Dease Lake Residents Develop the Stikine Region's First Indoor Arena

2012- The Dease Lake Recreation Centre Society was formed with the goal of establishing a youth centre, gathering place for families, youth and seniors and provide recreation and social activities in 1993. In 1998, the society built the Dease Lake Recreation Centre Society Arena. The arena was constructed with a sand base and 6″x6″ boards around the perimeter to keep the water in when flooding and building the arena’s ice each year. The sand base was levelled to assist in the ice builiding process, however, when there was no ice the arena was unavailable to ensure minimal disturbance of the sand base. The creation and maintenance of the ice was dependent upon winter temperatures and the arena was typically restricted to three and half months of winter use. Temperatures permited the ice being created mid-December and by March the winter temperatures were no longer cold enough to sustain a safe and proper ice surface and winter sport activities ceased. The Society determined that to shorten the ice building process, improve the ice sheet and extend the use of the arena would require the installation of a concrete floor.

In 2009, the society began the installation of a concrete floor, dasher boards and plexi glass in the arena with funding from Northern Development and several funding partners. The concrete floor was constructed with the trenching, tubing, and piping necessary for the creation of artificial ice. Having a concrete floor also required the installation of dasher boards and plexi-glass to ensure safety when sports are being played, not only for the players but also the spectators. The dasher board system and safety plexi-glass included full player and penalty boxes, glass on both ends radius to radius, glass on the spectator side and dasher boards up to adult or junior hockey play.