Yellowknife (Nov 12/04) - Krista Eaton can't wait to test out the new Shorty Brown Arena, which opens this weekend. The 10-year-old goalie with Yellowknife Minor Hockey is one of many Yellowknifers who have witnessed the evolution of ice surfaces in the city.

Ross Torraville, parks and arena maintainer, was busy painting lines on the ice last week in preparation for the opening of the Shorty Brown Arena tomorrow. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo Total complex area -- 8,632 metres Olympic rink -- 100 by 200 feet Second rink -- 85 by 200 feet DND gym -- 460 square metres Gymnastics club -- 968 square metres Addition facilities -- multipurpose room, concession stand Annual maintenance costs -- $332,000 Annual revenue -- $208,000 Staff -- three full-time Original Budget -- $11.267 million Second pad cost -- originally estimated at $4.5 million. Dropped to $2.23 million after Diavik feasibility study. Contributions -- DND donates $1 million for gym. Yk Gymnastics Club spends $1 million for their facility. Facilities for Kids pledges $1 million. City Hall picks up rest of tab, with interim help from Diavik and Yellowknife construction companies.

She began playing at the Gerry Murphy Arena, moved to the community arena and now the Multiplex.

"When you get to skate on a new rink, it's like...yes!" said the excited Grade 4 student.

"There are now three rinks and that means more ice time for everyone."

Eaton is one of many city residents planning to attend the opening ceremonies, starting at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Story begins

The tale of the Yellowknife Multiplex reads like an epic novel.

And, like all epics, the story is chalk full of woes, heroes and the eventual fairy tale ending.

Many Yellowknifers have followed the narrative of the Multiplex word for word since the saga began back in 2001. That was when city council began planning construction of a new arena.

The original plan was simple, just a functional twin-pad arena located next to Sir John Franklin high school.

That simple idea evolved into something truly magnificent -- a complex complete with concession and meeting rooms, a gymnasium and a home for the Yellowknife Gymnastics Club, built on land made available near the now-demolished Yellowknife Correctional Centre.

However, what Mayor Gord Van Tighem saw as expanding opportunities, others viewed as gross mismanagement.

Excitement transformed into controversy.

Costs ballooned and phase one, including an Olympic-sized ice pad, was nearly $3 million over budget. The opening date kept getting pushed back until finally opened in February 2003.

Any excitement over the opening of the first ice surface quickly died when it became clear work on the second pad would be stalled indefinitely.

With the Gerry Murphy Arena decommissioned, user groups were in a state of panic, fearing they would have to begin turning youth away from their programs.

"We're no further ahead than we were 10 years ago," said Kevin Stapleton when the first phase opened.

Stapleton, who began leading a collection of concerned user-groups, would eventually become one of the heroes of this tale by helping form Facilities for Kid.

It has been instrumental in raising the funds needed to pay off the new Multiplex and has since expanded to look into developing other facilities in the city.

But even with the advent of Facilities For Kids, it still looked as if the second pad would remain a dark, roughed-in hole well into the future.

Diavik steps up

The city needed a champion if the project was to be completed before ice users began to suffer.

Sparkling like polished diamonds, Diavik came forward to save the day.

The private company agreed to take over as project manager and financier of the second phase.

Using its purchasing power, engineering expertise and community clout, Diavik not only sped the project forward, they projected they could do it cheaper than the city.

It was news that brought sighs of relief to taxpayers, who were still gun-shy from paying for the first phase of the arena.

Even more savings were eventually realized, when contractors agreed to pitch in their support and do much of the work at cost or with in kind donations.

For example, Rick Bolivar, president of Ryfan Electric, joined with Gap Electric and Independent Electric to put in a joint tender and offer their services as cheaply as possible.

Estimating the cost at $330,000, they also agreed to donate every dollar they came in under budget back to Facilities for Kids.

Doubt about how fast the project could actually be completed dissipated as Diavik made regular announcements, predicting they would beat the scheduled completion date.

At first, they promised Yellowknifers would be skating by the new year, then they offered it as a 2004 Christmas gift. Beyond anyone's expectations, the second pad, which will be named after Shorty Brown, officially opens tomorrow.

User-groups say the new pad will increase ice time by 30 per cent and many clubs are already planning to expand their programs. The controversy of the past has been forgotten in the joy of a happy ending. "It's a good lesson on how things can be done," said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

He said it may also help future city projects, such as a fields facility that's in planning, go more smoothly than the Multiplex did.

However, Van Tighem defended the first phase when he said the direction of the facility was unclear as new opportunities such as the gymnastics club and gymnasium kept coming forward.

But now, with the project complete, all parties are hailing the Multiplex as a fantastic facility.

- with files from Lisa Scott and Alex Glancy