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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - User groups met late Monday evening at city hall to try and salvage ice time after a tube in the Multiplex's evaporator, or chiller, sprung a leak and will require a replacement to be rushed up from Toronto.

Francis Chang is one of many frustrated Yellowknifers after hearing the Multiplex ice surfaces would be shutting down for three to four weeks. - Herb Mathisen/NNSL photo

As a result, both the Olympic and Shorty Brown ice surfaces will be unusable for three to four weeks. Representatives from broomball, figure skating, hockey and speed skating programs were putting forth their cases to Grant White, the city's director of community services and programs manager Brian Kelln.

A chart provided by Kelln showed approximately 79 hours worth of available ice time at the Yk Community Arena - currently the only usable arena in town - each week. Each group had their total ice time reduced to a number based on a percentage of usage.

Some organizations made some big concessions during the meeting. The Yk Rec and Men's Oldtimers hockey leagues both agreed to release their ice time for the month of October in order to help other groups get their time in.

"It's an unfortunate situation, for sure," said rec league president Cory Emsley.

"It seemed every group was looking to find a positive solution. We're missing a month of our season but changing our schedule around would have been a nightmare. We were originally set for around 12 ice times a month and half our teams would only get two games a month. We just figured instead of having that inconvenience, we just decided to go that route."

Gary Sibbald with the oldtimers league came up with a solution everyone seemed to agree with.

"Everyone just put in the times they want and Brian (Kelln) will do the best he can and everyone will just have to live with it."

Todd Ibey, the coaches liaison with the Yellowknife Skating Club, was grateful to the hockey teams doing what they did.

"I think it's wonderful the adults gave up their ice time," he said. "Granted, they play later in the evening than what we can do but it sure helps out."

During the meeting, Ibey suggested the problem with the chiller was first heard about in the spring but nothing was done.

"I don't know where it fell apart, but I'm hoping Grant (White) will look into it," he said.

White was surprised no one came up with creative ways to use what little ice time there is, such as combining practices.

"They talked about figure skating sharing the ice but they didn't raise the idea of other groups doing that," he said.

White also assured people there won't be any problems in terms of user fees.

"Groups pay for what they use," he said.

"There won't be any refunds expected and we've received no cash yet from anybody. It's a pay-as-you-go system."

Groups themselves would be investigating what to do with any type of refund. If any, they would give back to those who have already registered.

"I'm going to my first meeting Wednesday and I know that's the first question that will come up," said Emsley. "I'm confident the rec league will find a creative way to balance everything out."

One way they could do that is by reducing league fees for next season, Emsley added.

The rinks were shut down Monday evening and will not be operational until the new chiller is installed.

Francis Chang, a minor hockey parent, is concerned the two pads are being shut down just as the season is starting up.

"They're shutting it down until it arrives here? They don't seem to know what they are doing, from my perspective," he said.

"The ice has been in now for about three or four weeks. Quite a long time," he said. "All these kids have been looking forward to the season."

On Sept. 11, White said workers discovered the facility's refrigerating plant that ammonia levels were going down and pin-pointed that to a leak in the chiller.

The chiller is about 10 feet long and three feet across and contains around 500 tubes. The steel tubes contain pressurized ammonia on the inside, which acts as a coolant for circulating salt-water brine lines that run outside of them. These lines stretch from the plant down under the ice surfaces, and ultimately create the temperatures needed to maintain the ice.

The new chiller has been custom ordered from Simcoe Refrigeration in Toronto.

White said a rush has been put on the item, and hoped it would arrive, and be installed, in three to four weeks.

Chang wondered why the refrigerating plant couldn't have been started up in July for a test.

When the leak was discovered, White said they were going to do a patch job that would hold until a quiet time in December or spring.

However, that quickly became impossible.

"The leak got so big, so fast that we couldn't do that," said White.

White said if they prolonged replacement, and the salt-water brine got into the refrigerant system, it could cause extensive damage to the plant's compressors.

Chang heard news of the closure over the weekend, through word of mouth. He wondered why it took so long for the city to contact user groups, like the Yellowknife Minor Hockey Association.

"It's a big mess and nobody is answering any questions," he said.

White said groups were contacted only after the city realized the magnitude of the leak.

Chang, a journeyman mechanic by trade, said this is not the first maintenance issue at the facility.

"Last year, it was the brine pump," he said. "They had to shut the arena down for a couple days."

"It's very frustrating," he said.

"They are always trying to fight a fire instead of preventing one."