Burnsville Ice Center has been a gathering place for community
Posted: 12/6/02
by John Gessner
Staff Writer
The Burnsville Ice Center has been in business for 30 years, but business isnít as brisk as it was at times during the 1980s.
The center no longer sells ice time until 2:30 or 3 a.m. on a Saturday only to reopen at 5 a.m., said John Von Bank, the centerís maintenance supervisor since 1978. Now weekend hours are more like 6 a.m. to midnight.
Hockey and figure skating still draw kids to the rink, but the emergence of other indoor ice within a 15-mile radius means less of a scramble for ice time in Burnsville.
ìWeíre busy,î said Ice Center Manager Dean Mulso, ìbut we could be busier.î
The center turned 30 in November. The brick and cedar building with the arched roof has hosted the powerhouse Burnsville High School hockey teams of the 1980s and young girls with dreams of figure-skating glory.
Itís been expanded and modernized, with a new hanging scoreboard, a new sound system and new team rooms to accommodate changing and showering needs of both boysí and girlsí hockey teams.
Von Bank canít imagine how many pairs of skates heís sharpened since 1978.
ìWorking the high school games, Iíve run into a lot of people I can call friends,î he said. ìIíve known some of these people for 15 or 20 years. Iím sharpening their kidsí skates now.î
Thirtieth-anniversary festivities will be held Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 to commemorate a building thatís been a gathering place and a cultural touchstone in Burnsville since 1972.
The first sheet of ice was approved by voters in a bond referendum and built at a cost of $1 million. It was part of an early-í70s wave of new indoor rinks in the Twin Cities, Mulso said.
A second sheet was added in 1985, at a cost of $1.5 million. Revenue bonds sold by the city of Burnsville to pay for it will be retired in 2005.
ìThe figure skaters had a lot to do with Rink 2 being built,î Von Bank said, referring to the Burnsville Minnesota Valley Figure Skating Club. ìAt that time we were one of the bigger clubs in the state,î with about 160 members.
Figure skatingís popularity tends to rise and fall in conjunction with the Winter Olympics, Von Bank said; the club still has more than 100 members.
Hockey remains the winter sport of choice for many boys and girls; more than 700 members of the Burnsville Hockey Club call the Ice Center home.
But not before or since has the building hosted anything like the Burnsville Braves teams of the 1980s. Many games were sellouts, with 1,200 or more spectators.
ìFrom 1982 to 1990, if Burnsville hockey wasnít winning the state tournament, they were in it or doing well,î Von Bank said. ìCoach Osiecki was the big part of Burnsville hockey for years and years until he retired.î
Coach Tom Osiecki led the Braves (now Blaze) to state championships in 1985 and 1986. The Burnsville resident now coaches at St. Olaf College and scouts NHL players.
Osiecki, who started coaching in Burnsville in 1966, said the construction of Rink 1 was a blessing after citizens rejected by four votes a 1967 referendum to build indoor ice and other recreational amenities.
ìObviously it was the biggest single difference in the program for Burnsville,î Osiecki said. ìWe had some great successes in the í80s, maybe as successful as any high school team in the state. And it was all a direct result of having a rink like that.
ìIt was a great facility. It still is a great facility, really one of the finest around.î
The anniversary weekend will feature an alumni reunion for all Burnsville High School hockey players since 1972. Alumni Day will be Saturday, Feb. 1 between periods of the BHS girlsí and boysí games that will be played that day.
Center management is also looking for photos of past teams and other memorabilia to display.
For more information, call Mulso at (952) 895-4653.
John Gessner is at burnsville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.
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