from Jeff Hicks of the Waterloo Region Record,

Plan to invest time and toil in an outdoor rink this winter?

Think twice about tending backyard ice. You might be shovelling all your blister-bursting efforts into a quick-sinking slush fund. A flood of frustration may await you.

"This El Niño stuff, you know?" said Waterloo outdoor rink enthusiast Robert McLeman, who is part of a RinkWatch team of Wilfrid Laurier University researchers studying the melting future of outdoor rinks in a climate-changing Canada.

El Niño. Two words that pour salt in the skate-blade wounds of any outdoor ice surface.

McLeman sees a short season for outdoor ice brewing in a big pool of warmer water off the west coast of North America.

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