It has been nine years since the 3,500-seat multi-purpose Valley Ice Garden was sold to Cardinal Distributing and renovated from the states most impressive indoor ice rink into a cold storage warehouse. Since the Ice Garden’s sale several local groups have been nearly homeless, they include the NAHL’s Bozeman Icedogs, the Bozeman Figure Skating Club, MSU Hockey Club and the Jr.Icedogs, as well as individuals who enjoy drop-in hockey and public skating. All of the numerous camps, clinics, and tournaments that were housed by the Ice Garden have been displaced for nearly a decade, many ice lovers have been working throughout this time to build a new home for their favorite sports.

The biggest organizational supporters of Bozeman hockey are the Bozeman Amateur Hockey Association (BAHA) and The Gallatin Ice Foundation (GIF). Both organizations have been working hard to keep ice open and bring permanent ice back to Bozeman. Bozeman’s only indoor ice rink in the Haynes Pavilion at the Gallatin Valley Fairgrounds re-opened for the 2015 season on September 28. It is no small job to keep seasonal ice a reality in Bozeman, BAHA employees and volunteers clean, move, and build an ice rink on the refrigerated slab in Haynes Pavilion each season. Their agreement with the Gallatin County Fairgrounds requires BAHA to build and tear-down every piece of board, glass, and ice in the facility each year.

Because the Haynes Pavilion rink is not a year round facility, used each summer Saturday for the Gallatin Valley Farmers Market, and throughout the summer for other local events, the seven-month skating season is highly overscheduled. It has been very difficult to meet current demands, add more skaters, offer public skating, host regional tournaments or provide training for competitive figure skaters. To meet this high demand The Gallatin Ice Foundation has been writing grants, looking at private and public partnerships and asking the community for their support to make permanent ice in Bozeman a reality once more, they call their campaign “Raise the Barn”.

On June 2, 2015 the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust granted $222,000 for Bozeman’s new ice arena, leading the to Martel Construction breaking ground on a 36,000-square-foot steel structure that will eventually house Bozeman’s second refrigerated ice skating rink on Monday, August 11, 2015. Step two of The Gallatin Ice Foundation’s plan is now underway and will include enclosing the building as well as installation of the ice plant, refrigerated rink slab and floor, mechanical room, building lighting and interim locker rooms, bathrooms and seating.

Along side the construction of the Ice Barn is the current home of Bozeman ice, The Haynes Pavilion. Open September - April for private ice rental, Icedogs practice, drop-in hockey -“Puck Lunch”, public skating, stick & puck, figure skating club practice, MSU Hockey Club try-outs, and pre-season adult hockey league games the Haynes Pavilion has a full schedule of ice related activities. Hockey season is just heating up in the Gallatin Valley and registration for non-travel youth and adult hockey programs remain open. A full rink schedule can be found at www.bozemanhockey.org.

This season BAHA welcomes new Hockey Director Dave Weaver to lead both BAHA’s Youth and Adult hockey leagues including 225 kids on 14 teams and 550 adults on 34 teams. Weaver’s first day instructing on ice will be during pre-season youth hockey, beginning October 1st. “The pre-season program is a perfect opportunity for me to meet most of the existing and incoming players and their families.” says Weaver. “These kids and their parents end up spending a lot of time at the rink, so it’s important that they know who I am as a Director – and feel at home within the BAHA community at Haynes.”

For More Information about BAHA and local hockey please contact: Layne Fisher with the Bozeman Amateur Hockey Association Lfisher@bozemanhockey.org or 406-240-3031.

For more information on the progress of the Gallatin Ice Foundation’s Raise the Barn campaign to bring permanent ice back to Bozeman visit: http://gallatinicefoundation.org/ or contact Chelsea Schmidt at: developmentdirector@gallatinicefoundation.org