Home Ice: Reflections on Backyard Rinks

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In this collection of lyrical essays, writer Jack Falla's backyard hockey rink unexpectedly becomes a vital bridge to family and friends, a lens through which he looks at his life in a game he loves, a road leading back to the frozen ponds of a New England childhood and a mirror in which he stares down middle age. Or tries to. Essays in "Home Ice" range from a thoughtful, sometimes humorous account of Falla's original attempts to build a rink - 'The first law of Hydrodynamics as applied to rink owners: water seeking its own level fits in in your neighbor's yard'- to a meeting with the world's most famous backyard rink builder, Walter Gretzky, Wayne's father. In other essays Falla skates with the ultimate pond skaters -hockey legends Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey, travels to Duluth, Minnesota and Thunder Bay, Ontario to visit backyard rink builders, reflects on the death of a parent, the meaning of an early-morning skate with a grandchild, the connection between his 60-by-35 foot backyard rink and the magical Boston Garden, and the life lessons learned shoveling, resurfacing and skating with his wife, son, and daughter. A bonus chapter explains how to build your own backyard rink. "Home Ice" goes beyond being a sports book. It is a book for readers more interested in family, friends, and relationships than in last night's hockey scores.