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Town of Castor pulling ice out of the arena, after Hockey Alberta announcement

It’s the end of the season for Castor’s Beaverdome
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By Kevin J Sabo

For the Advance

It’s the end of the season for Castor’s Beaverdome.

With the decision released on Feb. 2nd, 2021, that Alberta Minor Hockey is suspending league play for the season due to the ongoing complications surrounding the ongoing pandemic, Town of Castor council and administration have made the decision to pull the ice out of the arena for the season.

“It’s been a difficult year for our youth,” said Castor Mayor Richard Elhard in a video address to the community.

“Due to a pandemic beyond our control, Hockey Alberta announced that all league play is suspended for the 2020, 2021 season; therefore, we will move forward with our arena closure.”

The mayor’s announcement follows the decision made at the Jan. 25th council meeting where council decided to begin the shutdown process on Feb. 1st if no significant changes to the pandemic restrictions had been eased by the Government of Alberta.

With the easing of the restrictions, the decision was made to see what Hockey Alberta announced, and with the end of league play for the season, it was not deemed feasible to keep the arena going.

The Mayor’s announcement was not all bad news though.

Despite the ice being pulled out of the arena, the hope is that youth sport can resume in some capacity by March 1st, and the Castor Recreation Department is already putting together plans to run a ball hockey league out of the arena from March through May, if restrictions ease sufficiently.

Mayor Elhard also announced that the Beaverdome will be getting ice early again in the fall, to facilitate the rescheduled Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers Alumni game, which will allow for an early start to skating and shinny hockey, assuming of course restrictions have eased enough by that point to allow things to proceed.