Once on life support and nearly left for dead, West St. Paul’s ice arena now could get $2.3 million more in upgrades.
To help fund an expansion of the John V. Hoene Ice Arena for high school locker rooms and dry-land training space, West St. Paul plans to again go to their neighbors in Mendota Heights and ask for cash.
That worked in 2013, when Mendota Heights and the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan school district both agreed to hand over $555,333 each to help West St. Paul refurbish its arena, which was built in 1971 and is home to Henry Sibley High School’s boys and girls hockey teams and the Sibley Area Youth Hockey Association.
“We need to go to our partners and see if there’s a flavor for this,” West St. Paul Mayor Dave Napier said Tuesday.
Expansion project estimates call for the two cities and the school district to each chip in $580,000, with the Sibley Hockey Boosters and MAP South Hockey, a for-profit tenant, adding another $295,000 apiece.
That would help pay for dry-land training space, locker rooms and a reconfigured parking lot, plus an option to expand storage.
PARTNERS SAVED ARENA BEFORE
The 2013 cost-sharing commitment saved the arena after city officials planned a March 2012 closing of the aging facility because recommended repairs were deemed too costly.
Napier said it is important to remember that the facility, on Emerson Avenue west of Robert Street, is a community asset, not just West St. Paul’s. He noted how more than half of the roughly 400 youth players come from Mendota Heights.
In November, the Sibley Area Youth Hockey Association and Sibley Hockey Boosters met with the West St. Paul City Council to propose the project. The Boosters have already donated $67,000 to the city as an initial deposit for the effort, Napier said.
BEHIND NEIGHBORING CITIES
For the past decade, dry-land training has been the buzzword among hockey associations looking for an edge, and it’s motivating them to build their own facilities or partner with cities to set aside space in existing arenas. South St. Paul is among neighboring cities that have done so in recent years.
On Tuesday, the Henry Sibley’s boys varsity team went through dry-land conditioning drills in the cramped lobby of West St. Paul’s arena.
“We adjust our workouts to make it work,” said Aaron Delaney, the team’s strength and conditioning coach. “This is what we have right now, so we make it work.”
A rink expansion would be a welcome improvement for the entire Sibley hockey program, said Ted Cheesebrough, boys varsity coach.
“We want to take this program to the next level,” said Cheesebrough, who is in his first season coaching Henry Sibley.
Last year, the Boosters group was able to find the construction trailers and convert them to permanent lockers rooms for the high school teams. Although some programs would look down on such an arrangement, Cheesebrough said, it was an improvement for Henry Sibley’s program, which this year has embraced the motto, “working class.”
