'It's been devastating': Fort Smith Centennial Arena closes again after another breakdown

The Centennial Arena in Fort Smith, N.W.T., has temporarily closed its doors just one week after its late opening. The closure is caused by another malfunction in the ice-making plant.

A season that should have started in October got off to a late start when the fire suppression system failed. After that was fixed, the glycol pump in the ice plant broke, and most recently the system's brine pump failed.

It's a frustrating time for the community with some hockey teams only getting one or two skates in before shutting down. The closure also comes just ahead of the Annual Christmas Classic, a highly anticipated hockey tournament usually held at the end of December.

Director of community services and acting SAO Emily Colucci said it's been a stressful time for town of Fort Smith staff.

"Our staff have been working around the clock to try and get the facility accessible. And to have another failure take it out of the community yet again, it's been devastating," she said.

Colucci said they have been working with the Canadian Ice Machine Co. (CIMCO) and a local contractor to try and get the plant up and running. Through that work, they were able to confirm the issue with the brine pump.

She has confirmed a replacement part is now on the way, along with a technician to install it. If all goes well, the plant should start producing ice this weekend.

"Unfortunately it's almost been a comedy of errors," Colucci said. "We've had one problem after the next,"

This isn't the first time the hockey season was at risk for Fort Smith players. In 2013 a fire broke out at the arena in the early morning of May 13, and burned for hours before being discovered by employees. The arena was at risk of shutting down for the 2013-2014 ice season but ended up with a delayed start instead.

A disappointing time but some finding ways to pivot.

Some families are finding ways to pivot into other activities. Bev Chepelsky said the closure is disappointing but her daughter Yevah Chepelsky-Tetso is just as happy passing the time sliding, snowmobiling and hanging out at the library.

"Her spirit is still high so when she has the opportunity to play she's happy to play," said Chepelsky. 

Chepelsky said years of COVID and COVID mandates also forced their family to adjust to the restrictions at public facilities. She said her family of five all played hockey in previous years. But this year it was just her daughter that went back.

"It was a huge adjustment because I used to live at the arena, I was there seven days a week for a couple of years," she said.

Chepelsky said she was looking forward to watching her daughter play hockey this year but after adjusting to the unpredictability over the last couple of years, this was just another opportunity to try new things.

Questions going forward

There were a lot of questions about prevention at a standing committee meeting at the town office on Tuesday. Councillors asked Colucci what could have been done to prevent this from happening and what options they have moving forward.

Colucci explained that the ice plant is a highly specialized refrigeration system, and requires a trained technical background to run the system. Also, the multiple equipment failures happened in quick succession making it harder to get replacement parts. 

Some suggestions from the council included having brand-new backup parts on hand for future breakdowns. They also asked if skilled technicians can work with local employees to show them how to run the plant or troubleshoot if necessary.

Mayor Fred Daniels and deputy mayor Jay Macdonald both agreed that this was a good idea. Macdonald added that he understands this was a learning experience for everyone involved.

"There are a lot of things that you only know through time," he said. "I wanna give the staff credit for the effort. I know it can be pretty overwhelming and I'm very pleased they did everything they could to try and resolve what happened,"