Ian Murphy
Logistical and supply-chain constraints have pushed back the opening of Belmont’s $29.9 million ice rink until March 2025, meaning town hockey teams will endure another season practicing at odd hours and playing home games somewhere on the road.
Anne Marie Mahoney, a Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee member, said the project hit snags even before the planned demolition of the Skip Viglirolo skating rink, which began last week. Mahoney told the Select Board of the new opening date at a meeting in December.
“We’re the most disappointed of everyone,” Mahoney said. “We’re all aware on the committee that this is a problem for the youth hockey programs, but we’re going to do this project right.”
Mahoney said no single factor is responsible for the delay, which shouldn’t result in additional costs. Construction was slow to start. Untangling the electrical lines that supply power to light the surrounding fields, and which ran through the old rink and field house, also caused delays.
Skanska USA, the builders, can’t start construction until the pre-engineered portion of the main rink is built off-site and delivered, Mahoney said. Supply chain issues have pushed the delivery date back several months. Skanska can’t build other sections, such as the locker rooms and the glass-enclosed concourse and concessions area, until that first section is in place.
“We anticipated many of these tiny pieces, but it’s just taking a little more time,” she said. “Unfortunately, we’re going to lose a second year of school team ice time.”
On The Road Again
Brendan Kelleher, who coaches the newly created combined Belmont/Watertown girls varsity team, said coaches, players, and parents have adjusted to inconsistent schedules and more travel.
“You can imagine the weekly jigsaw puzzle that gets put together to make sure everyone’s getting ice time and games. We’re just focusing on day to day, and the next practice, the next game, and just keeping a positive high school experience for these kids while they go through this,” Kelleher said.
His teams have practiced at Belmont Hill School, Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge, Bentley University in Waltham, and the John A. Ryan Arena in Watertown, where the varsity teams play home games this season. The Ryan Arena also serves as home ice for the Watertown, Newton South, and Newton North varsity teams, so Belmont’s teams grab whatever practice times they can, ranging from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Kelleher said his players, parents, and coaches have focused on being “chameleons, blending into the surroundings and focusing on what they can control, which is working hard and having fun playing.”
“Once you get on that ice and dump those pucks, it doesn’t matter whether we have the 3 p.m. practice Monday or the 9 p.m. practice on Monday night,” Kelleher said.
The unpredictable practice times haven’t hurt the girls varsity team’s standings. They are currently in the middle of a winning season.
Kelleher and Tom Foley, the boys varsity head coach, said the situation made their high school teams realize the privilege of being among the few public high schools with an on-campus rink.
“We didn’t know how fortunate we were to have the facility that we had so close to the school,” Foley said.
Foley said the boys varsity team is struggling this season, a reflection of graduating 20 players from last year’s team rather than the inconsistent home ice.
“The good news is the 20 new players don’t know what that was like [to have our own rink]. I guess the bad news is the 20 players that still do know what it was like,”
Foley said.
Replacing a Crumbling Relic
The Skip Viglirolo skating rink opened in 1971. The first concerns about the building’s condition were raised as early as 1999, when architects pointed out rust on the roof panels and steel superstructure, the ongoing failure of the gutters, and an infestation of birds in the roof’s insulation. The final review, completed in 2023, pointed to crumbling walls, cracked floors, and holes in the roof.
Voters narrowly rejected the first proposed debt exclusion for a new rink in November 2022 which carried a $33 million price tag, and was on the ballot with a successful debt exclusion to build a new library. When the leaner $29.9 million project went before voters in April 2023, it passed by 1,483 votes.
