MOUNT ZION, Ill. (WAND) — Frigid temperatures sent roughly 99 percent of central Illinois inside the past two weeks. Drew Hittmeier and his friends are the remaining one percent.

As snow flurries continued to fall, Drew and roughly a dozen other neighborhood kids gathered to play — not on their phones or a shiny new PS5 — but on a freshly constructed hockey rink in his backyard.

"We have no clue what we're doing," Drew said with a smile. "I don't play hockey. None of us really do."

The 15-year-old and his friends have made a tiny rink their winter paradise. But it's truly Drew's mom, Cayla Hittmeier who's the hero of this story.

What started as winter boredom manifesting as another scroll through Facebook turned into a neighborhood gathering place. Posts showing other backyard rinks, gave her all of the inspiration she needed.

"I texted the dads in the neighborhood," she said. "I didn't really think they'd take it seriously."

They did.

"We just got to chatting and I said 'hey, I've got the wood,'" said neighbor John Larrison. "'I've got all the equipment. Let's get this done.'"

After a few hours of hard work — and a few more hours of a hard freeze — the Hittmeiers had a full-fledge mini hockey rink in their backyard.

But the goals of this rink go deeper than the net. Paisley Patrick is finding confidence and fun with each swipe of the snow shovel that serves as her goalie stick.

"If you mess up, it's not that big of a deal," she said. "Just get up and keep on going."

Drew and his teenage friends have made the game as inclusive as possible, bringing in Paisley and her friends and even — perhaps more difficultly — their parents.

"They are so good with the little ones, giving them their time to get their goals in," Cayla Hittmeier said.

That impact isn't lost on Drew.

"You know they look up to you and you want to be able to lead them in a the right way," he said. "A lot of times, kids are stressed out between...school or being on their phones. The fact you can come out here and do this...nothing else matters."

As the snow fell, Drew and his friends continued slipping, sliding and scoring. But the final tally somehow got lost in the snow — or maybe it was left back inside — where all of their phones sat unbothered.