Martensville hockey community thrilled to see construction begin on second rink

Trevor Hanley says those heading out to Martensville will see some building materials and earth that’s been moved on the east side of the overpass.

The Martensville Minor Hockey Association president said that view is a lot more exciting than it may seem at first glance. The site is set to be developed into a new community recreation facility, thanks in part to funding from the federal and provincial governments.

Martensville’s current ice arena. (Trevor Hanley/Submitted)

Along with an indoor soccer pitch, a climbing wall, and meeting rooms, the facility will feature a brand-new hockey rink for the growing community.

“This is going to be huge,” Hanley said. “It’s going to be a really great community facility.”

Martensville’s current rink was built in the 1980s, and Hanley said it’s starting to show its age.

“It’s dated,” he said. “They tried to fix it up a little bit here and there … but it’s old and it needs a few repairs.”

Getting grants approved by the federal and provincial governments for the project was “really great news,” Hanley said. He called the new rink a huge development for minor hockey in the city just north of Saskatoon.

Between 450 and 500 kids are registered to play hockey in Martensville, which has a population of about 10,000. Hanley said the number is comparable to youth hockey participation levels in much larger cities like Prince Albert.

“We’ve been screaming this message for a long time,” Hanley said with a chuckle.

Hanley has been on the Martensville Minor Hockey Association’s board for almost a decade. Shortly after he joined, Hanley said the decision was made to stop hosting hockey tournaments in Martensville.

“We just didn’t have enough ice where we could allocate tournament ice on weekends,” Hanley said.

The city’s only rink is in use Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. until as late as 11 p.m. on most nights, Hanley said. Kids will be on the ice and practising before school starts, and many stay well into the evenings in order to allow each team practice time at the facility.

“We’re using the existing rink facility as much as possible,” Hanley said.

Hockey players at Martensville’s current arena. (Trevor Hanley/Submitted)

To accommodate the demands for ice time beyond what Martensville’s sole rink can manage, Hanley said teams have rented ice time and commuted to communities like Dalmeny, Langham, Hepburn, Waldheim, Rosthern, Radisson and Aberdeen.

Hanley said the new sheet of ice — bumping the city up to two rinks — is going to mean home tournaments could be a possibility once again in Martensville, keeping teams in their home city and bringing other teams into Martensville to play.

Less travel for Martensville teams will also mean more benefits for small business owners, he said, who have long supported minor hockey in the city. For Hanley, it’s gratifying that the work the city and community members have been doing to drum up support for the new community recreation facility has now paid off.

“It feels really good to be at this stage,” he said.

With demand for ice time still so significant in the community, the question of further growth — and the need for a third sheet of ice — is a conversation that will likely need to happen in the future, Hanley said.

He noted the city also has a “robust and growing” skating program that also uses the current rink, and will certainly be using the new facility when it’s built.

“There’s definitely room,” he said. “Everybody around us seems to be clamouring for ice time.”

But that doesn’t mean Hanley’s feeling any urgency to build a third rink just yet.

“We’ll be happy with that for now,” Hanley shared. “We’re going to celebrate and feel pretty awesome about the fact that we’re getting a new rink facility.”

The tentative opening date for the recreational facility is set for 2024, allowing for about two years of construction. But after so much anticipation and campaigning for a new facility, Hanley said a two-year wait will never feel shorter.

“When we’ve been talking about this for as long as we have, two more years just seems like a walk in the park,” he said with a laugh.

Martensville will host Hockey Day in Saskatchewan from Jan. 16-22, with all funds raised going towards supporting the construction of its new community facility.