Piscataquis County Ice Arena adapting to COVID-19 restrictions

By Larry Mahoney, Bangor Daily News Staff

It was certainly a stroke of bad luck that the first indoor ice arena in Piscataquis County opened just five months before the world’s first pandemic since 1918. 

But Matt Spooner, the director of programming for the Piscataquis County Ice Arena in Dover-Foxcroft, said they are trying to make the most of a difficult situation, and have reworked their programs to adhere to state-mandated regulations established to limit the spread of COVID-19.

You can’t have more than 50 people at an activity at an indoor facility. 

The multi-million-dollar facility opened in October 2019 and had to close down in March 2020. It has since reopened.

The rink was funded by the Libra Foundation and is being managed by Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

One of the major developments has been the temporary suspension of team practices for the  Penquis Youth Hockey Association, as well as all youth hockey associations statewide due to coronavirus safety protocols.

The rink operation has adapted by having smaller groups in pods working on skill development, Spooner said. They have four age groups of players: eight and under, 10 and under, 12 and under and 14 and under.

“We have eight stations set up for them,” Spooner said. He likened it to an obstacle course that focuses on all aspects of the sport with a particular emphasis on skating. “You can teach them things like balance and how to use their edges [of their skates].”

They can also do stickhandling and shooting drills.

The rink offers learn-to-skate programs for figure skaters as well as potential hockey players; private skating instruction; open skating for all ages; stick time for skills and drills for all ages; an hour-long power skating lesson followed by an hour of negotiating the eight stations, and curling every other Friday and Saturday in which they transform the ice surface into four curling sheets and can have four matches going on at the same time.

“We have been working closely with the Belfast Curling Club because their facility isn’t open,” Spooner said.

A benefit curling open house to raise money for the Belfast Curling Club and the Piscataquis County Ice Arena has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 23.

He said they are developing a figure skating club too.

Due to safety protocols, they can’t have stick-and-puck, which is basically a pick-up hockey game among players of all ages. 

Group skating lessons, which used to involve as many as 30 skaters at a time over an hour and half, are now broken down into much smaller groups.

And he pointed out that with a 50-person limit within the facility, that includes the number of parents who would like to stay and watch their youngsters.

“Things are going okay. The numbers are down from the fall,” Spooner said. “Hopefully, the state will ease some of the restrictions in the new year.”

He was also quick to point out that this rink is better off than a lot of other rinks thanks to the funding of the Libra Foundation.

“I’m sure a lot of rinks are struggling and I can fully understand how they would be,” Spooner said.