Rink volunteers performed another maintenance flood last night from Marshall Springs.  We are finally getting close to our rink opening.  The weather has not been conducive to rink flooding this year.  Temperatures were above freezing until December 19th and then it became too cold to flood.  Anything below -15C is dangerous for both volunteers and plumbing!  We hit -29C on December 26th!

Awesome news for our big rink!  Principal Shawn O'Neill after consultation with the CBE has agreed to let our rink volunteers use two of the Marshall Springs outside hose bibs to perform maintenance floods.  Having easily accessible water will make it a lot easier for our volunteer crews.  With funding from our Alberta Government CIP Grant, we were able to purchase enough fire hose to go from the school all the way to the rink.  The picture below is only part of the complete setup!

The 2017/2018 rink season is on it's way!  With support from our successful Alberta Government Community Initiatives Program "CIP" Grant, we were able get the grading on the rink nearly complete.  We also purchased over 20,000 square feet of rink tarp to keep the new loam out of our rink.  An intrepid crew of 10 volunteers spent 20 man hours yesterday putting the tarps down, taping them, and anchoring them to the ground with structural wood screws.  That tape is a real bear to work with in 5C weather.  Thank you volunteers!

And that good looking dude in the picture?  He is almost 5 feet tall. 

The notorious Calgary weather has finally beaten our rink.  It is a huge slush ball now and unsafe for skating.  A huge thank to all the volunteers who kept the rink going for the entire season!

Our ice rink is open!  A huge thank you to the City of Calgary Fire Department for performing the initial flood of our inaugural big rink.  The rink is over 12,000 square feet of skating surface.  Nearly 3/4 the size of an NHL hockey rink!

We have also applied for an Alberta Government Community Initiatives Program "CIP" Grant to help cover the cost of the rink.  We still have quite a bit of grading, loaming and seeding to do before the project is complete.