Happy shade of winter: Cold weather allows outdoor ice rinks to open in Northbrook and Glenview

While lacing up his skates for a game of two-on-two hockey with friends, lifelong Glenview resident Mike Nolan could tell the ice at Flick Park would be perfect on Saturday's 27-degree morning.

Nolan, 60, has been playing hockey at Flick Park since childhood, when a rink complete with warming house, was located on the west side of the park, near the pool. A recent stretch of nights with temperatures in the low teens gave park district employees a chance to freeze the rink, which is now on the sand volleyball court closer to the park's center.

Wearing a vintage-style jersey-sweatshirt displaying the number 19 and name of current Chicago Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews, Nolan reminisces about the cold winters of his childhood.

"You left the house in the morning, and you'd skate all day long," Nolan said. "You would come home, maybe, for dinner."

Nolan, the last to arrive, joined Bill Frothingham of Glenview, his son, Max, visiting from San Francisco, and Gary Abrahamson, also of Glenview, out on the ice.

Abrahamson brought a pair of shallow, homemade wooden boxes to function as goals, but for safety reasons discourage players from lifting the puck while shooting. Nolan, nicknamed "Doc," is a dentist with a Glenview practice, and his friends don't want to accidentally drum up business for him, they said jokingly.

In Northbrook, an area of green space between the library and village hall has been converted into a massive ice rink where dozens of people skated Saturday.

Among those skating on the glass-smooth ice were Sachiko and Mark Majoros and their five children, ranging in age from 15 to 6. As recently as a week before, the area was a grassy field, but as was the case in Glenview, the cold snap allowed the opportunity to make ice.

"We've been waiting for the ice rink to open," Sachiko said. "I don't think it opened at all last year."

Though Saturday was a beautiful day, just below freezing and sunny, Sachiko said she is looking forward to the opportunity to skate at night.

"When the lights are up at night, it's just beautiful and special," she said.