Local arena gets a new name

Thanks to a recent corporate partnership, a local sports facility has a brand new name.

During a brief celebration on Wednesday evening it was announced that the Soo Pee Wee Arena will now be known as the Community First Soo Pee Wee Arena.

In addition to naming rights to the facility, Community First Credit Union's $100,000 contribution will assist with the day-to-day operations of the arena and is not earmarked for any specific upgrades or improvements, arena board Chair Colin Kirkwood told SooToday.

"The building is 50 years old, so there are some ongoing maintenance requirements," he said. "Each year we create a capital budget to deal with those issues as they come up."

This is the first time in the arena's history that a corporate partnership has resulted in a named change, something Kirkwood said the board of directors is very excited about.

"There is a [partnership] term that we'll be continuously reevaluating," he told us. "We're hoping that this is a partnership that lasts into perpetuity."

"This is really an opportunity for the two organizations to work together to make sure the building stays for another 50 years. What we're trying to do together is provide a place for recreation, family activities, and this partnership helps us do that."

The arena was first constructed to meet the growing demand for ice space on which to teach young skaters basic hockey skills.

Prior to its existence, teams involved in the Soo Pee Wee Hockey League in the 1960s practiced either at the Memorial Gardens where available ice time was scarce, or more commonly on a variety of outdoor rinks where unreliable weather was often a factor.

(PHOTO: Arena Manager Chad Bouchard, Community First CEO Brent Lamming, arena Board Chair Colin Kirkwood, long-time arena board member Emerson Bentley, and Community First Board Chair Jeff Piper celebrate a new partnership at the Community First Soo Pee Wee Arena on Wednesday, October 7, 2015. Donna Hopper/SooToday)