School Cancellations Put Pressure on Hockey Rink Schedules

ST. CLOUD -- When school is canceled because of the cold or snow, it has a bigger impact than just make-up days for the students.

Todd Bissett is the Arena Supervisor at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud. He says when school is out, hockey practices and games are canceled too. Bissett says that puts both a financial burden on the MAC and also creates scheduling pressures for ice time.

Bissett says their schedules are booked six months in advance and the ice times are very hard to come by. He says they lose anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 per day depending on if it's practices or games that are canceled.

The MAC runs on a very tight budget according to Bissett, and there is only so much ice time available. He says as it gets closer to the playoffs, games become even harder to make up.

Bissett says they do what they can to accommodate all of the teams, but practice times generally aren't made up and sometimes even junior varsity games are cut in order to make up missed varsity games.

Bissett says in his 20 years at the MAC, this is the first time they've ever had cancellations due to the cold.