You don’t need to drive far in Western New York to find a hockey rink. Nearly every large municipality has one and those that don’t are neighbored by at least one or two. As a city with such a rich hockey history there are a number of new and old rinks around Greater Buffalo.
In an attempt to provide insight on all of Buffalo’s rinks, we took it upon ourselves to create the Buffalo Rink Rankings. The below list was compiled using a set of categories to help evaluate and score each rink. The scores were compiled using the feedback of a number of hockey players from around WNY, in an attempt to eliminate any bias that may exist. Each category is scored on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest. There are two groups of rankings, one set that focuses on the hockey-specific aspect of each facility (rink quality, locker rooms etc.) and another that focuses on amenities (pro shop, snack bar etc.). These all add up to provide and overall score for each facility, which was a primary factor in the final rankings.
The overall score wasn’t the only factor considered when factoring the final rankings (we’re kind of like the BCS) as some rinks scored higher thanks to certain amenities or outside factors. So in some cases a rink that scored lower still slotted in above higher scoring rinks as we tried to keep the primary focus on the hockey side of things while also giving credit to rinks, like Riverworks, which boast really cool features that don’t directly correlate to the hockey side of things.
So, without further adieu, here are the 2ITB Buffalo Rink Rankings: Continue reading
