MHM 2018 Oct-digital

YOUTH HOCKEY
WHITE BEAR LAKE:
RINK REVIVAL
HOCKEY ASSOCATION AND CITY TEAM UP TO SAVE WHITE BEAR LAKE SPORTS CENTER
By Brian Halverson
On a chilly, late-
September day, hockey
was in the air as a
community gathered to celebrate the
preservation and restoration of its city
rink. The City of White Bear Lake held a ribboncutting
ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 29 to officially
re-open the White Bear Lake Sports Center (WBLSC)
after a skateless summer.
Members of the White Bear Lake Area Hockey
Association (WBLAHA), the White Bear Lake Skate
School, and the general public looked on as Mayor
Jo Emerson ceremonially drove the building’s
Olympia ice resurfacer through a red ribbon
and onto the ice generated by the facility’s new
refrigeration system.
“We are very proud of this,” Emerson told the
black and orange-clad crowd. “We want our hockey
players and our figure skaters to have this home
and I think it’s a great home and it will serve us well
for years to come.”
The festivities included performances by skate
school alumni Sydney Berrier and Maria Starr, who
have moved on to professional careers with Disney
on Ice.
In addition to the new refrigeration system, the
$5.5 million project includes a new air exchange
and monitoring system, all new LED lighting both
inside and out, new ceiling tiles, roof and siding.
Translucent panels have been added above a
portion of the brand new bleachers to supplement
the new lighting with an influx of natural light.
The project is the result of a partnership
between the city and the WBLAHA in which the
association is contributing $2.5 million. WBLAHA
President Kevin McFarlane delivered a $500,000
down-payment check to the city council at its Sept.
25 meeting with the remaining $2 million to be
paid back over the next 20 years.
It is a partnership that nearly didn’t happen,
though, which would have dealt a devastating blow
to the hundreds of young figure skaters and hockey
players who depend on their hometown arena.
As it approaches its 30th season of operation,
the WBLSC has long been showing signs of aging.
Outside of general disrepair, cracks in the rink floor
had developed and the refrigeration system was
starting to leak but WBLSC Supervisor Bruce Bates’
hands were tied by budget restraints.
“We knew that the system was going to be
breaking down and, on top of that, they were
no longer making parts for our particular rink
refrigeration system,” Bates said. “So we literally
were going to rinks as they closed and remodeled
like we just did. We were going to their site and
stealing parts. They literally said come, bring a
Sawzall, cut off a valve, a vent, that weren’t being
made anymore. So we had quite the inventory here,
for a number of years, of stuff on the shelf and it
really saved us.”
“We want our
hockey players
and our figure
skaters to have
this home and I
think it’s a great
home and it will
serve us well for
years to come.”
— Jo Emerson
The system experienced some breakdowns over
the last year which completely depleted the used
spare part inventory and from there Bates said they
just kept their fingers crossed.
“It was scary because you make commitments
to people and you don’t want to call them and
tell them, ‘Hey, we have a problem, we had a
breakdown, we can’t have ice anymore,’” Bates said.
The arena typically shuts down and removes the
ice for a month in the offseason for maintenance
purposes before hosting summer hockey training
Continued on next page
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