Voyageur Place residence students flooding the outdoor rink in the Bowl.

The University of Saskatchewan’s Voyageur Place residence has teamed up with Campus Rec to build an outdoor ice rink in the Bowl.

Three Voyageur Place residence assistants, along with a group of over 20 residence students, formed the Ice Project Team. The team has agreed to build and maintain the ice rink by flooding and shovelling the surface.

The committee started construction of the rink on Dec. 1. They cleared the snow and levelled the ground with only shovels. The group plans to do at least two floods per day this week and members hope that students can start skating on it Dec. 8.

Campus Rec has agreed to provide a snow fence and hockey nets for the ice rink. Hockey players are welcome to bring their own equipment to play games, but are encouraged to share the ice surface with people who just want to skate for fun.

“We can’t enforce any strict rules because we can’t be out there supervising the rink. But the rink is definitely large enough that you could have both going on at once and I don’t think either would be uncomfortable,” said Kelly Hrabarchuk, one of the resident assistants.

She said that the outdoor rink has been attempted before, but was poorly maintained. This is the first time that an organized group has committed to the upkeep of the ice for the entire winter, and Hrabarchuck thinks that will make the difference.

“It’s great that this is going on now right before finals hit because it gives everybody a chance to take a break, go outside and get some exercise,” Hrabarchuk said.

Read Smith is one of the residence students on the Ice Project Team. He feels that the outdoor rink will make winter more fun for students.

“I think all the students on campus and especially the residence students who are here on the weekends are going to get a lot of use out of this once we get it into good shape.”

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf