Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) prepares for future unpredictable, warm winters after temporarily closing their outdoor ice rinks.
MPRB temporarily closed more than 40 ice rinks for about three days starting on Jan. 30 because of a warm weather snap. Temperatures during the last week of January hit more than 40 degrees twice.
Jordan Nelson, the interim adult athletics program manager for MPRB, said the organization’s recreational pond hockey leagues and city ice rinks rely on cold weather and manpower to maintain the rinks.
“If it doesn’t get cold enough, there just isn’t really much that we can control with that respect,” Nelson said.
Almost an entire season of outdoor ice rink use was lost to warmer-than-average winter temperatures in 2024, Nelson said.
From December 2023 to February 2024, Minnesota lost its winter to warm temperatures and almost no snow, according to a report from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
MPRB’s pond hockey league is unique, Nelson said. The longstanding park program has a history of introducing people to skating and hockey — Minnesota’s state sport — while bringing neighborhood communities together. However, with warm winters that force outdoor hockey rinks to close becoming more common, Minnesota is losing out on time spent with its winter pastime.
Keegan Johnson, a third-year student at the University of Minnesota and a member of the University’s men’s club hockey team, said he started skating at two years old on an outdoor ice rink his dad put together in their Lino Lakes backyard.
“I know it’s not that way for everybody, but the hockey culture in Minnesota has a lot of kids skating early and just falling in love with the game from an early age,” Johnson said. “That’s pretty special in itself.”
Nelson said MPRB has no concrete plans yet, but conversations about allocating money and resources to building new indoor rink spaces are happening in preparation for future warmer, unpredictable winters.
“It was kind of a situation that everyone faced together, and we’re all in the same boat in terms of the urban park systems as well,” Nelson said. “That really kind of opened up the discussion for us internally of what are things going to look like. What are we going to do in these situations?”
Johnson said a lot of kids fall in love with hockey by playing on pond rinks.
“Whenever you’re inside, it’s more serious and more like you’re there to play a game or you’re there to get better, whatever that may be,” Johnson said. “But whenever you’re outside, it’s just more enjoyable and you have a good time and you’re with your friends.”
Henry Lawrence, a fourth-year student at the University and a captain of the men’s club hockey team, said he and his friends use the outdoor ice rink at the Van Cleve Recreation Center and pond rinks at home in Stillwater for hockey pick-up games.
“It’s just a different type of sport, and you’re having fun, and you see guys that were from Minnesota that played high school hockey and are probably done now, but still have that joy of the game,” Lawrence said. “It was tough, missing out on that, basically missing a year of that pond.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a wetter-than-average winter with colder-than-average temperatures for most of Minnesota in 2025.
Johnson said he has noticed lost playing time on outdoor ice rinks. He and his family were not able to play pond hockey, a Christmas family tradition, in December 2023 because of the unseasonably warm weather.
Nelson said MPRB needs to plan for more warm, unpredictable winters that climate change in the future will bring to ensure that the Minneapolis community can still play the winter sports they love.
“We have to be forward-thinking as an organization about how we’re going to adapt so that we can either maintain or modify our operation and our programs to still meet the needs of the community,” Nelson said.
