All Over Albany

Albany County Hockey Facility

830 Albany Shaker Rd Colonie, NY 12211
phone: (518) 452-7396 | website: http://www.albanycounty.com/hockey/

The rink, located right next to ALB, is open 10 1/2 months a year. Check the monthly calendar for hours. There's open skate, open hockey, and adult skate for anyone over 30.

Public skate: adults $4, seniors $3, children 5 and under $2, rentals for $3.
Open hockey: (for high school and older) $10 on weekdays, $12 on weekends, goalies play for free.
Adult skate: age 30-59 $3, age 60 and over $2

They also offer camps and training schools, call 452-7396 for more information.

Bethlehem YMCA Ice Skating Rink

900 Delaware Ave Bethlehem, NY 12054
phone: (518) 439-4394 | website: http://www.cdymca.org/locations/bethlehemarea/rinkmain.aspx

Open until the end of March, and non-members are allowed to skate there. For Non-Members: $5 for adults, $4 for students, $3 for 5 & under. Rentals $2.

They also offer open hockey on Friday nights, lessons and ice hockey clinics.

Buckingham Pond, Albany

Colonial Ave and Berkshire Blvd Albany, NY 12208

Ice permitting. The city periodically checks the ice on Buckingham Pond to see if it's safe to skate. As long as there is no sign prohibiting it, you're welcome to do some figure 8s or get together a pick-up hockey game. (And if you'd like to shovel -- you'll win points in the neighborhood.) There are only one or two lights, so skating after dark can be an adventure.

Clifton Park Ice Arena

16 Clifton Common Blvd Clifton Park, NY 12065
phone: (518) 383-5440 ext 15 | website: http://www.cliftonparkarena.com/public_skating.html

Often offers public skating on the weekends, and during school breaks. Check the schedule at the website.

Public skate is $5, kids (3 and under) $3. Skate rental is $3. (No credit cards.)

Collins Park, Scotia

Kiwanis Way Scotia, NY 12302

Ice permitting, there's skating on Collins Lake. And it's free. In past winters, the town (or village) has cleared the ice -- and lots of it.

Elm Avenue Park Rink, Bethlehem

261 Elm Avenue Delmar, NY 12054
phone: (518) 439-4955 | website: http://www.townofbethlehem.org/pages/parkElm/parkElmWinter.asp

Open daily when the ice is 4 inches thick with a good surface. Flags indicate when rink is open. Green flag = open, red flag = closed. A portion of the rink will be set aside for hockey. And there's a warming hut. It's free to skate.

Call 439-4955, option 3 for current conditions and updates.

Hours: 10 am-8 pm Sunday-Thursday; 10 am-10 pm Friday & Saturday and during school vacations.

Empire State Plaza Ice Rink

Empire State Plaza Albany, NY 12210
| website: http://www.ogs.ny.gov/esp/CCE/skating.asp

After it skipped a few years, the ESP rink -- located near The Egg -- opened again for the 2011-2012 winter. And it's now open for the current season. It's free to skate. There's a full-service snack bar open Friday nights, weekends, and school holidays. The skate lounge with lockers for personal items is now located at the plaza level. And there's music.

Hours: Every day from 11 am - 8 pm, weather dependent.

Skate Rental: $3 for 12 and under, $4 for adults, free on Fridays. Skate rental will be available whenever the rink is open.

Grafton Lakes State Park Long Pond

100 Grafton Lakes State Park Way Grafton, NY 12052
phone: (518) 279-1155 | website: http://nysparks.com/parks/53/details.aspx

Ice permitting. The pond is open for skating from 8 am to 5 pm daily. The pond gets cleared every Friday, so if it snows during the week, you may be out of luck. (Or bring a shovel.)

Hampton Manor Lake, East Greenbush

Lake Shore Dr and Daley Pl East Greenbush, NY 12144
| website: http://eastgreenbush.org/town-parks

Ice permitting. In 2011, there was skating and the town maintained the ice.

HVCC Conway Ice Rink

80 Vandenburgh Avenue Troy, NY 12180
phone: (518) 629-4850 | website: https://www.hvcc.edu/facilities/ice.html

Open for public skating Monday-Friday from noon-2 pm, and weekends from 4-6:15 pm (that's the schedule through March 10).

Admission is $3 adults / $2 kids (under 12) / $ alumni, faculty, staff (with ID) / free for HVCC students (with ID).

Iroquois Lake, Schenectady Central Park

Iroquois Way Schenectady, NY 12309

It's free, ice permitting. The city checks it to see if the ice is safe (and in the past county prison inmates have cleared the snow). There are lights that stay on until after 11 pm daily. Skating is free but check the flag pole in front of the park's admin building: green flag means ice is safe, red means stay off. There are benches near the ice, but no bathrooms or warming hut.

Knickerbacker Ice Arena, Troy

103rd St. and 8th Avenue Troy, NY 12180
phone: (518) 235-7761 | website: http://troyny.gov/Departments/Parks_Recreation/Parks/knickerbackerpark.aspx

The rink has public skate, adult skate, and hockey sessions throughout the week -- check the schedule for times.

Public skate is $5 adults / $3 for kids (under 18).

Skate rental is $3. "The Skate Shop at the arena offers 200 pairs of high-quality, well-maintained skates for rental. Sizes range from a toddler's size 6 to women's size 11 and men's size 14." Skate sharpening is $5.

RPI Houston Field House

Burdett Ave and Peoples Ave Troy, NY 12180
phone: (518) 276-6262 | website: https://www.rpi.edu/dept/aux_serv/fieldhouse/skating.html

Sometimes open for public skating while school is in session. "We reserve the right to cancel without notice due to ice maintenance or at management discretion. No hockey sticks, pucks, roughing or horseplay allowed." Call for times.

Adults $3 / students $2 / seniors $2 / RPI faculty, staff, alumni $2 (with ID) / RPI students free (with ID).

Saratoga Spa State Park

19 Roosevelt Drive Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
| website: http://nysparks.com/parks/saratogaspa/details.aspx

Saratoga Spa State Park has two outdoor rinks. The one just off the Avenue of Pines is usually used for hockey. It has a warming hut and lights. We checked with park officials and apparently there's no official closing time for this rink... so you can skate or play hockey until the lights go off at no charge. The other rink is smaller and there's no hockey allowed. It's further in the park, near the Victoria Pool. No lights here, but you can skate for free all day.

Saratoga Springs Ice Rinks

30 Weibel Ave Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
| website: http://goo.gl/n6nUf

Saratoga Springs has two rinks, an Olympic size rink open July-April and Vernon Arena open September-March. The rinks offer a wide range of open skates, family skates, hockey, figure skating, kids programs. The price varies based on whether you're a city resident or not (only by a buck or two). Check the posted schedule for times, and the posted brochure prices -- here's the one for this fall/winter.

Open skating is $4 adults 18-49 and $3 6-17 and 50+ (city residents) -- add a dollar for non-city residents. Kids 5 and under are free. Skate rentals/sharpenings are $4.

Schenectady County Recreational Facility

5 Tower Road Scotia, NY 12302
phone: (518) 384-2445 | website: http://www.schenectadycounty.com/FullStory.aspx?m=189&amid=728

Offers public skate, open hockey, open figure skating, and other sessions multiple times a week. Check the website for schedule.

For public skate: regular admission $4 / kids (5 and under) $2 / seniors $2. Skate rental is $3.

Schodack Island State Park

1 Schodack Way Schodack Landing, NY 12156
phone: (518) 732-0187 | website: http://nysparks.com/parks/146/details.aspx

The park floods one of its fields to create a large ice rink. There are also bonfires there sometimes, even apparently a volunteer-run snack stand at one point.

Swinburne Ice Rink, Albany

Clinton Ave and Manning Blvd Albany, NY 12206
phone: (518) 438-2406 | website: http://albanyny.gov/Government/Departments/Recreation/SwinburneSkatingRink.aspx

It's an outdoor rink in Swinburne Park, but it's covered by a pavilion. $1 for adults, $0.50 for kids, $2 for rental skates.

Hours:
Monday - Thursday 3-5 pm and 7-9:30 pm
Friday 3-5 pm and 7-10 pm
Saturday 12:30-5 pm and 7-10 pm
Sunday 12:30-5 pm and 7-9:30 pm

The Crossings Pond

580 Albany Shaker Road Colonie, NY 12211
phone: (518) 438-5587

Ice permitting. Hours vary at the Crossings pond. It usually opens for skating at noon and closes between 5 and 8 pm. Leave your hockey sticks home though, this pond is for skating only. To be sure, call 438-5587 before you go.

Union College Messa Rink

Alexander Ln (Union College) Schenectady, NY 12308
phone: (518) 388-6134 | website: http://unionathletics.com/sports/2005/12/13/Messa_Rink_Schedule_of_Events.aspx?id=493

Offers public skate, drop-in hockey, and other programs a few days a week, including Sunday afternoons. Check website for schedule.

Public skate is $3 / students, faculty, staff free / spouses and children of faculty and staff $2. Skate rental is $3.

Van Schaick Pond, Cohoes

Van Schaick Ave and Continental Ave Cohoes, NY 12047
phone: (518) 233-2116

It's another outdoor pond, so ice permitting and skate at your own risk. Contact Cohoes Recreation Department for more information at 233-2116. (The RPI hockey team has practiced here for fun in the past.)

Washington Park Lake

Washington Park Albany, NY 12203

Ice permitting. The city clears a section of the lake at Washington Park and checks the ice to make sure it's safe for skating. If the ice is 7 inches or thicker, you're allowed to skate. If not, there will be a sign up prohibiting skating or walking on the ice. It's skate at your own risk. And despite the lights in the park, skating is only allowed until sundown.