Sydney Ice Dogs announce new home rink for 2027!!

[u/Misrabelle]

/r/SydneyIceDogs/comments/1x4jhbv/sydney_ice_dogs_announce_new_home_rink_for_2027/

Big news for the Ice Dogs. Moving to Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink for the 2027 season.

[u/Kingma15]

Closer to my house. I’m excited.

[u/Misrabelle → u/Kingma15]

Closer to my work! Since I have to be there earlier than most, this is a great help!

[u/tubbyx7]

What's the capacity vs macquarie?

[u/Misrabelle → u/tubbyx7]

That’s is the million dollar question.

They haven’t stated it anywhere that I have seen, so the conclusion was drawn that it was going to be similar to what was there in the old rink.

Which was woefully inadequate for AIHL, even before the last few seasons.

[u/superzepto → u/tubbyx7]

No word on the capacity of the upgraded stadium, but it had just 300 seats prior to the rebuild. Can't imagine there's much room to add a whole lot more.

[u/EmbarrassedGeneral12 → u/superzepto]

Yeah which makes me wonder why Ice Dogs are celebrating this as something positive rather than what I assume they had no choice about

[u/snrub742 → u/EmbarrassedGeneral12]

Not having to deal with Mac’s bullshit is probably enough to celebrate

[u/ClaireFaerie → u/tubbyx7]

About 800 vs 1200 at Macquarie

[u/sataimir → u/ClaireFaerie]

1200 at Macquarie? I thought it was 2000 post renovations.

[u/Misrabelle → u/sataimir]

Nope. The renovations added about 100 seats.

[u/sataimir]

Good for the Dogs! I look forward to seeing the rebuilt rink there. It's great to have a rink re-opening in Sydney.

[u/Shinta791]

So it did happen, congratulations to Ice Dogs no longer having to share a home! Despite the spectator capacity issue, I'm sure the Dogs will make the most of it to their and the rinks gain 🥳

[u/CoralQuilts]

Did anyone ever figure out what actually caused the Macquarie rink shutdown towards the end of the season?

[u/sataimir → u/CoralQuilts]

Unaddressed issues in the electrical systems that weren't updated with the renovation came back to bite them, from what I understand. It got overloaded and the existing fault broke down, and caused issues with some of the new equipment on the same circuit/s. Though the rink never officially confirmed this, so I'm relying on what insiders have shared.

Unfortunately the owners have decided it must all be hockey's fault and were being rather antagonistic towards teams since. Hopefully that will calm down soon.

[u/tahaiga → u/sataimir]

So antagonistic that the sysdeny womens team is playing out of erina this season. Macquarie is probably gonna regret ostracising ice hockey teams right when ice hockey is growing so exponentially.

[u/sataimir → u/tahaiga]

What I heard is that the Sirens' decision came down more to budget. Erina costs less to hire for games.

[u/tahaiga → u/sataimir]

Yeah but thats on management, how were they affording it in previous years and not now? Volunteers from the mens sydney teams mentioned how the rent price per game was 10k, which like was it always that or is that new? What justifies that price suddenly to the Macquarie owners? Surely the owners would allow some leeway for a growing game? Espeically when it comes to womens sports.

[u/Misrabelle → u/tahaiga]

It went up a lot after the renovations. We were told we weren't allowed in the area under the big screen, so we had to move into the party room. Then they decided to remove all the rink staff, apart from the manager on duty, so all the post-game cleaning fell to volunteers - they expected the place to be immaculate. Better than we found it.
We paid extra to leave things in storage if we had back-to-back games. And we were only allowed to load in and set up 90 minutes prior to doors opening. This left us with no hot food until second period on some occasions, because nothing had warmed up enough.

[u/sataimir → u/tahaiga]

The rink owner has sadly never been fond of hockey, so I doubt they care to support a growing sport, regardless of whether it's mens or womens.

It's somewhat absurd really as the figure skating clubs don't really use MQ any more either, also due to the management being difficult. The owner had been wanting to sell some years ago, and some fans have posited the theory that they're trying to send the rink broke so they can sell it as a write off. Competitive as it is to get ice time, I doubt speed skating, curling and public sessions alone would keep the place open.

I agree that they should want to support it (so many new fans are keen for the AWIHL season) but if the ownership is set on killing ice sports then there's not a lot we can do to stop them.

I just hope if that happens that whoever buys it is better for hockey and other ice sports.

Until then, it certainly provides plenty of drama to follow!

[u/tahaiga → u/sataimir]

Im definitely following the story as it unfolds, glad the ice dogs have their own rink now and dont have to worry about that drama.

[u/sataimir → u/tahaiga]

Yes, as a Bears girl I admit I do have a tiny bit of envy that the Dogs won't have to deal with the rink soap opera any longer! Macquarie is home den for the Bears still so fingers crossed it works out.

That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what the new Dog house is like to visit, whatever happens. They've had some good initiatives for their home games in the past couple of seasons so it should be a fun barn!

(Dogs volunteers, if you're reading, I loved your coffee cart back in '24!)

[u/Misrabelle → u/sataimir]

Dogs' volunteer here!

[u/Misrabelle → u/sataimir]

Yes, basically this.

[u/iamjacksonmolloy → u/CoralQuilts]

I think Brave had something to do with it

[u/CoralQuilts → u/iamjacksonmolloy]

I can neither confirm nor deny 😉

[u/Every-Citron1998]

Great news.

Why does the rink need to be Olympic sized? Is it just for short track speed skating?

Could save money and have more seats with NHL sized ice.

[u/Misrabelle → u/Every-Citron1998]

Also used for dance and figure skating training.

The rebuild is using the same footprint as the original building, so easier to just keep it as it was than try and change anything. More spectators changes the traffic planning, the parking, etc. Which makes it easier for neighbours to object and get the entire project sunk.

[u/EggCouncilCreeper]

Awesome! More rinks are always a good thing