had already met with Gar earlier and we are covering the staffing costs.

So the City had already intended to open Ramsden on Christmas Day, no donation needed. It certainly seems fair, since the rink opened a week late and so the staffing costs were lower than what was allocated.

E-mail to cityrinks from shinny player Marty Blake: As an avid shinny player and skater in Toronto, I've always been frustrated trying to contact the city and its rinks to get info on when rinks will be open, especially during christmas holidays. You can almost never speak to a real person, and so often there are alternate or old versions of schedules posted online, and times change over the holidays without being communicated. Its great that your site has dated updates so we know the info is relevant!

Keep up the good work!

And special props to Gar Mahood, my shinny buddy at Ramsden Park, (and easily the most ardent citizen/shinny fan/pain-in-ass-of-the-city) for lobbying to get the rink open on christmas day, and communicating that. Great work Garfield!

I will be there on christmas day, now that i know its open! And I will bring a treat for the city's maintenance guy who has to work on christmas day (hopefully at double time and a half! I don't mind my taxes going towards this!!

Read More >>

Diary 2010 - 2011, Rink Diary 2009 - 2010, Diary 2008-2009, Diary 2007 - 2008, Diary 2006 - 2007, Diary 2005 - 2006, Diary 2004 - 2005, Diary 2003 - 2004