{"id":303350,"date":"2025-11-24T07:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T07:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303350\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T07:54:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T07:54:19","slug":"iqaluits-arctic-winter-games-ice-surface-out-of-commission-for-zamboni-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303350\/","title":{"rendered":"Iqaluit\u2019s Arctic Winter Games ice surface out of commission for Zamboni fix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\"><a class=\"category news\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Nov 20, 2025 \u2013 1:30 pm EST<\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">City adds staff, extends hours at Arnaitok Arena in the interim<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a class=\"thumbnail\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AWG-arena.jpg\" title=\"Iqaluit\u2019s Arctic Winter Games ice surface out of commission for Zamboni fix\"><br \/>\n                                <img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AWG-arena.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>                            <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Speedskaters practise at Arctic Winter Games Arena in 2024. The arena\u2019s ice sheet will be unavailable for the next few weeks while the City of Iqaluit brings in parts to fix its broken Zambonis. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)<\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/author\/daron-letts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t Daron Letts<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Two out of three Zambonis owned by the City of Iqaluit have been parked for weeks due to \u201csignificant mechanical issues,\u201d leaving arena users facing less opportunity for ice time for the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The issues were identified during a routine inspection, said Geoff Byrne, a City of Iqaluit spokesperson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly one [Zamboni] remains operational, and as an <a href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/stories\/article\/safe-clean-and-so-quiet-iqaluit-goes-electric-with-new-zamboni\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">electric model<\/a> it requires specialized charging equipment currently available only at the Arnaitok Arena,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The city purchased its electric Zamboni in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>This means the Arctic Winter Games Arena will not be accessible until the city imports a new engine for one of its machines. It\u2019s expected to be flown in and installed by the first week of December.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe anticipate that ice-resurfacing operations will begin returning to normal within the next two to three weeks,\u201d Byrne said, explaining the new engine will offer a quicker fix for one Zamboni while the city works on getting parts for the other broken unit.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the lack of access to the arena, user groups have experienced a reduction of approximately 2.5 hours of weekly ice time, Byrne said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/ads\/251121-kia-polling-stations\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"373\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/A14606.95_sidebar.png\" class=\"no-lazy-load wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Students at Aqsarniit Middle School and \u00c9cole des Trois-Soleils have lost their daytime skating sessions.<\/p>\n<p>Recreation staff continue to work with youth and school groups to offer alternative ice times wherever possible, Byrne said. The city is adding extra staff at the Arnaitok Arena, extra ice time and extending hours in the meantime.<\/p>\n<p>The city maintains a fleet of three Zamboni units to support ice maintenance at its two arenas. This includes a 1990 propane model, a 2000 propane model, and the electric Zamboni.<\/p>\n<p>Despite recent scheduling adjustments, the Guns and Hoses charity hockey game between the city\u2019s RCMP and firefighters is still expected to move ahead as planned at the Arnaitok Arena, beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday, Byrne said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News\u00a0\u00a0Nov 20, 2025 \u2013 1:30 pm EST City adds staff, extends hours at Arnaitok Arena in the interim&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-303350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}