The University of Rhode Island men’s club hockey team is preparing for their season to start with their home opener against New York University right around the corner on Oct. 6. The one problem: their home ice isn’t ready.
The Boss Ice Arena, home of both the men’s and women’s hockey teams at URI, is currently closed due to a failure in the ice plant that makes them unable to make ice. The cause of this problem remains unknown, forcing the arena to remain closed. Officials at the arena said in late August that the reopening date would be Sept. 11. Last Friday, officials announced that the new goal is Nov. 6. Due to this, the URI men’s hockey team has had to move their first two home series against NYU (Oct. 6-7) and the U.S. Naval Academy (Oct. 14-15) to Providence College and the Lynch Arena in Pawtucket.
Leah Becki, the general manager of Boss Ice Arena, explained that getting the arena reopened will be a two-phase process.
“We are first going to open the rink with a temporary ice plant solution, and then simultaneously we’re working on a permanent ice plant solution,” Becki said.
Becki went on to explain the various different steps that are needed to make this temporary ice plant solution happen. They are currently in the process of getting three different permits that are needed. Once they get the permits, which they continue to move forward in doing so, they can start to rebuild the ice. Becki expressed the amount of steps and hurdles they need to get over in order to make something like this happen, but made it clear the sense of urgency that they have.
“With all these moving parts and all these different entities involved, everybody has this at the top of their list,” Becki said. “We’re doing the work upfront so we don’t get delayed on the backend.”
Brigid St. Leger, the director of marketing for Boss Ice Arena, recognized that the people being affected by these delays are going to be frustrated. At the same time, she shared the similar sentiments in wanting to make it clear that they are truly doing all they can do to try and get reopened as soon as they can.
“We understand that it’s not the best situation and we appreciate our customers’ patience,” St. Leger said. “We hope they know that we are truly doing everything we can to move forward and get them back out there.”
In addition to delaying men’s hockey games, the closure has affected the women’s hockey team and local teams such as Southern Rhode Island Hockey.
Becki mentioned that they have tried to aid some of these teams in finding different places to play, but also acknowledged the fact that sometimes these teams have their own preference.
“We have made some recommendations to all the groups, especially the university groups,” Becki said. “But, they have their contacts and that leaves us the time to just focus on getting those players back on the ice as soon as possible.”
It is clear that there is action being taken among the leaders of the arena to try and get this issue fixed, and it seems there is a sense of urgency. However, the most important question remains of if they will actually be able to reopen on Nov. 6 or if the hockey teams will have to continue to move their home games. Becki expressed a strong sense of confidence that they will not have to move back the date of reopening back any further after they have already had to move it back three separate times.
“With everyone that we’re working with, I have a lot of confidence,” Becki said. “Jon Hendricks, our director of facilities, is driving this team and has so many experts working on this. I feel very confident this is going to happen.”
It’s been a very long process with a lot of twists and turns, and it will continue to be a process for everyone involved. But, what everyone can agree on, whether it’s the teams, people in charge of the arena, or general public, is that they hope the doors of Boss Ice Arena must reopen as soon as possible.