MHM 2018 Oct-digital

YOUTH HOCKEY
HOCKEY ASSOCATION AND CITY TEAM UP TO SAVE WHITE BEAR LAKE SPORTS CENTER
Continued from previous page
and skating. That idea was scrapped for the summer
of 2017.
“They didn’t take it out because they were
nervous that if they took it out, thawed everything
and re-froze it later they would have more issues,”
McFarlane said.
According to Bates, the city, at that point,
was considering pulling the plug and selling
the property if and when that next breakdown
occurred.
“That wasn’t going to sit with a lot of people,”
Bates said. “This is a huge value to the community,
even if you’re not a hockey player.”
So McFarlane and Bates, among others, joined
forces in a campaign to save the arena, not only
for the short term, but for future generations.
McFarlane brought his concerns to WBLAHA board
members and got the green light to proceed.
“Everybody jumped on board with what we
wanted to do and the fact that we needed to save
the rink,” McFarlane said. “Then it was a push to
make sure the city would go along with it and that
wasn’t easy.”
With the WBLAHA’s boundaries consistent with
the White Bear Lake Area School District 624 which
serves all or parts of nine surrounding cities, White
Bear Lake’s concern was why should the city bear
the burden for renovating a facility used by so many
who don’t generate property tax revenue for the
city?
“We looked at that in three ways,” Bates said.
“One, if you live in [White Bear] Township or Vadnais
Heights or Hugo and you ask them, ‘Where are
you from?’ they say, ‘I’m from White Bear.’ It’s more
of a White Bear proper, White Bear school district
boundary feeling, if you will, I think a lot of people
feel that way in this part of the town. Secondly, I
think they looked at the economic impact. The third
thing, I think, would be the city is turning over. A
lot of the seniors in town are selling their homes
and there’s a lot of young families moving in. I think
some council members looked at that, as we tried
to argue, what’s the draw to this town?
“They looked at all those things and said, ‘You
know what? That is an asset that does help draw
people.’”
McFarlane and Bates both credit White Bear Lake
City Manager Ellen Hiniker with being instrumental
in securing the city’s investment in the project.
“She saw the rink as an asset, didn’t see it as a
burden,” Bates said. “Another way that she’s looking
at it is from a re-development perspective. We’re
hoping that this is the start of a re-development of
this area as kind of a gateway into town right here
on Highway 96 where thousands of cars go by every
day.”
McFarlane says 90 percent of the WBLAHA’s
contribution was raised via charitable gambling
with rest coming from direct donations from
families and area businesses. One such donor is
Carlson Chiropractic owner Dustin Carlson, who
grew up playing hockey with McFarlane and skated
in the White Bear Lake Sports Center when it first
opened. Carlson has pledged $25,000 per year for
the next five years.
Retired NHL and Minnesota Wild player Ryan
Carter, who starred as a youth and high school
player in White Bear Lake is happy to see what he
calls the focal point of his youth hockey career
saved from extinction.
“It’s neat the city and community re-invested in
it,” said Carter who delivered the Stanley Cup to the
WBLSC in 2007 as a member of the Anaheim Ducks.
“I understand the economics behind it and a lot of
people other than the city are getting use out of it
but I think it’s valuable to the community and I’m
happy to hear that there’s been a commitment to
it and people recognize the fact that White Bear’s
a hockey town and they deserve a rink or maybe
two.”
Two Rinks, you say? Almost nothing makes
McFarlane’s eyes light up more than the thought of
what he call Phase II.
“My big picture idea is another rink, one where
the high school team can play, to actually play
within the city of White Bear which they haven’t
done since God knows when,” McFarlane said.
“To have two sheets of ice here, potentially have a
curling rink and more of a centerpiece for this side
of town.
“Right now, I think we’ve got Phase I. The main
portion was making sure this rink was still here to
use, which it wasn’t going to be.”
McFarlane says he envisions an arena with threesided
seating which emulates history and sense
of community found in Duluth’s Heritage Sports
Center and the IRA Civic Center in Grand Rapids. It
is an ambitious vision which McFarlane and Bates
both agree will require the participation of a school
district whose varsity boys teams have not played
within the city limits in decades. The White Bear
Lake girls’ varsity team, on the other hand, will
return to the WBLSC after several years of calling
the Vadnais Sports Center home.
“I believe they desperately need a facility for
that high school and I would love to see it back in
White Bear,” McFarlane said. “So if we can get the
community and the school board involved in it, we
shouldn’t have to fundraise the entire sum, but we
do want to get involved and helped them out to
get that built too.”
With that in mind, Bates said extra money was
built into the budget to prepare for the potential
addition, including installing a refrigeration system
capable of handling two rinks, setting it at the
proper angle and doing the preliminary piping
work required in order to connect to the new arena
when the time comes.
White Bear Lake City Engineer Mark Burch, a lifelong
player and current referee, managed the the
renovation of the one-time tennis and racquetball
club just as he did in back 1989 after its property
owners were convinced to sell it to the city at a
reduced price for the purpose of converting it to a
rink.
“One of his first jobs when he started here, the
City Manager said, ‘Hey, you’re a hockey guy, we’re
contemplating buying a building and turning it into
an ice rink,’ and, of course he jumped on board with
that, he just loved the project.” Bates said. “He was
going to retire and the city was in at that point and
they said, ‘Mark will you stick around and manage
this project and put off your retirement?’ and he
did.” 6
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