The Enderby and District Curling Club is reeling and the North Okanagan Minor Hockey Association (NOMHA) is in damage control mode following news that their home ice has melted.
The city announced Thursday that both the Enderby Arena’s skating and curling rinks will have their seasons immediately come to an end while repairs are made to prevent further damage to the system.
NOMHA vice president Tracy Berrecloth said Friday that the rink closure will “greatly affect” the remainder of the local hockey season.
“The information of the closure is very fresh so we are working on how to reschedule the remainder of the regular season games, as well as practices that were scheduled there,” Berrecloth said. “We teach teamwork so the association will make a plan as a team and go forward.”
The closure has forced the cancellation of five of the association’s eight remaining tournaments this season, said Berrecloth. She added these tournaments are revenue generators for the association and its teams, and also bring out-of-town guests to the community.
NOMHA uses the Nor-Val Arena in Armstrong as well as the Enderby rink, but the association is still figuring out how games and practices slated for Enderby can be rescheduled.
“Our valley’s ice arenas are at capacity and this closure will affect more than just our organization,” Berrecloth said.
She said the association agrees with the city’s move to close the rink to avoid safety issues. The city said it was shutting down the refrigeration system out of an abundance of caution.
Sharon Taylor, with the Enderby Curling Club, says the news of the rink closure was “a bit of a shock for everybody.” It’s only halfway through the curling season, and Taylor said the club may have to look at reimbursing curlers’ fees if ice time at rinks in neighbouring communities can’t be secured.
“It’s going to be a big hit for sure,” Taylor told The Morning Star. “The curling club runs on a shoestring budget to begin with.”
The rink closure comes at an inopportune time. Taylor said the club was about to host 16 out-of-town teams for a bonspiel this weekend.
The bonspiel has been cancelled, though not for a lack of generosity from nearby rinks.
“We’ve had calls from our neighboring curling clubs, mostly Armstrong. They have been amazing, they have offered up their ice for us.” Taylor said, explaining the Armstrong Curling Club called the Enderby club immediately after news of the closure and told them they could bring their bonspiel to their rink. However, there were too many logistical challenges in too short a time-frame to make it work.
“If we had another week it would have been great.”
The Armstrong club has made its rink available Mondays and Fridays for Enderby players to curl, but other big club events — a mixed bonspiel in February, a couple of tough spiels and two upcoming mixed stick spiels — are in jeopardy of being cancelled.
“We could maybe slide a league over (in Armstrong) and get it going, but there’s still some planning that has to be done,” Taylor said.
Taylor is the club’s ice technician and said the club will have to re-evaluate her contract, now that the ice has been left to melt.
The club is already looking at recouping revenue in some creative ways, such as pivoting to offer the space for pickleball or roller skating.
“We want to stay operational with renting or creating some off season (activity),” Taylor said, adding the arena next door will soon be a dry floor that could be rented out as well.
“This would be good for practice if anybody wants to start lacrosse up earlier.”
Taylor said the club plans to hold a “big party” with its members and the public on Saturday to use up the food and beverages that were ordered for the bonspiel, “so we can possibly go out on a happy note.”
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