Pissing Match!?

What the hell is going on with the Ice Oval!

For over nine years a fantastic group of volunteers have been maintaining the Ice Oval and thousands of users have enjoyed what had become a real jewel in our community. Going to the ice oval had really become one of the highlights of the winter season, especially for families. It was a fantastic facility with everyone from toddlers taking their first steps on blades to adults trying to get re-oriented after years off skates to recreational skaters trying get in some exercise to school groups to hockey players to serious speed skaters all enjoying the fresh air and great ice. Sure at times the ice was congested and people would have to be on their toes watching out for others but that is more a testament to what an important and valuable facility the ice oval had become. The oval was a winter activity people could count on. It was well maintained, always open (depending on weather of course) and free. In a northern community it is important to have winter activities that are affordable and accessible for families and everyday citizens to stay active and healthy through the dark winter months and the ice oval filled a valuable need in our city.

So my question again is what the hell has happened!

Last year the Ice Oval Society asked the city for some land (and money I believe) to move and improve the oval. This to me was a no brainer as why wouldn't we support these amazing volunteers who provide such a fantastic service. Well, the society received what they wanted and the changes to oval were made and now it is January 11th and the ice oval remains closed. I have spoken personally to dozens of people who, especially over Christmas, have shown up to the oval expecting to skate as they have done for nearly a decade only to find the gates locked. Some of the closure has been blamed on weather (too much snow, too cold, cracking ice) but we have had a lot worse conditions in the past and the oval has been open. The main issue seems to be a pissing match between the city and the Ice Oval Society about user groups. Last year there happened to be an ugly incident between an adult speed skater and a 15 yr old hockey player. So of course now we need to have hours of operation for different user groups, they have taken the hockey area out of the centre of the oval, they need to hire security and restrict the hours the oval is open. Hmmmm, let me see 9 years, thousands of users, one incident. Ya, sounds like we had a real problem there. I guess we will not have to worry about and incidents this year as there are no users. As someone who loved the oval and truly respected the job done by the volunteers I now really pissed off that any of my tax dollars have gone into this situation. I will gladly pay more to have the oval open and accessible but if it is going to become a speed skating only oval with other user groups being severely restricted then I say shut it down. Hey, if the problem is the kids playing hockey in the middle crossing the ice and spilling out into the oval then flood an area next to the oval so they don't have to cross the ice.

I don't know who is to blame and I am sure there are issues that need to be addressed but as Dick Voneugen, longtime volunteer and founding father of the oval, said in the paper the other day, "for nine years we’ve been freezing ice and when it was ready, we skated, and what has changed?”