Greensburg ice arena renovation complete; reopening date set

Renovation of Greensburg’s Kirk S. Nevin ice arena is completed, but the planned reopening date for the facility at the city’s Lynch Field has been moved back a week, to Aug. 21.

Parks and Recreation Superintendent Glenn Moyer said the later date resulted from the delayed arrival of some equipment needed for the $3 million overhaul.

The delay won’t affect public skate sessions, which are scheduled to begin after Labor Day.

The Westmoreland Hockey Association is scheduled to hold an evening practice session at the arena Aug. 21 for its Eagles 8U youth program. High school teams also play at the arena.

Moyer told city council this week that the arena’s new refrigeration system is being turned on in preparation for placing ice on the rink floor.

“We are very excited,” he said. “We’re going to start laying ice, and we’ll be open on the 21st.”

The arena’s new refrigeration system replaced a 27-year-old version.

According to Moyer, the new system uses a less costly refrigerant that is environmentally friendly. It’s designed to cause no harm to the Earth’s ozone layer if it were to be released into the air, he said.

As part of the project, crews had to remove the rink’s concrete floor and replace piping and sand underneath. The renovation also includes new heating units for the arena lobby and related electrical work.

Much of the project cost was covered by grants, including $1.5 million from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources that was part of covid-19 pandemic recovery funding.

Extensive cleanup was involved after the renovations were completed.

“From the size of the renovation, you can imagine, everything is covered with dust,” Moyer said. “We probably went through 300 mop buckets just cleaning the entire building.”

Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey sessions for ages 5 to 9 will be held in the arena at 2 p.m. Saturdays, beginning Sept. 16. Visit nhl.com/penguins/community/learn-to-play for more information or to register. Log on to westmorelandhockeyassociation.com to learn more about the youth hockey league.

Pool to close 2 days

Aug. 20 will be the last day for public swimming at Veterans’ Memorial Pool at Lynch Field, but the pool will be closed Aug. 14 and 15.

“A lot of my lifeguards have gone back to college, so I’m kind of with a skeleton crew,” Moyer said. “Mondays and Tuesdays are typically our slower days of the week, so, to make it possible, we will close those two days.”