IQALUIT - After years of sitting idle and gathering dust, there will be ice sports played at the Arctic Winter Games Arena once again.

Premier Eva Aariak, left, Iqaluit mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik and Leona Aglukkaq, minister responsible for the North, are all smiles at the re-opening of the Arctic Winter Games Arena in Iqaluit on Oct. 13. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

The arena's surface floor had its grand re-opening on Oct. 13 after work was completed on leveling out the floor.

Amy Elgersma, the city's recreation director, said the opening was a long time coming.

"It was so disappointing for some many people here," she said. "User groups weren't able to use it, youth groups couldn't use it, so having it non-operational was a big disappointment."

The arena was originally built for the 2002 Arctic Winter Games and opened for business on October of 2001. Once the games ended, the arena was left as a legacy, but there wasn't much of a legacy to be had because the floor began to sink in 2003. There were events held at the arena in other parts of the facility, but the arena lay empty.

Elgersma said the job was to rip out the floor and basically build it anew.

"The floor was torn up and re-done and the refrigeration lines were also re-done," she said. "We also had 130 piles driven into the ground and added a steel frame to the concrete."

Elgersma said some of the piles were driven into the bedrock as deep as 30 feet, which shouldn't cause any problems now.

The GN contributed nearly $750,000 to the project through the department of Community and Government Services and Premier Eva Aariak said she's relieved to see the facility re-open in full.

"I have a son who plays minor hockey here and it's a big relief to now be able to go to an arena at a reasonable time," she said. "The community needed this badly because Iqaluit has seen huge growth. It's a welcoming thing."

With a regulation-sized arena now in operation, Aariak said there could be the possibility of the territory bidding for large-scale events in the future.

"We have the rink now, so why not?," she said. "The hockey tournaments here in Nunavut go from place to place and I feel we can accommodate those teams with pride now here in Iqaluit. I'm sure our speedskaters, and we have some terrific speedskaters in the territory, will benefit from this as well."

Beyond hockey, other user groups in the city will now be able to get to use the ice, such as speedskating, figure skating and various school groups.

Elgersma said the groups were given ice time based on a request process.

"We made the schedule based on those requests and everyone's in," she said. "We're going full-swing now and everyone's excited about it. We've had a lot of positive feedback so far."

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