Photo courtesy Prince George Outdoor Oval (January 2020)

By Caden Fanshaw

OUTDOOR OVAL

New Kin Centre ice plant can’t help ‘chill’ PG Outdoor Oval

Nov 27, 2020 | 4:32 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Although it’s nearly December, the mild winter weather has not been overly kind to the Outdoor Ice Oval.

President of the Outdoor Oval Society Kathy Lewis says normally they can start to make the ice around this time, but not this year.

The city recently announced it was replacing the aging Kin Centres ice plant with a new one coming with a price tag of $4.45 million.

Wade Loukes, Manager of Operations with the City of Prince George Events Group says that adding another surface to refrigerate is not currently do-able without a sizeable upgrade, instead of a replacement.

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“If they were to build onto a Kin 4 for example and tie into the plant, or refrigerating the oval perspective, it could be looked at but it would be a major upgrade to the current refrigeration plant,” says Loukes.

Loukes says the upgrades are necessary to prevent a ‘major break-down’ that could cause all three sheets of ice at the Kin Centres to be closed.

Loukes says the City of Prince George is a leader for other municipalities for maintenance work and efficiency for staff within facilities.

The movement has been going on to get some sort of refrigeration system into Prince George’s largest skating surface for quite some time says oval society President Kathy Lewis.

‘Chill the Oval’ gained significant momentum after the 2015 Canada Winter Games where mild weather forced the long-track speedskating competition to be relocated to Fort St. John in an indoor refrigerated facility.

The oval society has a fund started as they try to raise money to ‘Chill the Oval’ but they’ve only managed to raise $60,000 for a project that could cost more than $5 million dollars.

The Outdoor Oval society is down volunteers this year, and they’re hoping you may be up for an ice-breaking experience. You can reach out through their website here.

The oval is still over a week away from opening.