'We're crossing our fingers': Elliot Lake hockey players, skaters prepare for another winter without home ice

While Elliot Lake hopes to re-open its arena this fall, some local clubs that have been waiting nearly two years for the rink to be ready may no longer exist.

The only arena in the small northern Ontario city of 11,000 closed suddenly in September 2023, out of fears the roof of the wooden structure could collapse.

Since then, the city has been working on repairs and raising millions of dollars to pay for them, including a $3 million donation that saw the Centennial Arena renamed the Rogers Arena. 

Elliot Lake also won $250,000 for coming first in the 2024 national Hockeyville contest.

This week, city council heard that the earliest the arena will re-open is October. 

"At this point in time, it's evident that a September reopening of the facility really isn't something that's going to happen," said Bill Goulding, Elliot Lake's special projects manager.

"However, I'm sitting in front of you not to propose a definite time in which it will [open]. I just tried to lay out what the situation is at the arena, what the next steps moving forward will be."

Chantal Robert, the head coach of the Elliot Lake Skating Club, says for the past two winters they've been driving 45 minutes to the arena in Massey for practices, but the long hours on the road saw most of their skaters quit last season. 

"A lot of the families were tired of traveling, mostly the kids," she said. 

"It was becoming a struggle getting the kids to Massey, bringing them back. That hour and a half on the highway was really draining on the kids, not enjoying the sport as much as they used to."

Robert says during the first winter without an arena, figure skaters used the ice at the Elliot Lake curling club, but she doesn't know if that will be possible this season and many of their former members have now switched to dance, swimming and other sports.

"Either we're going to have to work super hard to rebuild the club, or unfortunately, and I don't want to say it, but it might be the end of figure skating in Elliot Lake," she said.

"We're crossing our fingers, so we're just holding tight."

The Elliot Lake Minor Hockey Association says it has booked ice time at the Massey arena for practices in September, still hoping to have the local arena back sometime this winter. 

The Elliot Lake Vikings junior hockey team also moved to Massey, as well as using the arenas in Blind River and Espanola, over the past two winters.

But the club took a leave of absence from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League in the middle of last season and has decided to also sit out the entire upcoming 2025-26 season.