Chicagoans and tourists can “ooh” and “aah” all they want about the new quarter-mile long ice skating ribbon at Maggie Daley Park, but the true test of coolness comes from the pros who’ve practically worn ice skates since they could walk.
RedEye invited two Chicago Wolves players—forward Jeremy Welsh and goalie Matt Climie—to bring their skates downtown just days after the park opened to the public and zip around the ice ribbon, with its slight slopes and inclines, that snakes around the park’s climbing walls.
After the Zamboni spent 45 minutes smoothing out the ice, the pair laced up their skates and stepped out on the ice on a recent foggy Monday afternoon when there were far fewer people looping around the skating ribbon compared with the hundreds at the park on opening day. They did six laps around the ice ribbon, which opened to much fanfare when Mayor Emanuel and former Mayor Richard M. Daley cut the ribbon together Dec. 13 at the park named after Daley’s late wife.
“Going around when I showed up to look at it, it was pretty cool,” said Welsh, 26. “Skating around, it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. It’s pretty fun to skate up and around, and around turns. It was awesome.”
EXTRA: Chicago Wolves answer 6 questions about good ice skating music, driving the Zamboni and more
At 27,500 square feet, the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Skating Ribbon ice surface is much bigger than the Wolves’ home, the 200-by-85-foot oval rink inside Rosemont’s Allstate Arena. A bigger ice surface means more room for skaters. The 20-foot-wide ribbon can hold up to 700 skaters at Maggie Daley Park, city officials said.
The players showed up in jeans and their own skates, but none of the sticks, helmets, pads or white jerseys they’d don for a game. They did sport beige Chicago Wolves sweaters with their numbers on their sleeves and last names on the backs. But they left their intense game faces at home.
For the most part, they skated at the same relaxing pace others did. Their competitive spirit only came out when two young boys and their dad recognized them as Wolves players and the players playfully challenged the boys to a one-lap race. (The players won.) At the end of their test run, they stopped abruptly to spray ice shavings at RedEye‘s camera for a photo shoot.
They chatted and took selfies with other skaters making the rounds. Welsh even showed off his few years of figure skating experience by holding his right foot in the air while skating on his left.
“It’s a completely different environment. It’s a little bit—I can’t say cooler. It’s definitely unique with the skyline around, the lake here and lights are out. So it’s really cool to be outdoors and skating,” said Welsh, who has logged ice time playing for the Carolina Hurricanes and Vancouver Canucks.
EXTRA: Photos from the Chicago Wolves visit to Maggie Daley Park ice skating ribbon
Not only can skaters admire the iconic skyline, they can look at the climbing walls under construction in the middle of the ribbon, face west and see the BP Bridge that connects Mary Daley Park to Millennium Park and its Pritzker Pavilion and Great Lawn, and catch a glimpse of a slide from the play garden at the southeast corner.
“It’s a cool concept, a good time, fun and enjoyable,” said Climie, 31, who has played for the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes. “It’s definitely a cool atmosphere.”
Skating outdoors among scattered evergreen trees is reminiscent of being on the frozen lakes in Leduc, Canada, where Climie learned to skate at age 5.
“I think the ice is better here, really good ice,” he said.
Welsh was two years old when he first skated at a rink in Canada. Fast forward a dozen years to when he built a backyard rink.
“It’s nicer to show up and have the ice freshly Zambonied and fresh. Mine was more work than it was fun I think,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome and the guys are obviously doing a good job here.”
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