Canada Olympic Park arena officially opens
Posted Jan 15, 2011 3:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgarians had the chance to try out the city’s newest ice rinks on Saturday.
Three new ice surfaces officially opened at Canada Olympic Park and former Team Canada Olympic hockey player Cassie Campbell says the extra ice surfaces are opening doors for Calgary athletes.
She says,”I remember growing up and people said ‘no, girls can’t play hockey’ or ‘ people with disabilities can’t play hockey.’ That’s kind of the way it was, and unfortunately those types of things are happening today, but more so because of lack of facilities and opening up these three facilities is not just going to help hockey, but ringuette players, figure skaters, sledge hockey players. They’re going to have more access to ice time in this city.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says they help relieve the shortage of ice surfaces and recreational space in the city.
“I’m really thrilled about this particular complex and there’s a lot more to be done here in order to build more recreational facilities for Calgarians. But they’re not all here, and city council will actually very soon be talking about a pretty innovative plan to get more recreational facilities into the far northwest and far southeast Calgary,” he says.
People had the chance to try out the ice and Calgarians are giving it glowing reviews.
When construction on the new ice complex at COP is done in 2012, it will also include an international-sized rink and a high performance training centre.
