Backyard Outdoor Rink Rats!

"Rink Rats" is an informal Canadian term that describes young persons who carry out chores at an ice-hockey rink in return for free skating time and/or of young persons who spend all their time on ice at indoor or outdoor rinks.

Like Wayne Gretzky, there were quite a few other remarkable hockey players who when were young played hockey or skated daily on either a backyard rink, on frozen sheets of a nearby lake or river or on their outdoor rink in their neighborhood.

Many of them eventually went on to play professional hockey, attributing their love and passion for the game to the many hours they skated and played outdoors as youths.

The following hockey players have become household names. They either possessed a backyard rink when they were young or spent a lot of time playing hockey and skating outdoors.

Here are their stories.

If you know of others please e-mail me their name and story and I will add them to the list.

Mike Bossy

Wayne Gretzky

Guy Lafleur

Mario Lemieux

Staal brothers

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