RANKIN INLET - The optimism of a slick beginning to a new hockey season in Rankin Inlet has melted away to frustration and bitter disappointment during the past six weeks.

The Rankin arena had a beautiful sheet of ice ready to go after a special ice-making course was held in the hamlet from Sept. 11-18.

The excitement over the prospect of an early start to the 2009-10 season came to a crashing halt just three days later during rec co-ordinator David Clark's routine inspection of the ice plant.

Clark checks the plant every morning at the start of his shift and again at 5 p.m., before heading home.

On Monday, Sept. 21, when Clark checked the plant at the end of his shift, he was horrified by what he found.

Smoke and oil were everywhere and Freon was leaking freely from the ice plant.

Clark was shaken by what he saw and immediately turned off the plant.

He raced to the phone to call Gateway Mechanical's office in Winnipeg, the company the hamlet has dealt with since installing artificial ice seven years ago.

The company sent a mechanic to Rankin on Sept. 23 and things took a turn for the worse from there.

Clark said the mechanic told him the plant was back up and running the following day and everything was fine.

He refused to spend his weekend in Rankin to monitor the plant and returned to Winnipeg on Sept. 25.

Clark said when he came to work on the morning of Sept. 26, he was greeted with the same disaster he witnessed just five days earlier.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," exclaimed Clark.

"There was oil and smoke everywhere and the Freon was leaking again.

"It was like nothing had been done."

The ice was melting quickly when the decision was made to bring in one of the company's top mechanics from Edmonton on Sept. 30.

He told Clark to leave the plant off because there was a long list of things that needed to be done.

One of the plant's three compressors was shot, and the Armstrong chiller pump was also totally ruined.

Clark said he's upset with the way the situation was handled by Gateway.

"I'm very disappointed with the service we got from the Winnipeg office.

"We've spent a lot of money on this and the situation is getting old really quick.

"The company did inform us this past week it won't be charging us for the first mechanic's visit, but, still, when you add everything up, this has cost recreation about $20,000."

Clark and his crew have been working almost non-stop on natural ice to get the arena open.

The original surface was lost completely, and Mother Nature only started co-operating with cold temperatures this past week.

"Basically, we were left with a wet sandbox where our ice used to be," said Clark.

"We've been flooding as much as we can since about mid-October, but we're totally dependant on the temperature.

"We've reached the point where we're hoping to have the arena open next week, but everyone has to remember, if it warms up on us, we'll be right back to square one until the plant is ready."

There was not an Armstrong pump for sale anywhere in Canada, so the hamlet needed a new one built in the United States and delivered to Rankin.

The pump is on its way and, once it arrives, a top mechanic will return from Edmonton to get the plant back up and running.

Clark said he hopes the plant will be operational in the near future. He said it's fairly small and only used at the beginning of the season, during tournaments and in the spring, so two compressors should be able to carry the load.

"We've also lost the ice in the curling rink and I feel bad about that, too, because they did a great job of making curling popular in the hamlet again this past year.

"I get asked constantly, everywhere I go, about when hockey's going to start and all I can say is we're doing our best.

"I'm more optimistic now, dealing with Gateway's main office in Edmonton, but I'm still very disappointed in a lot of the company's work so far and the number of problems we've had with this plant.

"But, we need a new arena in this community and this is just the latest in a string of red flags coming at us left, right and centre telling us that."