The City of Estevan has started the process of removing the ice at Affinity Place.
Estevan city council voted at the March 22 meeting to shut down the building’s ice plant, starting the following day. Typically the ice would be removed in mid-April, but could remain longer depending on the length of the Estevan Bruins playoffs.
The ice has been out at the city’s other hockey rink, the Power Dodge Arena, since the end of February.
In a report to council, parks and facilities manager Rod March wrote that the city agreed to leave the ice in at Affinity Place in anticipation of the SJHL finding a way to salvage a season through a type of bubble tournament.
The SJHL ultimately applied to have the bubble in Weyburn, but found out on Monday night that it was rejected by the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
“Affinity ice has seen very little use since the beginning of March,” March wrote.
There have been sporadic bookings by Estevan minor hockey teams and the Estevan Figure Skating Club this month, but the city has seen equal cancellations versus actual use. These bookings occur only because they have ice available.
The variable cost for Affinity to retain ice is approximately $1,000 a day; at the most they are recouping $200-250 a day in actual use, he said.
On top of this, the city has one potential booking for ice, starting March 28 for 27 hours for a Weyburn team.
“For us to hold the ice until the 28th, then run 27 hours for an out of town team, will cost the city upwards of $10,000 to $12,000, depending on how many days the 27 hours extend to potentially take in $3,100 in gross revenue,” March said.
The city has arena staff in place in anticipation of users on the ice, but the staff is better utilized outside now in various tasks within parks operations.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said the public shouldn’t be surprised that the ice will be coming out of Affinity a few weeks earlier than normal.
“We were hoping to know sooner if there was going to be organized hockey with the Bruins,” said Ludwig.
At $1,000 a day to run the ice plant, the cost adds up quickly.
Last year the ice plant was shut down on March 16, after the local ice sports season came to an abrupt end due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Affinity and the Power Dodge Arena were among numerous city facilities closed to the public.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser wanted to know what kind of consultation has occurred with the user groups, and whether they seemed agreeable to shutting the ice down at this time.
Program manager Erin Wilson said before they thought about picking a day to remove the ice, they spoke with the user groups to get their thoughts.
“All of the groups were also well aware and hopeful that we may have been able to host the SJHL bubble,” said Wilson.
Councillor Lindsay Clark asked if the Estevan Lacrosse Association would be able to use Affinity Place, as long as they follow the current restrictions for team sports. Box lacrosse is already using the Power Dodge Arena, and Wilson said there has been discussion of using Affinity, based on when the ice removal happens.
“It has better spacing for all of the teams,” Wilson said.
March said the plan is to put the ice back in around Aug. 3 of this year, based on the work that Wilson has done with user groups to see who wants ice.
“She has done extensive research and spoken with all of the groups about this,” said March.
