In a small town in southern Saskatchewan, the Wolseley Sportsplex continues to run strong in the community, despite the ice plant being on year 47 of a 25 year plan. 

“Our ice plant desperately needs to be renewed,” said Vance Weber, a former arena board member and Wolseley representative for Kraft Hockeyville. “…But thanks to the diligence of our people and the quality that they put into making sure it runs good, it’s still running.”

In 2024, Wolseley finished in 2nd place in the Kraft Hockeyville Contest and won $25,000 for arena upgrades and $10,000 for youth hockey equipment. Although they didn’t win the grand prize of $250,000 and the chance to host a preseason NHL game, the Wolseley arena has continued to persevere through the busy winter seasons in the years that followed.  

“One of the things we got because of that was a dehumidifier plant,” Weber explained, “that pulls a lot of the humidity out of the rink, which allows the [ice] plant to not have to work as hard to cool the surface.”

The Sportsplex is not only home to the local minor hockey and figure skating clubs, but also to the Qu’Appelle Valley Junior C Hockey League team, The Wolseley Mustangs. 

“I think hockey and figure skating are pretty huge,” said Laramy Hess, arena board member and caretaker. “We have the Junior C team with the Mustangs, there’s everyone from all ages who come to watch those games that bring other people from out of town.

“So then, like, you have those people going to your cafe, going to your bar after, stopping at the ESSO for gas, that kind of thing,” said Hess, “It brings people that way.”

For a small town like Wolseley, having an attraction, even as simple as a sportsplex, is crucial to the livelihood of community businesses. But despite being well looked after and new installations being made to support it, the ice plant does not have much time left.

“Could we squeak out five years? Yeah. Should we? I don’t know,” said Weber.

Accompanying their winnings from Kraft Hockeyville, the town of Wolseley has also set up a GoFundMe page and applied for federal grants to fund the new ice plant. 

“All totalled, we’re probably eyeballing somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800,000 total funds needed to be raised,” said Weber. “We are nowhere near that. 

“We actually had gotten enough that if a couple of federal grants, that we put a lot of effort into, had come through, we would have actually already started construction. However, they were not approved, which is really unfortunate,” said Weber.

Without a grant from the government, or the GoFundMe completing its total goal, funding for the new ice plant has come to a standstill. 

Just as the ice plant is essential for keeping the sportsplex up and running, the sportsplex is essential to bringing the community together and keeping morale alive in cold winter months.  

“[Hockey’s] a huge thing in our community anyway,” said Hess. “It just kind of keeps you all together.”

It’s because of the small town residents that the Wolseley Sportsplex’s ice plant not only continues to run despite its age, but powers the community spirit of skaters and crowds alike.  

“For a community the size of Wolseley, it’s an incredible place to get together,” said Weber. “It really helps take some of the winter blues away.

“It’s not the only place in town, but it’s one of the most important places in town.”