Puck drops Friday for first game on new ice
Local youth tested out the new ice over the Thanksgiving break last week. The puck drops this Friday for the BV Hockey Association’s first official game at Brandon’s new ice rink. Jill Meier/BV Journal
When the puck drops Friday at Brandon’s new ice complex, the ritual won’t only signify the start of the first official game of junior varsity hockey to be played on the newest sheet of ice at the McHardy Park Ice Rink. The dropping of the puck will also commemorate years of planning and fundraising and months of hard work and physical labor by members of the driving force behind the new ice, the Brandon Valley Hockey Association.
Over the extended Thanksgiving weekend, BVHA members took advantage of the sunny skies and unseasonably mild temperatures to put the finishing touches on the ice complex.
The BVHA has faced a few early-season setbacks. First, a leak was discovered in the chiller, which allows the game to be played in 55-degree weather. BVHA president Tom Cauwels said the leak will be rectified with a rental unit that was expected to arrive Monday. A replacement unit, he added, will follow.
The BVHA invested approximately $500,000 in the refrigerated ice system that was purchased from the University of Michigan.
The BVHA is also waiting on hardware to install the remaining plexiglass panels.
Lastly, the BVHA is also dealing with vandalism that took place sometime during Thanksgiving. Cauwels said damage was done to a door on one of the two recently constructed warming houses at the ice complex.
“They weren’t after anything,” BVHA member Todd Stone said. “Nothing was missing.”
As the BVHA continues with their fundraising efforts to raise $6 million for an indoor rink, the group is planning their first two-day tournament, Puck-N-Pond. The Dec. 8-9 tournament will feature 20 Mini-Mite (6U) and Mite (8U) teams from Luverne and Worthington, Minn., Sioux Falls, Huron, Okoboji, Iowa, and Brandon. Games will start at 9 a.m. Saturday and will be played through sundown.
The event drew considerable interest from area programs, Cauwels said.
“Everybody wants to come and play outside. And if the weather cooperates and it’s a nice day for playing outside, nothing beats that,” he said.
The BVHA will officially celebrate the new endeavor during the Flannel & Frost Festival (ribbon cutting) from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17.
The McHardy Ice Rink will be open to the public during open skate and open hockey times. Those available times will be posted on the BVHA website, brandonvalleyhockey.com, on BVHA’s Facebook page or by calling (605) 582-8900.
