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Keep your stick on the plastic – Metro US

Keep your stick on the plastic

Imagine a skating rink that doesn’t need a Zamboni — or ice, for that matter.

A synthetic rink — which uses plastic instead of ice — was installed beside Dartmouth High School on Nantucket Road Thursday.

It’s a one-week trial that starts Friday to see if a permanent synthetic rink would be popular enough in the area.

Tim Oldfield with Ice Pro, the company that installs synthetic rinks, said at least one councillor has approached him about trying it out elsewhere in HRM.

Even though synthetic rinks are smaller than ice rinks, Oldfield said they could relieve some of the pressure for ice time.

Ice Pro is covering the cost of the one-week demo, but HRM is co-ordinating programming for the week, and a kick-off party Friday afternoon.

Several hockey teams will try it out this week, and there will be several public skates.

Coun. Jim Smith said a permanent outdoor synthetic rink would provide his constituents with a year-round venue for skating without the maintenance costs of an ice rink.

The surface just needs to be swept off.

“We’re looking at putting one somewhere in District 9 (Albro Lake-Harbourview) next year,” he said.

Possible locations include a ball field on Green Road or next to the Boys and Girls Club on Farrell Street.