Sitting with a 20-19-3-1 record, the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs are in the thick of a playoff race, currently sitting seventh in the Eastern Conference. But there is at least a small chance they may have to play some home games elsewhere if the antifreeze lines under the ice continue to fail.
According to the Hamilton Spectator, team owner Michael Andlauer is considering contingency plans following a December report that highlighted renovation priorities at FirstOntario Centre.
The Spectator notes that a new chilling system was installed in the arena in 2013, but that budget limitations didn’t allow them to also replace the antifreeze lines. In 2014 the city classified the lines as “end of life” and according to the paper, they started to fail in 2016.
“The contingency would be looking at neighbouring rinks,” Andlauer told the Spectator. “I don’t think Niagara would let us play there and I wouldn’t want to play there anyway, but we have talked to Brampton.”
Brampton’s 5,000-seat CAA Centre currently houses the ECHL’s Beast and used to be home to the Battalion. According to league policy, teams must play in either an OHL or NHL facility.
The December report listed the top two priorities for 2019 were to replace the lines and install a backup generator to maintain the ice in case of power failure, at an estimated cost of $7.3 million. The Spectator adds that the report also recommended a further $27 million in fixes over the next five years, including things like improved Wi-Fi and upgrades to meet accessibility standards.
However, the city’s director of energy, Rom D’Angelo, told the Spectator that the likelihood of a breakdown so substantial that the rink becomes unusable is small for the time being. Andlauer confirmed this belief.
“We’ve had pretty good ice,” he told the paper. “Actually, we’ve had some of the best ice we’ve ever seen, but that’s probably the ice makers doing their thing.”
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