DE PERE (NBC 26) — The City of De Pere is replacing the rubber flooring at the De Pere Ice Arena, thanks in part to the De Pere Youth Hockey Association, which raised money for the replacement.
- The estimated cost to replace the rubber flooring is $150,000.
- The City is contributing $45,000, the Ice Arena Fund, which comes from user fees, will give $55,000 and DPYH raised the remaining $50,000 through community donations.
- DPYH presented the Mayor with a check for $50,000 at the Sept. 1 De Pere Common Council meeting.
It was a special moment on Tuesday, as young hockey players with the De Pere Youth Hockey Association presented a check to Mayor James Boyd.
“Exciting because I got to hand something to the mayor," Henry Brill, a DPYH player, said.
“Just kind of cool to be a part of something like that," Finn McDonough, a DPYH player, said.
The donation was a culmination of over a year of fundraising.
“We just got the word out, and I think the community has a soft spot for the De Pere Ice Arena," Tiffany Weckwerth, DPYH board president, said.
The money will go towards replacing the rubber flooring at the arena, which was cracked and peeling, causing a safety hazard and dulling the players' equipment.
“So my skates don’t get ruined," Adam Bergner, a DPYH player, said.
“It didn’t really look nice, and there were like cracks and stuff in there, and sometimes our skates would get in there and it would ruin our blades," Brandon Bergner Jr, a DPYH player, said.
Earlier this year, the City Council turned down two different, multi-million dollar bids to make sweeping repairs and renovations to the arena. Instead, the City opted to address repairs one at a time, as needed, and mainly through fundraising efforts.
This year, the City replaced the roof top unit, made the exit door ADA compliant and updated the dehumidification system.
Next, The City of De Pere will replace the main electrical panel, which will cost about $45,000.
“I love to hear that we’re putting money back into it to build it back up," AJ Butrymowicz, a former DPYH player and now Deacon player, said.
For Butrymowicz and other hockey players who grew up with De Pere Youth Hockey, the De Pere Ice Arena is much more than a rink.
“It’s been like our second home," he says.
Butrymowicz and fellow Deacon player, Sam Thompson, helped the kids give Mayor Boyd the check on Tuesday.
“Pretty cool that De Pere Youth Hockey is still kicking," Thompson said.
Brandon Bergner, DPYH rink liason, says this is just the beginning of their involvement– they plan to help raise money for future repairs as well.
“We want to continue to get improvements and work with the city to do that," Bergner said. “De Pere Ice arena, it’s been here since I was a kid, it’s been here forever and it’s just a good thing for the community to have.”
