Ice plant leak shuts Brandon Curling Club

A refrigeration failure at the Brandon Curling Club has forced a last-minute venue change for two provincial championships and cut the club’s season short at the Keystone Centre.

The problem emerged last week when staff discovered the brine refrigeration system was losing fluid, club president Geordie Hargreaves told the Sun on Saturday.

“The ice still looked fine from the surface,” Hargreaves said. “But they were having to add more brine every day to keep the system cold, and there was no visible sign of where the leak was.”

The brine, which is a calcium chloride solution that runs through hundreds of pipes beneath the concrete slab, began leaking under the floor. By Friday afternoon, the situation had escalated, he said.

“There were several factors that prevented us from continuing,” he said. “Safety was one of them, and it could have led to more problems if we tried to keep limping along.”

A reported shortage of calcium chloride in Western Canada further complicated matters, making it unsustainable to continue operating the system even temporarily, he said.

To locate the leak, Hargreaves said, the ice must be removed so each pipe can be pressure-tested individually, a process impossible to do with the ice in place.

Because the curling surface operates on a separate refrigeration system, the shutdown affects only the curling club and not the hockey arenas inside the Keystone Centre, he said.

While regular leagues — the club’s main source of revenue — will now end about a month early, the most urgent concern was hosting the upcoming provincial Masters championships, scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Sixteen men’s teams and six women’s teams from across Manitoba were set to compete in Brandon. Within 24 hours of the shutdown decision, neighbouring clubs stepped in to help, alongside Curl Manitoba, he said.

Hargreaves said the Masters men’s championship will now be held at the Carberry Curling Club, with Brandon’s ice-making crew preparing the surface. The women’s event will move to the Riverview Curling Club, which adjusted its league schedule to accommodate the draw.

“It’s been pretty amazing, actually, the support we’ve had in the last 24 hours,” Hargreaves said. “All these groups have kind of come together to make sure the provincials can still go ahead.”

He also expressed appreciation for the Keystone Centre’s handling of the situation.

“The Keystone Centre has been very supportive through all of this,” Hargreaves said. “Nobody felt good about how it happened, but they worked with us every step of the way once we knew we couldn’t continue.”

He added that the decision to shut down was not taken lightly.

“They had experienced people looking at the system, and once it was clear what the risks were, it was the right call,” he said. “This isn’t anyone’s fault, it’s just one of those things that can happen with an aging facility.”

The club executive is now reviewing options for league members who paid for a full season and may be entitled to partial refunds, he said. Some rentals have already been cancelled, and organizers are exploring alternate venues in Brandon and nearby communities.

The refrigeration plant has been shut down, and the ice will melt in preparation for repairs. Hargreaves said he hopes the issue can be resolved over the summer so the Brandon Curling Club can return in the fall.

“It’s unfortunate to lose the rest of the season,” he said. “But the way the curling community and the Keystone Centre responded that’s been the positive in all of this.”

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