LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - While it won't be open as early as organizers hoped, the old rink in Fort Simpson is still on track to provide a full ice season.

Casual workers Calvin Villeneuve, left and Miles Lafferty re-assemble the puck board at the Fort Simpson rink, which organizers hope will be open later this month. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

"I'm hoping for the 15th (of November)," said Trevor Kjeldsli, who is managing the reconstruction of the old rink.

"That's because of the temperature and running into few construction glitches here and there."

On Friday, a crew of village and casual workers were nearing the end of re-assembling the rink's puck boards, which had been taken apart for a planned concrete pour in the village's arena.

"I estimate we're about 65 per cent done," Kjeldsli said of the total project.

He and other workers on the scene said the biggest "glitch" has been fighting to get the rink doors re-hung.

"You have to make sure they're straight with the puck board," said Miles Lafferty, a casual worker who was added to the crew a few weeks ago.

"It's going pretty good," fellow worker Calvin Villeneuve added. "We're moving pretty fast."

Despite construction delays, Kjeldsli said warmer-than-average temperatures through much of October would have delayed the rink's opening this year regardless.

"Last year, Mother Nature agreed with us, and we could open early," Kjeldsli said of 2006's Oct. 22 opening.

The re-assembly in the rink comes after months of delays and confusion postponed the pour of a new, $300,000 concrete rink until next year.

Last month, Fort Simpson Mayor Duncan Canvin said contractor Dillon Consulting was "overextended" by Western Canada's construction boom and that Fort Simpson's projects - which also included a new pool - "fell through the cracks."

The $300,000 concrete rink was originally planned for July, while the $800,000-$1.2 million pool was to be opened Sept. 1.

This left village workers scrambling to get the rink back to the "same old, same old," re-assembling boards and levelling dirt before the ice can go down.

This parallels similar work one concrete wall away, as village crews renovate the curling rink, replacing the siding and wood posts that frame the ice. Crews there were hoping for an end-of-the-month opening.

As Fort Simpson's ice season starts right after he opens the rink, Kjeldsli said he and his crew are feeling the pressure to get things done quickly - as usual.

"I feel pressure from the community every year," Kjeldsli said. "It goes with the job."

"It's kind of a good thing, it pushes me to open earlier every year."