The Northern Lights Palace (shown), as well as Nipawin's Centennial Arena host SJHL teams, while the Tisdale RecPlex houses the U18 AAA Trojans. (File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Back on the Ice

Local municipalities preparing to open rinks for season

Jul 16, 2020 | 2:00 PM

Rinks in Saskatchewan have been permitted to open since July 6 and local municipalities are getting their facilities ready.

In Melfort, City Manager Ryan Danberg confirmed to northeastNOW they are tentatively planning to open the Northern Lights Palace arena on Aug. 17. Ice would begin going in prior to that. He also said the Kerry Vickar Centre is set to open on Sept. 1, while the Northern Lights Palace Pool is tentatively set for some time during the first week of September.

Danberg said there wasn’t a huge rush to open the rink as July is usually quite quiet there.

“Obviously everything is subject to availability and demand on all of the facilities, so that’s what we’re closely watching,” he said. “As well as closely watching the COVID-19 situation in the province, so we’ll keep a close watch on that and if changes need to be made, we’ll have to do so.”

Precautions and guidelines are also constantly changing with the pandemic and how to combat it. For things like arenas, Danberg said they will make sure to follow the guidelines set out.

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“The key word is social distancing and we have to adhere to that,” he said. “A lot more disinfecting will have to be done by our personnel at all facilities and we’re looking at better ways to accomplish this.”

Danberg added during the shutdown, they were able to get things done at their facilities, so there isn’t much extra that needs to be done outside of the normal operations and COVID guidelines.

“We’re going to take every precautionary measure that we can to make sure that our facilities are safe for the people of Melfort,” Danberg told northeastNOW.

Meanwhile, the rink at the Tisdale RecPlex is also set to open on Aug. 17 as there are some hockey camps there that month. Chief Administrative Officer Brad Hvidston said they will likely begin ice making on Aug. 6 to be ready for opening. He said that as long as COVID-19 and the government guidelines permit, it will be close to business as usual.

“We will be following any of the recommendations and protocols,” Hvidston said. “But if we’re allowed to open up games and practices as normal, then we will be open for business.”

Hvidston added they have kept their staff by moving them to outside positions for the summer, but they will be going back into the rink.

In Nipawin, an official date hasn’t been set on when the town plans to open Centennial Arena again. Director of Parks and Recreation Chelsea Corrigan told northeastNOW they are planning to open up the same time as usual, COVID-19 permitting, which would be sometime in “mid-August or early-September.” Some equipment repairs and replacements also need to get done prior to opening, but that is not expected to delay the opening.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6