One indoor ice rink will be up and operational during the summer months of 2022.
The recreation programmer for the city of Cold Lake Svea Pinch says this has been a long time coming.
“Council has wanted to do this for the last couple of years,” Pinch admits the city already had plans to have an indoor rink last year but they encountered a problem.”Last year would have been the first year to offer it but covid kind of restricted us a little bit with the bookings. The council has decided to go ahead with it this year to give the residence a chance to skate year-round.”
She says there have always been a few organizations looking to extend their seasons. Pinch says the most use the rink will get will probably come from hockey camps and hockey clinics. In terms of games, she is unsure about certain teams and if they want to extend their seasons a little bit
The City is currently working with stakeholder groups to figure out the exact demand and piece together a programming schedule. Other things that the city is currently considering when it comes to scheduling are Pending demands, appropriate availability, and COVID-19 restrictions, and public skating.
The Energy Center’s ice plant can maintain the ice during the summer months thanks to the 2020 budget in which the city council allocated the money to operate the plant and maintain the ice through the summer.
Svea Pinch is excited about the idea of cooling off with some ice during the hot summer months.
“I’m glad, I play hockey as well so I’m excited I can skate throughout the summer. I hope we can make it work and I hope it will benefit the community.”
Stakeholders interested in summer ice times are encouraged to contact the Energy Centre at [email protected] or at 780-639-6400. https://coldlake.com/en/play/energy-centre.aspx