Home, sweet home ice in Cottage Grove

A third rink will open this week, cutting travel time and making the city a skating mecca.

By KEVIN GILES, Star Tribune

Last update: October 7, 2008 - 5:36 PM

The opening this week of a new National Hockey League-standard rink will make Cottage Grove a hockey and figure-skating destination as well as curb travel for youth who in the past couldn't get ice time in their own city.

"Once we get all three sheets up and running they should have all their practices and home games here at this facility," said Zac Dockter, the city's parks and recreation manager.

The city expects to open the new rink Friday, about seven months after construction started. The $6.8 million expansion of the Cottage Grove Ice Arena gives the city two large rinks and a smaller rink, all under one roof next door to Park High School.

The project includes a remodeled lobby and concession area and an expanded walkway to the rinks. In the four or five months that it's "ice out" for the new rink, that space can be used for large gatherings such as trade shows, concerts, business expos, circuses and the like, Dockter said.

Construction of the new rink neared completion recently when workers placed 10 miles of refrigeration pipes in the concrete floor. Bleachers will seat about 650 spectators, with standing room at the new rink for about another 350. In the existing larger rink, there's room for about 1,000 spectators in the bleachers with standing room for about another 600.

One of the biggest changes is that hundreds of youth who had been traveling to nearby cities such as St. Paul and River Falls, Wis., no longer will have to do so, Dockter said. Many of those youth, in 15-and-under leagues, had been spending hours a week on the road, he said.

In addition, hockey teams at new East Ridge High School will practice at the Cottage Grove arena for the first few years, he said. East Ridge, which is being built in south Woodbury and expected to open next year, will draw students from both cities and from Newport.

"People are really impressed," Dockter said of the expansion. "We're excited we're getting to the end."

More information about the arena expansion is available on the city website at:

www.cottage-grove.org/parks_rec_ice_arena_expansion.htm

Kevin Giles • 651-298-1554