New ice age arrives at BDO Centre

The BDO Centre has been around for Portage skaters for decades. With these new upgrades, those behind the scenes hope it will be around for decades longer.

A pair of upgrades have been completed at the BDO Centre: a new ice compressor plant and fixing up the showers in the referee's changing room. Brent Tarr, president of Centennial Community Club Inc. (CCCI), says plumbing was one of the biggest problems in the arena due to its age.

"We've replaced the floor in the drain in the shower and also put new flooring," explains Tarr. "It really cleaned up the shower for use and also made it a lot easier to maintain."

Tarr adds, that while the new showers are nice to have, the ice compressor is the most important upgrade as, without it, there wouldn't be any ice to skate on. He's glad that the city was able to approve these upgrades quickly so that Portagers wouldn't have to look elsewhere for a place to skate.

The upgraded shower.

"We've got a great relationship with the city and with the Portage Regional Recreation Authority," notes Tarr. "Part of the city has been doing our maintenance work at the arena for about five years now."

Tarr says the money for this upgrade came from a reserve that the city set up without CCCI asking for it. Tarr is grateful for that level of support as these upgrades came at a time when CCCI had other major expenditures to worry about.

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