Two years ago, Tammy Rank had a vision of getting a new ice resurfacer at the Turtle River Sports and Agriplex. On Wednesday night, Tammy's vision and dream became a reality as the Ste. Rose Minor Hockey Association officially unveiled the resurfacer and it instantly became a hit.
Purchasing the resurfacer which was roughly $70,000 wouldn't have been possible without many generous donations and hard work throughout the years. A great list of donors helped to pitch in with the purchasing.
They included the Municipality of Ste Rose who donated $25,000, Manitoba Metis Federation donated $10,000, 100 Women Who Care donated $2,500, Ste. Rose Minor Hockey donated $2,500, Ste Rose Skating Club donated $2,500, Westman Communications donated $1,000, Repromap donated $500, and Top Rank Diamond Drilling donated $300.
Through the Province of Manitoba Building Sustainable Communities Grant, each dollar was matched which also gave the crew some extra money to purchase some scrapers and other needed equipment.
"Tuesday was an extremely exciting day for us. Knowing that we can go forward and we're going to have great ice conditions," said Shelly Brunel, Treasurer for Ste. Rose Minor Hockey. "We also have a lot of other surrounding communities that use our facilities, so this makes us more marketable to book our arena."
There have been many fundraisers over the past two years to make this possible. One of the teams that will be using the Turtle River Sports and Agriplex many times this season will be the McCreary Mountaineers who will play some home games in Ste. Rose.
"We're getting a lot of compliments and things turned out better than we ever anticipated," ended Brunel.
So the next time you visit the Turtle River Sports and Agriplex, make sure you stay to watch the beautiful ice resurfacer that is now being used.
