A broken ice plant at the Notre Dame Recreational Centre has left the rink without ice for what could be the entire season.
Notre Dame president Raymond Comeault said the 34-year-old plant broke down on Aug. 8 or 9 and a new one will cost them up to $500,000.
He said if everything progresses, ice could be back in place around January, but noted that they want to work all the bugs out in the new plant for a few months, and that may last until hockey season is over.
The plant had been showing signs of deterioration in 2015, Comeault said, and the Notre Dame board had been talking since then about replacing it during a summer, but had to keep pushing the date off.
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He said the board has put quite a bit of cash aside over the last few years to pay for most of the plant and the city has offered them a loan guarantee as well to help with the costs.
Most rinks have two types of ice plants, a freon or an ammonia plant, Comeault said.
The community centre is planning on installing a new freon plant, which will cost from $460,000-$500,000. Comeault said it’s a much cheaper option than an ammonia plant, which would cost $1.2 million.
Many teams, including the MMJHL’s St. Boniface Riels, as well as other minor hockey teams based out of St. Boniface, have found new rinks for the season and he expects a financial hit from this.
He said he can’t help but wonder why other rinks like Southdale and Dakota have been given provincial dollars while older rinks like theirs and others in the area like Bertrand and Maginot continue to get left in the dust.
“I’ve been documenting the goings on and upgrades (around the city). It was a bit difficult for our board to look at our ice plant and have to get a loan guarantee, and it’s noticeable that other rinks get provincial funding.”
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