You’re out having the time of your life playing pond hockey with your buddies, and it’s getting dark. You don’t want to stop playing, but you can no longer even see the puck. Everyone who has grown up playing outdoor hockey, whether it be in a friend’s backyard or on the local pond, has faced the same issue.
The best solution for this problem, is to light up your outdoor hockey rink with artificial lighting. But what can you use that will produce enough light to light up the ice surface? Let’s take a look.
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What works best for lighting up an outdoor ice rink?
In my experience, Halogen or LED floodlights work best for lighting up outdoor rinks. Placing 4, 8inch 4×4 posts in each corner of the rink and attaching 4 Halogen or LED floodlights (also known as work lights) will provide you with more than enough light to continue playing through later night hours.
LED lighting for your ODR is the route I recommend you go. Halogen lights may be cheaper initially, but LED lighting has been found to use far less energy (up to 80% less!), last much longer and not get anywhere near as warm as halogen lighting.
I’m not in the business of trying to sell you products, but I personally use four 50 Watt LED Floodlights which produce 6900 lumens, those along with white LED strips I have wrapped along my boards (we’ll get into that in a minute) is more than enough.
Lights for pond hockey
If you are looking for a pond hockey or even lake hockey lighting solution, outdoor work lights are often the best route. These produce enough lumens to light up your pond and are easy to move around. A pair of Husky Twin Head LED Work Lights from your local Home Depot will get the job done.
Light up red line and blue lines of your outdoor rink
Even with outdoor lighting at night, the red line and blue lines (if your outdoor rink has them) can still be hard to see.
What many people have been doing as of late is using blue and red LED strip lights underneath the ice to illuminate the red and blue lines at night. I can tell you from experience, this takes your outdoor hockey rink to the next level and is super cheap.
When I purchased my LED strips, I believe it cost me about $50 for 40 inches. I’m sure you could even find some for cheaper than that.
If you are unsure about how to install LED lighting under your outdoor hockey rink, don’t worry, watch this quick video to give you a better idea.
Light up the boards around your outdoor rink
Adding white perimeter LED rope lighting along your boards is an easy and cost-efficient way to light up the ice surface of your outdoor rink, allowing you to play through all hours of the night without lighting ever becoming an issue.
It’s super easy to do as well, just pick up some white LED strip lights and lay it out along the perimeter of your rink, I use landscape staples to pin the LED strips down, keeping them in place.
Here’s a quick video that will show you exactly how to get the job done.
Icicle lights
An extra bonus suggestion, icicle lights. That’s right, the icicle lights you have lying around your house as decorations for Christmastime.
You may not think it, but if you string up a few rows of icicle lights over your outdoor rink, you will be pleasantly surprised with just how much they illuminate your ice surface.
So, if you have some extra icicle lights lying around your house, I would suggest you try hanging them over your rink to see for yourself before you go out and buy more expensive lighting solutions.
Final Thoughts
For outdoor rinks in your backyard or in the community, LED Floodlights that are at least 50 watts are going to offer you adequate lighting. The more Lumens the better, as I said mine produce 6900 lumens.
If you are looking to get lighting for pond hockey then you should head to your local hardware store and ask about outdoor work lights. Not only are they mega bright, but they are also portable, making it easy to set up for any shaped pond.
Game on!
