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Quesnel rinks will have ice removed later this month

Both the West Fraser Centre and Arena 2 will be without ice earlier than normal
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The West Fraser Centre will have ice until March 22. Arena 2 will have ice removed on March 15. (File photo - Quesnel Cariboo Observer)

The ice inside Quesnel arenas will be coming out a little earlier than normal.

The director of community services, Jeff Norburn, said the ice will be removed from Arena 2 on Monday, March 15, and the West Fraser Centre on Monday, March 22.

“Most of the sports groups are winding down a little earlier than they might normally,” he said. “Minor hockey is usually winding down by spring break anyway. Normally we have the ice out of the arena by early April, so it’s not like its extremely early, it’s just a couple weeks earlier than usual.”

Quesnel won’t be following Williams Lake, which is planning to leave ice in one of their arenas in year-round.

“Usually near the end of the season a lot of the ice rentals are from adult groups for their year-end tournaments, and none of those are happening because the adult user groups aren’t using the arena at all,” Norburn said. “The minor groups are winding things up a bit earlier than they normally would because there’s no games.”

The walking track at the West Fraser Centre will remain open depending of weather and use.

Norburn said the recreation budget did “better than expected” in 2020, and was waiting on analysis to see what effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the first part of 2021.

“We obviously have a loss of revenue, but adjust our staffing levels as well,” he said. “Hopefully the impact on the budget won’t be significant.”

On March 9, Norburn reported to the North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee staff were talking to Northern Health about the possibility of hosting a mass-vaccination clinic at Arena 2.

READ MORE: Arena 2 could host Quesnel’s mass vaccination clinic

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com


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