Players at Tom Brown Arena can expect long-overdue improvements to the facility, say city staff.
Finding Tom Brown Arena at night will become a lot easier next spring when renovations funded by a $50,000 grant are completed.
Keith Brown has worked at the arena named after his uncle Tom since it opened more than 30 years ago.
He runs the canteen and is the president of the Laroche Community Sports Association, which rents out the ice at the arena.
He says the facility is decent but finding the arena at night is a problem.
“It’s in pretty good shape right now, what it does need is a lighted sign on the arena, either at the entrance or on the building itself because there’s nothing to indicate that it’s the Tom Brown arena, especially at night.”
The city facility was awarded the money from Lowe’s and Hockey Canada’s Rink Renovation Program.
Luc Lavictoire, program manager for arenas and outdoor rinks for the City of Ottawa, helped Hockey Canada and Lowe’s staff determine which rink could benefit from the money the most.
While the staff toured several rinks, Lavictoire says that Centretown’s McNabb arena wasn’t eligible to be upgraded this time around.
“There’s not a lot of room at McNabb. There are more things to do at Tom Brown for now than McNabb,” Lavictoire says. “It’s in good shape. The outside isn’t but the inside is in good shape, with nice ice and the change rooms are big.”
Lavictoire admits he doesn’t remember the last time McNabb was renovated.
He says Tom Brown was next in line for the upgrades for a number of reasons.
“(Lowe’s) wanted something close to their stores and the arena hadn’t seen a major renovation in years so it made sense to put some money into it for the local community,” says Lavictoire.
Tom Brown Arena sees a lot of traffic, and Kitchissippi Coun. Katherine Hobbs says the funding for upgrades is appreciated.
“I think it’s very good to get money that’s free to use to fix everything up that they need to have done,” she says.
And fixing up is where they want to start.
Lavictoire says he and his team, as well as people from Lowe’s and the rink staff, will be working to come up with the most effective way to spend the $50,000.
“Right now, we haven’t set exactly what we’re going to spend but we’re looking at things in terms of changing light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, door frames for accessibility, and maybe also looking at the front entrance and the orange siding that is in front," says Lavictoire.
"Those are the types of projects (we want to tackle)."
Brown says that throughout his time working at the arena the upgrades he recalls that have been made haven’t been very useful.
“The only major renovation was to add another dressing room for alternate gender players, which to me is a waste of money because it’s never used.”
Brown says that the small tweaks made by the city using the grant money will make a difference.
“What’s more important than having the arena visible to people coming from out of town at night?" he says.
"Especially during tournaments people don’t know where the arena is. They drive by it because they can’t see it.”