WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Yet another round of repairs at Hartford’s Wendell A. Barwood Arena are underway to repair the 45-year-old facility.
This time around, according to Hartford parks and recreation director Scott Hausler, the work comes with some much anticipated peace of mind.
Barwood Arena, the multi-purpose ice rink that houses home games for Hartford High boys and girls hockey teams, the Upper Valley Hockey Association, the Upper Valley Curling Club and several recreational ice activities during the winter months, is getting a new refrigeration system, new dasher boards and a new electronic Zamboni in what Hausler called a summer project at the facility, which began last week.
Concrete flooring is being torn up to replace the old, floor-embedded brine-based piping system that allows the rink to be flooded — a corrosive material that eats away at metal over time — with a glycol system of plastic pipes with metal fixtures in concrete that is noncorrosive.
The old system, Hausler said, was about 26 years old and well past its prime.
The dasher boards — the walls underneath the glass that surrounds a hockey rink’s ice — are also being replaced with a system that is up to modern codes. The new boards will have more flexibility upon impact.
The electronic Zamboni also will serve as a primary Zamboni for the rink. Barwood will retain the existing Zamboni, which dates back to the 1990s, as a backup, though Hausler said the new one should have a much longer life span.
The repairs will cost about $810,000 in all — $660,000 for the new piping system, $150,000 for the new dasher boards — along with a lease agreement for the electronic Zamboni that will cost $25,000 annually.
“The town has put a huge investment into the property previously,” Hausler said. “(This helps us) operate without having to worry about some knee-jerk catastrophe. The facility is designed to be open (through the winter). This is huge for us. I’m happy that we have support from the (Hartford) Selectboard, other organizations. It’s a good investment.”
These latest repairs are the latest in a long line of work done to the property.
The Arena, formerly known as BOR Arena, was built during the mid-1970s and has dealt with some maintenance issues and unreliable equipment over the last several years.
Skating season for the past two years has been delayed due to the Arena’s aging refrigeration system, forcing the facility to stay closed a week later than scheduled last October in order to allow contractors to complete testing for the new piping system.
Town funding for the new refrigeration system was approved by the Selectboard, 6-1, in February 2018.
Hausler said the latest renovations should be the last for at least a while.
“I don’t believe there is anything additional necessary to continue to move forward,” he said. “We have a good operation. … There is not anything else necessarily to keep us going. These needs were a priority.”
Barwood is scheduled to open on time for the skating season in early October.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.