The Town of Rosthern is almost finished a massive upgrade to its arena. (Submitted Photo/Rosthern Recreation Facebook)

By Rob Mahon

Rosthern Rink Rebuilt

$1.8 million Rosthern rink rehab nears completion

May 17, 2022 | 3:00 PM

Hockey season may be over in the town of Rosthern, but good news for local players is coming nonetheless. If all goes as planned, it may even mean hockey season gets a little longer for the community in future years.

An upgrade and overhaul of the town’s arena, which cost $1.8 million, is due to be finished this summer. The rehabilitation of the rink will mean an overhaul of everything from the ice surface to the roof.

“We removed the concrete ice surface and all of the lines for the brine and stuff like that,” said Nicole Lerat, town CAO. “We upgraded all of that, we dug out the base, put in a new sub-base, poured new concrete, put in new lines which connect to the ice plant, new boards around the whole ice surface as well.”

A fresh pad of concrete should make for stronger ice, but to even get to the point where they could work on the concrete, they had to perform several other renovations as well.

“When you do a reno to an older building, you’ve got all of these code issues that you’ve got to do,” said Lerat. “A little bit with the bleachers and things like that, a new roof. Just on the main arena part, new roofing but literally a new roof over the dressing rooms. We had to replace all of the rafters and everything like that.”

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Rehabilitation for the arena has been on the town’s agenda for quite some time. Though actual work on the project was kickstarted by grants, awareness of the need for it goes back much further.

“We noticed cracks in the ice probably six or seven years ago and every year they get wider,” said Lerat. “We started putting a little bit of money away, not realizing the extent of what the cost would be.”

When grants became available through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), the town applied and secured some funding. In the end, 70 per cent of the costs were covered by grants, which Lerat said really moved it ahead of schedule.

“The ice surface is already completed,” Lerat said. “The roof is (roughly) 80 per cent done… With that, we also put a hot deck in, which means we can keep the ice longer, maybe have some summer hockey. There’s lots of demand for ice rentals for that and there aren’t a lot of rinks that can provide that.”

Lerat also said the town will be working on their water main for future development on a property in the central area of town. She added they’ll be spending another $1 million on the second phase of their lagoon project, which will make for a busy summer for the town all told.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP