Dln, N.W.T. the birthplace of hockey celebrates upgrades to its rink - Action News
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Dln, N.W.T. the birthplace of hockey celebrates upgrades to its rink

Dln, N.W.T., has replaced its gravel surface ice rink with concrete. The community's leaders said the upgrade will encourage healthy living and create opportunities for tourism and economic development.

A community feast, a hockey tournament and a gala heralded the community's new ice surface

A hockey goalie stands in the net with his back to the camera. A hockey game goes on in front of him.
A hockey game at the opening ceremonies for the new ice surface in Dln, N.W.T.. The community replaced the rink's gravel surface with concrete, and leaders said the upgrade will encourage healthy living and create opportunities for tourism and economic development. (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

It's been toutedas the birthplace of hockey, and now major improvements have been made to the rink in Dln, N.W.T.The community plans to use the new facility to promote recreation and tourism in the region.

Dln's rink, formerly gravel, has now been upgraded to concrete. That means that in addition to a smoother surface that will require just a fraction of the water needed to make the ice, the community can make use of the facility year round for soccer, roller skating and other non-ice sports.

Eventually there could also be hockey in the summer season, oncethe communityhasthe infrastructure for artificial ice.The community is working to acquire funding for an ice plant that would connect to the facility's new pipes under the surface.

The community of about 500 held anopening ceremony for the facility Friday.Events included a community feast and public skate in the morning, a hockey tournament through the day and a gala to cap the night.

Dln's ekw'ahtide, or Chief, Danny Gaudet, said the facility will promote activity and community health for kids like Suze Tutcho, who had his first skate on the new ice Friday, and will grow up with access to the new rink.

A man holds a child on his knee on a hockey arena and gives the camera a thumbs up. The child is wearing a hockey helmet and skates.
Gerald Tutcho with his son Suze. Gerald said Friday was Suze's first time ever skating. The pair participated in the public skate after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new ice surface. (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

"Recreation, in my mind, has always been really important," Gaudet said. "When we have great minds, strong minds, in the end we're healthy and our community really benefits from that."

Gaudet said they're looking into a tourism program where families can drop off kids to hone their hockey skills in the sport's presumed home and spend the day fishing on Great Bear Lake known for its trophy lake trout.

A man stands on an ice rink looking at the camera. The man is wearing a button up shirt and jacket.
Danny Gaudet is leader, ekw'ahtide, of Dln, N.W.T. He said the facility is an investment into the community's health. (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

Since achieving self-government in 2016, Gaudet said the leadership has beenworking towardcomplete independence from other government programs. He said the rink upgrades, and plans surrounding it, createopportunities for work and major economic growth.

"We have an airline, we have hotels, accommodations and we want to maximize that to our benefit," he said. "I think everybody in the community should be working once we get this program going."

'Quite an operation'

Getting the necessary supplies and equipment into a remote community, accessible only by air or winter road, is no small feat.

Northern Industrial Construction Ltd. (NIC) designed and built the rink.

Project manager Geoff Oldfield said it took 66 truckloads full of pre-mixed concrete and other materials driving from Calgary to Dln, a distance of about 1,600 kilometres.

"There aren't a lot of trucking companies with the capability and experience to deliver materials to Dln," Oldfield said, "We reached out to pretty much every trucking company in the Northwest Territories that we knew who does truckloads to winter road communities. We had, I think, eight or ten different companies all doing loads for us in this project.

"It was quite an operation to get all the materials here."

A construction crew pushes wheelbarrows of materials from a far side of an area into an area where the concrete is being smoothed across a surface.
To re-surface the rink in concrete, construction crews spent two and a half consecutive days pouring concrete. It had to be done in one consecutive pour, which required day and night crews to complete the operation. (Submitted by Warren Seeley)

Oldfield said another challengewas that the rink had to be a single slab of concrete done in one continuous pour. That took over 50 hours because of the available equipment.

"We had a day shift and a night shift working around the clock for two and a half days."

That included about 35 people total, 17 on each shift, to fill approximately 250 cubic yards.

Rodney Johnson, NIC president, added that over 90 per cent of the project's workforce was local labour, over half the trucking was with a Dln-owned company and Dln artist Daniel Takazo, also part of the construction crew, painted the art surrounding the rink.

Two men sitting at a table smile at the camera.
Rodney Johnson, left, is the president of Northern Industrial Construction. Geoff Oldfield, right, is the company's project manager. Northern Industrial Construction designed and built the upgraded facility. (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

The process to improve the rink began under the former ekw'ahtide Leeroy Andre.

It was an idea the community had wanted to pursue for years, but only started to seem realistic after a new preschool in Dln was completed last year.

NIC held the contract for that project as well, and after the success of the preschool, the community and the contractors started talking about other projects.

Construction started in the spring andfinished in November. Community members tested the ice last week ahead of Friday's official ribbon-cutting.

Man in black jacket stands in front of hockey rink, looking at the camera.
Leeroy Andre is the former ekw'ahtide or chief of Dln. The project began under his leadership. He said on the day of opening ceremonies community members shook his hand to thank him for 'getting this going.' (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

Andre said the community is pleased with the new facility and so is he. He competed in Friday's tournament.

"As I got out of the dressing room, there's some young guys that are shaking my hand and saying, 'thanks for getting this going,'" he said.

"Hopefully they'll take pride in this facility and use it for many generations to come. I want strong, healthy people in the future."

The upgrade cost the community about $2.9 million, according to housing and infrastructure director Phebie Kenny.

Two men, sitting, smile at the camera.
Former NHLer Sandy McCarthy, left, will be in charge of kickstarting community fitness, hockey skills clinics and training sessions for coaches. (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

Whatever the cost, "it's cheaper to keep this guy active and skating," ekw'ahtide Gaudet said, pointing to a boy doing laps on the new rink.

Now that the upgrades are complete, programming work begins.

Former NHLer Sandy McCarthy will be in charge of kickstarting community fitness, hockey skills clinics and training sessions for coaches.

He became involved through a friendship with Gaudet after the two met years ago at an event in Quebec.

McCarthy plans to be in the community until April and aims to make the programming sustainable for training to continue past his departure. He said he would also be returning to the community next year.

Birthplace of hockey

Dln's claims on the birthplace of hockey stem from records in explorer Sir John Franklin's diaries. In an 1825 expedition where Franklin spent the winter in what is now Dln, he wrote "till the snow fell, the game of hockey played on the ice was the morning's sport," according to an exhibit at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.

An image of a cartoon shows two people facing each other and silhouettes of hockey players in the background. The text over top reads 'a pretty true story about where the game began ... Dln the birthplace of hockey.'
An exhibit at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, describes Sir John Franklin's records of seeing hockey played in Dln and why the community is believed by many to be the birthplace of hockey. (Natalie Pressman/CBC)

Residents of Dln say Franklin's records aren't the only one noting the community as the birthplace of Canada's national sport.

Leonard Kenny said his great-grandmother's account was among the oral histories that continue to be passed down. He said she told stories of people "floating on ice," unsure of how else to describe skating.

Kenny also has something to say to anyone who disagrees thatDln as the birthplace of hockey.

"Well, we're going to have a really good debate," hesaid.

"But if you come to Dln, check us out, you'll know why."