Schenectady County Recreational Facility

I played here in a hockey tournament over the weekend and the ice was not great. I know that there isn’t a lot of time between games during tournaments, but the ice was so wet that the «ponding» action literally stopped the puck in it’s track. There was a ton of water on the ice and it took a really long time for it to get better.
There’s also a section — where the zamboni goes — that is really torn up, super slick and almost has no ice in a few spots. You can actually see the ground. Also, the puck gets stuck in the spot where the zamboni comes out. It’s actually dangerous; I have a friend that broke her ankle at another rink — scrimmaging — she lost an edge due to crazy, torn up, crappy ice.
The layout of the benches is interesting… in order to get to the far bench, the team needs to walk through the first bench to the ice. If there is another door somewhere for skate-​wearing folks, I missed it.
Locker rooms were a bit gross… but that’s to be expected. Locker rooms are generally nasty… and this was no exception.
Parking is easy; there’s a good sized lot.

Technically this is «the Schenectady County Recreational Facility» even though there is exactly one activity here, ice skating, so for once I won’t submit a correction to the Unilocalbase.
This is a sort of bare-​bones rink, but it’s quite decent and very much a recreational bargain as the somewhat higher-​overhead winter-​sports venues go. We shall start off with the good: the rink is in excellent shape and the ice maintenance appears to be stellar. Open public skates haven’t been too crowded, so you don’t have the problem of not actually being able to find space to skate. They have active hockey programs run by a private group, and a Learn to Skate program for all levels including adults, from age 4 and up. The public skating hours are a bit odd: 11 – 1 on weekdays (so no after school skating or evenings) and 2 – 4 on Saturday and Sunday (call to check or go to the county website). At this writing skate rentals are $ 3 and open ice fees $ 4, which is decent bang for the buck but not as cheap as a walk in the park. They do seem to have a year-​round schedule but I could be wrong about that.
The facility is, as noted, bare bones, and it feels a lot older somehow that it actually is. The seating area (for hockey or watching others skate) is basic bleachers and is not large but is nicely heated, so that beats watching soccer in November outside. There is a snack bar, but it’s your basic junk food (although $ 1 coffee and instant hot chocolate provide a little warming). The entry way is very basic, there’s no coat hanging area or check, and the bench areas for putting your skates on and off and the like are kind of crammed into the front part of the oval; it wasn’t well designed for the flow of traffic with winter gear and walking off ice with skates, so there are traffic jams at the rink entrance. And there’s no shop; how the county missed the revenue opportunity is beyond me, but they didn’t build any space for one. So you have to buy skates and gear elsewhere and have your sharpening done. The rental skates, which we’re not really using anymore now we bought some used ones, are a bit dodgy as rental skates usually are, but I’ve seen a lot worse.
Tip: you can get here by turning into the «entrance» for Schenectady County Airport off 50, and it will loop you around the back. If you miss the entrance there are signs for the «Ice Rink» on Tower Rd.
I’ll try to review the Messa Rink at Union College for public skating as well, and the Apples-​to-​Apples comparison here is that I think Messa’s a little nicer and has a somewhat more involved Learn to Skate program (as well as a dollar cheaper for public skating) but has more limited hours and is harder to get to because of the schlep you have to make from parking across the Union campus, but there isn’t a huge differentiator once you’re out on the ice.
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Update: so there’s no entry in the Unilocal base for the rink at Union, so for now, assuming those who want to ice skate in the area are reading this review for options, I’ll add Messa’s basic information here until the Unilocalbase catches up:
PUBLIC SKATING Sundays, 2 – 3:45p; Mon, Wed, Fri, 12 – 1:30p
$ 3 for skate rental, $ 3 for entry
To get to Messa, you go to the intersection of Van Vranken and Nott in Schenectady, turn into what is called «Alexander Lane» and the rink is on your left about 200 yards in. However, parking is restricted everywhere, your best bet for public parking is to enter «Gracie Lane» off Nott, directly opposite Peter Pause, and walk uphill to the rink.