Civic Centre provides thin ice for politicians

It’s an old axiom of politics not to get the soccer moms, hockey parents and skater moms and dads on your bad side. So one wonders what it is exactly that our local politicians might be thinking after a rather serious blast of ill will destined their way over the deteriorating state of the city’s only ice surface.

The Daily News had the slushy details of a rather challenging night for the Prince Rupert Figure Skating Club as ice problems at the Civic Centre made for a rather tense grand finale to the skating season.

The problems at the local rink have been a long running affair with the city’s Zamboni apparently having long lived past its effective life. Financial constraints have made stop gap measures the order of the day, and that’s not sitting well with anyone associated with minor hockey or figure skating in the city.

The less than happy residents are demanding action on the ongoing problem and no doubt city council will be happy that hockey and skating season are over giving them a few months to try and find a solution suitable to all.

Broken zamboni drives skaters mad
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Pond hockey is an aspect of Canadiana that makes the country unique. From coast to coast, young kids take to the frozen pond in the dead of winter to play some pond hockey.

In Prince Rupert, the rainy climate doesn’t usually allow for that type of phenomenon, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. The only problem, according to local skaters, is that too often in the past three years, pond hockey has taken place inside the Jim Ciccone Arena.
Now, you can add pond figure skating to that list, after the Prince Rupert Skating Club had to struggle through Oliver Lake-like conditions to ensure their season-ending Ice Show could still take place, as it did Saturday night, due to a broken zamboni.

Not surprisingly, figure skating coach Sheri Pringle has had enough.

“It’s an ongoing issue, and it needs to be addressed,” she said. “Anyone who walks into that building can see it. Something needs to be done.”

Nearly two weeks ago, the hydraulic pump broke,and because it’s a specialized part, the recreation centre had to order a part from out-of-town. They had hoped to have the arena operational in time for last weekend, but the part didn’t arrive in Rupert until Tuesday afternoon.

“There’s a reason why we had to go out of town for this,” said Dave Walters, maintenance coordinator at the civic centre.

“It’s a specialized part.”

Needless to say, that made “A Night at the Oscars” Ice gala almost a tribute to another movie coming out later this month — Blades of Glory — in the fact that the skating club managed to get through it.

“It was okay for the little guys, but our older kids did struggle out there,” said Pringle. “The ice is stickier, and the texture is different, (so) when they’re (toe) picking, it’s a totally different feel.”

The arena staff, in preparation for the event, used a hose to flood the ice Friday night, forcing the skate club to change their dress rehearsal to first thing Saturday morning.

Then, staff had to use a squeege to fill in the cracks after the water dried, and then, they hosed it down again after the skating club was finished practicing, said Pringle.

“The arena staff was awesome,” said Pringle, thankful the gala wasn’t cancelled outright. “The ice guys have gone above and beyond to get the ice ready for us.

“But it’s administration that isn’t doing anything, and that’s got to change.”

Minor hockey was also affected, as several practices and season-ending games (specifically in the novice division) were cancelled.

Organizers of the annual high school hockey game were also concerned that the event, after three months of planning, wouldn’t happen this Saturday, and the Adventure Paving Raiders female hockey team were also worried their Friday night charity event would end up cancelled as well (see related story on page 6.)

Minor hockey representative, and coach for the Charles Hays Secondary School hockey team this weekend, Bruce Tessier, agreed with Pringle that it’s about time the city of Prince Rupert did something about it.

“We’ve lost it (the ice) three times in the past four years,” he said. “The last two times, we blew a head gasket, this time, it was the pump.

“The mayor of Prince Rupert knows that the zamboni has to be replaced. I know the city’s finances aren’t in good shape. But we definitely need a new zamboni by 2010.”

That year, Prince Rupert is hosting the Northern B.C. Winter Games in celebration of their centennial year.

“And no out-of-town teams are going to settle for pond hockey for a gold medal game, and naturally, no figure skater will step foot on the ice if they know they first need to bring a shovel,” said Tessier “The (city) knows that zamboni has lived well past its life expectancy.”

Pringle meanwhile now only has one day to prepare her skaters for their final test day, which happens on Thursday. It’s akin to taking away a piano from a musician for two weeks prior to a final exam, and she’s not happy, but she’s hopeful her athletes can persevere and get the job done.

“Of course I’m concerned about it, but you have to deal with it,” she said. “Luckily, it’s the lower-end tests, so the skaters should be okay.”