The ice has been out at the center since mid-April when rink officials discovered a heave in the floor and slight crack in the concrete surface. Rink manager Reid McDonald discovered the problem with the floor when he removed the ice sheet to perform scheduled maintenance.

“The naked eye won’t recognize the problem,” McDonald said in April. “It’s only something people who have worked around ice rinks for a long time could see.”

Since discovering the problem, work has been ongoing to determine the extent of the damage and what, if anything, needed to be repaired.

“We spent the better part of three months conducting tests to the various heating and cooling systems at the center to determine the problem,” Rodda said. “We did five separate tests.”

After completing the tests it was determined that the floor heave had settled, but there was a problem with the rink’s snowmelt piping.

Rodda said it took a long time to complete the evaluation because each system had to be tested independent of the others.

He added he was happy the nature of the problem turned out to be minor.

“People were panicking and thinking the worst,” he said. “I heard the gambit of rumors and conjecture, everything from the rink is closing to there is a dangerous coolant leak.”

He assured rink users that when the facility re-opens it will be safe and there was no hazardous leak.

This is not the first time the rink has experienced a heave in the floor. In 1994, the rink closed for a month while a similar heave was repaired.

The rink also closed for a month in 1985 to fix a minor leak in the cooling system, which is not suspected to be an issue with the current heave.

This year’s rink closure means the annual Bear Paw ISI Figure Skating Competition will not be held. The statewide competition has been a part of every festival since 1988.

Reach the reporter at darrellbreese.@alaskastar.com.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, July 2, 2009.