With hockey season just around the corner, Jasper Arena manager Peter Bridge is eager to show off the arena’s new renovations.

After years of delays—due to the library taking up space in the arena as it waited for its new home to be completed—the renovations were finally completed, just in time for the Edmonton Oilers prospect camp, July 3-7.

“The renovations actually make such a big difference,” Bridge said.

The improvements include a new water treatment system for the rink, a natural gas filling station, a revamped Zamboni storage room and a new larger natural gas-fuelled Zamboni.

“The old Zamboni was really on its last leg last year and we just scraped by with it,” said Bridge, adding that the previous Zamboni was 20 years old and logged more than 11,000 hours worth of use. “Also the old Zamboni ran of off gasoline, which omitted a lot of emissions which isn’t ideal in a closed building.”

While the final numbers aren’t in yet, Bridge said the renovations cost more than $135,000 while the Zamboni cost $138,000.

“An arena is big thing to maintain with big expenses,” Bridge said.

According to the arena manager, the new water filtration system will greatly improve the quality of the arena’s ice while the new Zamboni will do a premium job maintaining the rink.

“What was happening with the old ice was that there were a lot of minerals in the water, which was wearing down equipment and not providing the best quality ice,” Bridge said. “And the old Zamboni was a lot smaller, so it took a long time to get anything done.

“We’ve got a really busy season ahead so all of this will be really helpful with that.”

So far the arena is already booked for 33 tournaments for the 2016-2017 season—a slight increase compared to last year.

“If I had two rinks I could easily fill them,” Bridge said. “People always want to come to Jasper to host competitions.”

In 2018, Bridge said the arena will undergo more renovations. Depending on the arena’s budget, Bridge is hoping the future repairs will include new floors, boards and dressing rooms.

“It’s an old building and we’ll do what we can afford, but the priority is really going to be the floor and boards,” said Bridge, adding that he hopes the revamping will attract NHL training camps.

“We’re going to try to soften up the boards—training camps don’t want to come here because our boards are too stiff, so we’ll work on that.”

 

Source : fitzhugh.ca

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