Pucks poised for McHardy ice rink debut

Hockey will hit the ice at the new McHardy Park ice rink in mid-November, said Brandon Valley Hockey Association president Tom Cauwels last week.

“The big thing we need to do is make ice and get grass down, and then we can hit the ice,” Cauwels said.

The refrigerated rink will be home to the 115 members of the Brandon Valley Ice Cats, who range in age from three to 18, including a junior varsity team acquired this fall. 

The BVHA broke ground on the $500,000 project in late August. Over the past two months, volunteers and workers have framed out the rink, installed player benches and rubber-matted walkways, poured sidewalk, laid power lines for the scoreboard and brought in a chiller that will allow games and tournaments to take place as long as the weather stays below 55 degrees. 

The facility was expected to be ready Nov. 1, but an unseasonably warm October pushed the timeline back. 

“That stretch of 70-plus days really hampered us, but we’re finally getting what we need to start making ice,” Cauwels said. 

Brandon’s mini mite, mite, peewee and JV teams are currently practicing in Sioux Falls and Luverne. 

“There’s just not enough ice time in the area to support our kids to play hockey,” Cauwels said. “This is the best way to get our kids quality ice time.”

The refrigerated system buys time until the BVHA can raise enough for an indoor rink.

“The plan is once we build our indoor rink, we’ll be able to move this, and we’ll have two sheets of refrigerated ice, one indoor and one outdoor,” Cauwels said. “The plan is to move it wherever our new rink will go, and the site always talked about has been Aspen Park.”

The city of Brandon’s recent purchase of 32 acres to expand Aspen Park may help make that possible.

The BVHA needs to raise $6 million for a turnkey, or indoor, rink. Once $1.75 million is raised, work can begin while the association continues fundraising. 

“If we can skate outdoors this season and next season, and possibly a third year, I think that will give us more than enough time to raise funds, find some ground, work with the city and get this built,” Cauwels said. 

In the meantime, the BVHA is working on hosting a mini mite and mite tournament at the new McHardy Park refrigerated rink in December. 

“If that falls into place and everything happens as it should, there will be 20 teams,” Cauwels said. “It will be a weekend of mite and mini mite hockey.”

The new rink will allow the Ice Cats to host league games, too. 

“We’ve never hosted a pee wee game in Brandon or JV,” Cauwels said. “There will be a lot of firsts.”

For more information on the BVHA, including open skate times at the new rink and donation opportunities, visit brandonvalleyhockey.com.