Why are rinks called barns?

[The Mafia Line 0]

Is there a specific reason or story as to why rinks are called barns? Is it because rinks used to be built in barns? Is it because older rinks look like barns?

I got to thinking about it, because a friend asked me why jerseys are called sweaters. There is a history and a story to the term "sweater" and it lead me to think about where the whole "barn" thing came from.

[chippa13 1844]

It was because the first indoor rink was built by George Herbert Barn in Horny Moose, Saskatchewan in 1914.

[tro 4]

I have played in some rinks in Southern Alberta towns that were pretty much barns, the zamboni was a tractor.

[MissConduct 1]

Windsor Arena was nicknamed "The Barn" cause it looks like one ;)

[raganblink 82]

Half look / half that's what they used to be.

For the USHL, Des Moines still plays in an old barn, and Omaha used to play in a convereted dog-track, Lincoln plays in an old barn. And then there are teams like Sioux Falls who play in a building that looks like a barn. Gotta go both ways on that one.

[shotty 7]

I have played in some rinks in Southern Alberta towns that were pretty much barns, the zamboni was a tractor.

i drove past a barn in saskatechewan, just outside regina, in some super small town. i had a feeling it was a rink, so i pulled over to check it out and sure enough... full on hockey rink inside of what looked like a 100 year old structure.

[Neal 41]

Very common in rural Canada for the rink to be a converted barn or to be built by the same guys who built all the barns. Can lead to some interesting architecture. Like the rink where the ice surface was directly up against one of the outside walls, leading to boards that were one piece from ice to the rafters 12 feet up. Not a good place to get hit, there isn't much give there.

Almost all the rinks I grew up skating on were built from barns or built like barns.

[acollette49 0]

the rink i played at growing up was, in fact, a barn. its next to the site of a veterinary medicine school.

[Machinehead2k5 32]

Youngblood used a barn...

[interpathway 9]

20 some people crammed into a limited space bumping, grinding, etc. Sounds like a barn full of animals to me.

[Jason 65]

I think it has something to do with announcers, coaches and players trying to be stylish with words and show that they have a large hockey vocabulary. I doubt it has much to do with actual barns.

[QandA 0]

I think it has something to do with announcers, coaches and players trying to be stylish with words and show that they have a large hockey vocabulary. I doubt it has much to do with actual barns.

No it does, it wasn't uncommon to see former barns/exhibition grounds used both as a barn in the summer and an arena throughout the winter.

[SuperMan3 1]

Theres a rink in Bentley, AB that is in fact a barn.

[Rustpot 1]

1902, first purpose-built hockey building in the US was essentially a giant barn. Rebuilt in 1927 it's still pretty much corrugated steel walls with a giant barn door on one end and a building on the other.