The Sarnia Ice Hawks will have a more accessible ice rink at Clearwater Arena in time for the next sledge hockey season.
The Electrical Contractors Association of Sarnia, in conjunction with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, have donated $40,000 towards the project.
A cheque presentation ceremony took place at the arena's red rink Tuesday.
Manager of SSEC and arenas for the City of Sarnia Rob Harwood says it's been a big transition for the team, who was originally based out of Germain Arena.
"The teams will be able to actually use the player's benches, right now they can't glide into the player's benches with their sleds," he says, with the hope of Clearwater Arena becoming the site for future sledge hockey tournaments.
"We've been studying Canadian hockey standards and visiting some other sites that have similar setups and we'll be able to actually modify these so that our players will have the same luxury of play like everybody does in the other facilities."
Harwood says this is the beginning of a multi-phase plan at Clearwater Arena.
By summer, they hope to build a family accessible washroom where the skate-sharpening area used to be. Renovations will also be made to an area behind the red rink to upgrade a storage room into two accessible dressing rooms.
