Kinsmen Arena Ice Systems Upgrades

After several months of extensive renovations, we're ready to get back on the ice at the Kinsmen Arena!

We are excited to welcome back Yorkton Minor Hockey for the first skates later tonight, and are looking forward to a busy, bustling rink this season! We appreciate everyone's patience while completing this project, and very happy with the results. This work will ensure that the Kinsmen Arena continues to be a hub of hockey and skating activity for many years to come!

There are a few people we want to thank for their hard work and dedication to this project:

• Alton Tangedal Architect. Ltd, PCL Construction, and all the sub-contractors and trades that came together to get the work done over the past 10 months.
• The City's project team, including the project managers, facility managers, and other staff who were involved in the project from start to finish.
• The Kinsmen Club of Yorkton for their donation and contribution towards the purchase of the new arena boards.
• The Kinsmen Arena staff for their tireless work over the last week to make ice and get things ready for skating.
• The hockey community and residents of Yorkton for giving their insight, feedback, and asking questions along the way.

We hope to see everyone around rink this year!

We’re getting closer to a perfect skating surface!

• The ice is currently 1 inch thick — just shy of the required 1.25 inches.
• 10 hose floods have already been completed to build up the ice.
• Flooding will continue over the weekend while everyone else is enjoying their turkey comas. 🦃
• An ice depth report will be completed to ensure it’s at the right thickness.
• Once confirmed, staff will use the ice resurfacer to scrape out the hardness, creating clearer, faster, top-quality ice.
• Thanks to the new dehumidification system from the project, the usual drips that caused large bumps across the surface have been eliminated. This has allowed staff to create the ice more efficiently, keeping us on track to meet project timelines.

Skating season is almost here — stay tuned as we get ready to hit the ice! ⛸️

The bond layer of ice has been completed and painted white! Next, our team added lines, logos, goal creases, and face-off circles to bring the rink to life. Once those are in place, we’ll seal everything with a boom sprayer to lock in the artwork and keep the surface smooth.

We’ve added 500 pounds of refrigerant to refill the Kinsmen Arena ice plant following the chiller replacement. Last night, the cold floor was also filled with approximately 2,000 gallons of brine (a 98% calcium chloride solution).

We're almost there!

The rink boards and arena glass has been installed, the floor scrubbed clean, and now it's just the final few items before substantial completion next week. Face boards and trim for the spectator seating is nearing the end, with new rubber flooring also being installed. Paint touchups and some railing work is also wrapping up throughout the rink. The final project walkthrough will happen on September 29th, along with piping in the ammonia for the refrigeration plant. Commissioning on the systems will happen after that, and then it's on to making ice!

First day of skating is scheduled for Tuesday October 14th.

It's been a very busy few days at the Kinsmen Arena! Start late last week the new arena boards began installation. This requires drilling into the arena floor and mounting each individual board, then tying it all together for strength and support. Once the boards were installed the stanchions that hold the arena glass were slid into place, and the glass will be installed shortly. Once complete, the remaining protective netting will be secured to the top of the glass.

Another significant milestone in the Kinsmen Arena project will be underway this upcoming weekend! Starting tomorrow, September 12, the new boards and arena glass will be installed, and should be completed by early next week. While we've been waiting for the concrete floor to cure lots of work has progressed:

• Bleacher seating is nearing completion, including the new wheelchair accessible seating area.
• New score clock has been installed.
• Protective netting installed.
• Dehumidification systems installed.
• Sump pump and related controls and alarms installed.
• Gas detection equipment installed in the plant room.
• New hot water heaters installed.

Once the boards are installed some finishing touch ups will be worked on. The Project Team along with the consultant, engineers, and general contractor will be conducting a final walkthrough on September 29th. Completion of the project remains scheduled for October 2nd, at which point ice making will begin, with ice planned for skating Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

After being poured last week, the new arena floor was covered with blankets to assist with the curing process. The blankets were removed Wednesday this week and the concrete is being cleaned. Additional curing time is required before the new rink boards can be installed, however work is continuing on other areas of the project, including bleacher seating, sound system wiring, and installation of new equipment in the mechanical room.

A huge milestone in the Kinsmen Arena project was completed today! Starting early this morning concrete began to flow into the facility to start building up the new arena floor. It took several hours to pour all the concrete, but the work is not finished yet. Power trowelling and finishing work will continue through the evening and overnight to give the arena floor that nice smooth, polished finish.

The concrete requires 28 days to fully cure before work on the new rink boards can start. While waiting for concrete to cure work will continue on areas outside of the arena floor, include spectator and player benches, dehumidification components, and the mezzanine for the new sound booth.

• The cold floor piping has now been installed.
• A layer of metal mesh reinforcement will be placed next.
• The concrete pour is scheduled for August 12, and is expected to take approximately 10 to 12 hours to complete.
• Following the pour, the slab will undergo a 28-day curing period before the next phase of work begins, however other work will continue to progress while we wait.