TOLEDO, Ohio — One of the only open air rinks in the region is out of commission currently. The Ottawa Park ice rink was closed after a recent large storm which had winds measuring at 55-60 mph.
The city of Toledo's Director of Parks, Recreation, and Youth Services Joe Fausnaugh says workers discovered the damage soon after the storm.
"We were actually taking our Zamboni in to be serviced so it'll be ready for next skating season, and at that point we noticed there was some damage to one end of the boards," Fausnaugh said.
Fausnaugh says there's now a new theory behind the damaged boards.
"After we spent some more time investigating the damage, we think that it's probably more likely that an individual that was renting the rink from us or one of our staff may have inadvertently backed into it," Fausnaugh said.
Regardless of what caused it, Fausnaugh says repairing it isn't as simple as just drilling into the ground and replacing the boards.
"Under that concrete are glycol chilling lines that actually help us make the ice in the winter. So if we just drilled holes anywhere we wanted, there's a high likelihood we would hit one of those lines, and go from a small problem to a very large problem," Fausnaugh said.
It may sound like time is on their side, as the ice skating season isn't until December. But it's playoff time for Greater Toledo Inline Hockey League, which doesn't need the ice. The league has been forced to cancel games for the foreseeable future. Their goal is to get back to the game as soon as possible, although Fausnaugh says it's too early to tell just how long it will take to fix the damage.
"We want it as fixed as absolutely soon as we can," Fausnaugh said. "We have people that want to use the rink. It's always our goal to have that rink as activated as possible. Everyday that it's down, we're not achieving the goals we set for ourselves."
Fausnaugh did say the city has reached out to a contractor and hopes to get a better idea of when the rink will be repaired and good to play again.
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