New BrunswickThe plan has always been to build a new area in Hampton and turn the old one into a field house for other recreational activities, but many in the hockey community had hoped to keep the old rink as a second ice surface for a still-growing sportSummit Centre to open in October, with the old rink made into a field house for sports like pickleballMark Leger · CBC News · Posted: Sep 15, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 33 minutes agoThe new Summit Centre isn’t ready yet, but Mayor Robert Doucet says it be will open when hockey games are set to begin in October. (Mark Leger/CBC)Hockey season is here, but parents like Melanie Logan have to drive their kids to practices half an hour away because the new rink in Hampton isn’t open yet, and the old one is now closed.”I have to drive to Saint John for my children to practice out of the LBR and TD Station so that they can be evaluated for their tryouts and be placed into teams because there’s nowhere in Hampton to play,” Logan said.”A lot of people are upset that they have to travel to Saint John. There are single moms that have multiple children and they have to travel that distance that they probably hadn’t budgeted for.”Like a lot of small towns with the means to do so, Hampton is replacing an old rink with a new one.WATCH | Cost of keeping 2 rinks open couldn’t be justified, Hampton mayor says: Hampton hockey players wait for new space after old rink turned into fieldhouse Hockey season is here, but some players in Hampton have to make the trip to Saint John for practice as the community awaits the opening of a new rink. The Hampton Community Centre, near the town centre, was built in the 1970s and was freezing cold, with aging equipment for making and maintaining the ice surface.The Summit Centre, about two kilometres toward Route 1, on William Bell Drive, will be heated and have an Olympic-size surface and a walking track. Most people are happy that they’re getting a new rink, but the old one closed at the end of last season and the new one won’t be ready until mid-October, when games begin.Melanie Logan says the Hampton area is growing fast enough to keep a second ice surface after the new Summit Centre opens. (Mark Leger/CBC)Running in and out of Saint John is a temporary inconvenience, but Logan and others are most upset that the old rink was closed at all. They wanted it kept open as a second ice surface for hockey players, speed skaters and figure skaters competing for ice time in a growing town.”The town told us 15 years ago, when they first asked for the grants to get the new rink, it was all based upon this rink closing,” Logan said. “That’s been their stance the whole time … and they’ve never looked at the growth in Hampton, the amount of youth that are now playing hockey.”Mayor Robert Doucet says the town simply can’t afford two ice surfaces. The operating costs would be high, he said, as would the capital costs of replacing aging equipment to make and maintain the ice surface.He said the floor and ice-making plant needed to be replaced. For the last couple of years, the town wasn’t even sure if the plant would start at the beginning of the season. The director would text Doucet a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” depending on whether it did or did not start.”We looked at the costing, and we just couldn’t justify keeping that facility open. Just the cost of running it as a rink would be about $78,000 a month,” he said. “We never, ever planned on having two ice surfaces at any time.”Like Logan and other parents, Mark Marshall, the president of the Hampton Minor Hockey Association, tried to get the town to keep the old ice surface. Citing the growth in women’s hockey, he said the sport is more popular than ever. He also said the town could open up the rink to outside groups looking to do clinics and address the needs of other communities experiencing a shortage of ice time.Mark Marshall, the president of the Hampton Minor Hockey Association, hoped the town would keep the old rink open as a second ice surface to see if the need was there. (Graham Thompson/CBC)Marshall, who played hockey in Hampton as a kid and now has a son who plays, understands the town’s concerns about funding two ice surfaces, but he had hoped it would give it a try given the demand for ice time in the region. “My suggestion was that they consider it for a trial period and just see from a revenue standpoint what it can generate,” Marshall said. “I do think the demand is there, not just from Hampton Minor Hockey but from other outside users.”Nonetheless, Logan and Marshall welcome the new centre. They just can’t help thinking it would have been nice to have two ice surfaces.”We’re really excited about it,” Marshall said. “I’ve gone through and toured the facility and it looks great. My only concern, my only reservation, is, and again, this is all in the pre-planning stages, it would have been nice if there were two ice surfaces there, even if it was a little practice facility, just to accommodate the demand.””But it’s going to be a nice spot to play for the kids.”The old rink is now the Mike Murphy Memorial Field House, a place for community members to play games such as pickleball and for kids to play sports like ball hockey. (Graham Thompson/CBC)The old rink is now the Mike Murphy Field House, named after a much-loved youth hockey organizer and former deputy mayor.At the field house, people from the community can play games such as pickleball, which is growing in popularity, and kids can do things after school such as play ball hockey.Doucet said it gives the town another recreational asset that’s much cheaper to maintain than a second ice surface.”We knew back in 2010 that we could take that rink and turn it into a nice indoor field house,” Doucet said. “Council stayed with that idea and it’s going to work out really nice for everybody, not just hockey players, but seniors, myself, going over there doing stuff.”It’s going to be a very usable space for everybody.”ABOUT THE AUTHORMark Leger is a reporter and producer based in Saint John. Send him story ideas to: mark.leger@cbc.ca
Hampton hockey community welcomes new arena but wanted to keep the old one too
