Koronis Ice Arena will hold an open house this Sunday

This article submitted by Aaron Ziemer on 12/29/98.

Ice arena The Paynesville New London-Spicer Hockey Association will host an open house on Jan. 3 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Koronis Civic Arena.

The open house will be a grand opening for the new geo-thermal rink they have installed over the past year.

“We are having the open house to get people out and show them the facility,” said Otto Naujokas.

There will be refreshments served, people will be able to skate, and tours will be given so people can see the facility.

Thanks to the Mighty Ducks hockey grant the Koronis Civic Arena also has many newely upgraded facilities including neew lobby area and bathrooms, concession stand, four locker rooms, Zamboni room, managers office, refrigeration room, and mechanical room. The hockey association received two of these grants inorder to build both the geo-thermal rink and the remodeling of the other areas.

The rink has had ice since Oct. 19 and will probably have it until early March. The rink has also been used for the River Lakes Stars practices. The boys and girls teams alternate weeks between the Koronis Civic Arena and the River Lakes Arena.

The face of hockey in Paynesville has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. The team used to play at the outdoor hockey rink that was behind the St. Louis Catholic Church.

The players would have to battle rough ice conditions, below zero temperatures, snow, and even the warm temperatures that would make it tough to skate. Because of the outdoor rink the hockey team usually had to travel to play most of their games, which also made things tougher on the players.

In 1992, the team moved into the Koronis Civic Arena and played hockey there for about five seasons on the natural ice.

This new artificial ice allows the arena to have more ice time for open skating and allows them to do things like adult open hockey.

Another thing this geo-thermal rink allows them to do is heat the building and still have ice. Because the ice is cooled from the ground the building may be heated and the ice won’t melt.

Naujokas said that there are several hours for open skating and adult open hockey each week. Open ice times are posted each week in the Press.

Other town hockey teams have also come to use the facility a couple of times. Annandale-Maple Lake has used the facility with both their high school team and youth hockey program.


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