Morinville’s first indoor hockey arena will reopen this September with a new name, a new owner, and a new mission.
Morinville council officially announced the sale of the Ray McDonald Sports Centre to the Alberta Arena Authority (formerly known as The Arena Inc.) on Aug. 25.
Council voted 6-0 (Coun. Rebecca Balanko absent) to sell the venerable hockey and curling rink to the arena group for $200,000 on June 23. The sale did not include the parking lot, splash park and other facilities around the rink, which are still under town control.
Originally built as a hangar by the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942, the Ray McDonald was remodelled to serve as Morinville’s first indoor ice arena in 1960. In 2013, escalating repair costs prompted the town to pursue a replacement arena – now known as the Morinville Leisure Centre.
Town staffers closed the Ray McDonald in March 2019 and planned to demolish the arena side of it for $2 million. The town put away its wrecking ball when the arena group offered to buy the facility in August 2019.
The AAA is a group of three Stony Plain investors who have extensive backgrounds in hockey, said spokesperson Andrew Archer, who used to play in the American Hockey League. The group had its eye on several area arenas, but picked the Ray McDonald due to its proximity to St. Albert and the depth of the region’s hockey community.
“As hockey parents and coaches, we are acutely aware of and understand the frustration that come with shortages of ice (time) and the need for dynamic programs and development,” Archer said.
Archer said the arena group hopes to make money off this facility by hosting games, tournaments and training programs. The current pandemic means there won’t be as many tournaments as they expected, but they are still confident in their business model.
Archer said the group has yet to settle on a name for the facility and hopes to sell its naming rights. For now, they have dubbed it the Alberta Arena Authority.
Archer said the group has upgraded the facility’s roof, lights, foundation, mechanical and electrical systems, and paintjob, and hopes to have it open for business by the first week of September.
Town planning and economic development director Brad White said the upgraded arena, when combined with facilities at the MLC, would let Morinville host major hockey tournaments and draw new businesses and residents. The Morinville Curling Club had also signed a five-year deal with the arena group to use the curling rink.
White said money from this sale would go toward the $184,805.08 debt the town had on the arena, which was related to some extra rooms added to it decades ago. The town would work with the Morinville Historical and Cultural Society to figure out what to do with the trophies, signs and other artefacts salvaged from the arena.
Questions on the arena should go to [email protected].
