Dunedin Ice Stadium is an indoor

ice sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold are ...

and public skate centre, that opened in October 2004. It is located in the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

city of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, in the southern suburb of Saint Kilda. The stadium is owned by Dunedin Ice Sports Inc. and is the current home venue of the Phoenix Thunder in the

New Zealand Ice Hockey League The NZIHL is New Zealand’s national ice hockey league. It is an amateur league that was formed in 2005 to develop the sport in New Zealand and to give the top players regular competition against each other to improve the skill level of the game ...

(NZIHL) and

Dunedin Thunder The Dunedin Thunder, currently the Phoenix Thunder for sponsorship reasons, is an ice hockey team based in Dunedin, New Zealand and are members of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League. The club plays their home games at the Dunedin Ice Stadium. The T ...

in the New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League (NZWIHL). The arena is the only operational indoor ice sports stadium in Dunedin and is the most southern located Olympic sized ice rink in the World.

History

Indoor ice facility history of Dunedin

First public meeting held in 1975 to gauge public interest in developing and building an indoor

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

. Meeting was held by Canadian migrant Dr Barrie Berkley and was attended by 30 people. Dunedin’s first indoor ice rink opened to the public in 1984 at

Kaikorai Valley Kaikorai Valley is a long broad valley which runs through the west of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, to the west of the city centre. It is the valley of a small stream, the Kaikorai Stream, which runs from northeast to southwest down the ...

. The rink was named The Big Chill. It offered very basic amenities and a small ice sheet with square corners. It was missing some amenity that would be regarded as standard in the twenty first centre, things like air conditioning and change rooms. By 1994 the facility is in financial trouble and is bailed out by members of the Dunedin Curling Club purchasing the rink and operational business and transferring ownership to the Curling Club. The rink continues to operate until the board decide in 2000 to halt all new investment in the facility. By 2002, the Big Chill ice rink closes and halts operations.

Establishing Dunedin Ice Stadium

On 9 December 2002, Dunedin Curling club enters into a new partnership with the Dunedin Ice Hockey Association and Dunedin Ice Skating Club to form a new incorporated society entity named Ice Sports Dunedin (ISD). ISD begins work on planning for a new indoor ice sports facility for the city of Dunedin. In 2003, ISD submits a proposal to the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jul ...

to take ownership of the former Dunedin Stadium in St Kilda. Dunedin Stadium’s

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

tenants had left the stadium in the mid 1990’s when the

Edgar Centre The Edgar Centre is a large multi-purpose indoor sports venue in South Dunedin, New Zealand, on the shore of Otago Harbour close to Andersons Bay Inlet. It is the home venue of the Otago Nuggets basketball team, and an alternate venue for the ...

opened. Council accepted ISD’s proposal and renovation activities commenced. As per the agreement with Council, Council invested $1.2 million and completed a full retrofitting of the stadium’s roof with insulated panels. ISD was responsible for all further renovations and fit-out of the facility. ISD began a fundraising campaign, led by Neil Gamble, Edwin Harley and Trevor Lewis, to pay $3.3 million for critical and desired works. ISD completed construction in 2004 thanks to funds raised through community trust grants and issuing of debentures to club members. Two years after the Big Chill had closed, in October 2004, the new Dunedin Ice Stadium opened to the public for the first time. The new indoor ice sports stadium boasted a new Olympic-sized 60m x 30m ice rink. The rink would be named after a pioneer of ice sports in New Zealand and the South Island, Corinne Gilkison. One year after the opening of the new stadium, adjacent to the Corinne Gilkison ice rink, ISD began construction on a four-lane

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

sheet with funding from the Caversham Foundation. Construction took one year to be completed. The Caversham curling rink opened to the public in 2006. In 2008, the

(NZIHL) expanded to include the newly established

. The Thunder would base themselves at the Dunedin Ice Stadium with national NZIHL games played and training conducted at the venue. The Ice Stadium also began construction on the next stage of facility expansion with a new $840,000

mezzanine level A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped w ...

. 2009 was a big year for Dunedin Ice Stadium. The mezzanine level was completed and would later be named the Gamble Lounge after Neil Gamble. The stadium hosted its first major international tournaments during April and May 2009. First it welcomed five nations, including the New Zealand Ice Blacks for the

2009 IIHF World Championship Division III The 2009 IIHF World Championship Division III was an international ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs ...

international ice hockey tournament. Second it welcomed twelve nations for the

2009 World Senior Curling Championships The 2009 World Senior Curling Championships were held from April 24 to May 3 at the Dunedin Curling Club in Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the princi ...

. In August,

played hosts to international

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

events at the venue as part of the

2009 New Zealand Winter Games The 2009 New Zealand Winter Games was a multi-sport event that was held in the Otago region of New Zealand. It was the inaugural New Zealand Winter Games and was organised by the Winter Games New Zealand Trust. Approximately 816 athletes from 41 ...

. Following a successful 2009, ISD gained

charitable status A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

in New Zealand. The new status charged the Dunedin Ice Stadium’s owners responsibility to the public and community clubs to maintain and improve the Ice Stadium. All funding through admissions and ice time rental would be reinvested in the facility. The Ice Stadium’s governance structure was modified in 2013 to include representation from the Dunedin City Council and

Sport Otago Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

on top of ISD. The change was completed to solidify the venue’s business stability and value to the city of Dunedin. With the establishment of the New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League (NZWIHL) in 2014, one of the three founding teams, the

Southern Storm ''Southern Storm'' is the seventh studio album by Brazilian death metal band Krisiun. The album was recorded at Stage One Studios in Borgentreich, Germany, with producer Andy Classen. It was released in Europe on 21 July 2008, and in the United ...

, would base themselves at Dunedin Ice Stadium, with NZWIHL games played at the venue. In 2017, the Stadium installed a new lift between the ground and mezzanine level to obtain building consent. ISD pays off the last of the stadium’s debts to become debt free for the first time. The Storm was disbanded by the NZWIHL in 2020 with two new teams founded in its place. One team based in Queenstown, Wakatipu Wild, and one team based in Dunedin at the Ice Stadium,

Facilities

The arena's ice sports facilities were built and fitted out in 2004 following the facility's transition from basketball and netball stadium. The Olympic sized ice rink was installed in 2004 with other major facilities gradually updated since then, including the installation of the 4-lane curling rink in 2006 and the mezzanine level between 2008 and 2009. Facilities include: * 60 m × 30 m ice rink (Olympic sized Corinne Gilkison ice rink) * 1,850 spectator capacity (including the Alexander McMillan stand, which seats 1,500 people) * Four-sheet curling rink (Caversham curling rink) * Skate and equipment hire * Bumper-cars * Café * Bar and lounge (Gamble Lounge) * Private party room * Public toilets * Outdoor parking

Events

Dunedin Ice Stadium hosts regular community, competitive and national events and is utilised by a number of associations and clubs, including Dunedin Ice Hockey Association, Dunedin Ice Skating Club and Dunedin Curling Club. During

season national men's and women's games are played at Dunedin Ice Stadium in the

and New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League as the Thunder's women's and men's teams play home games at the venue. In 2009, 2013 and 2017 the stadium hosted the annual

New Zealand Women's Curling Championship The New Zealand Women's Curling Championship is the national championship of women's curling in New Zealand. It has been held annually since 2005 and organized by New Zealand Curling Association. From 1994 to 2004 the national champions were the wi ...

. The stadium has been host to international

and

tournaments. In April 2009, the venue hosted

, which included fifteen scheduled games and involved the New Zealand Ice Blacks. New Zealand won all five games at the venue in the tournament, one in over-time, to finish top of the standings and earn promotion to division II for 2010. Between late April and early May, the stadium hosted the

. The tournament involved twelve nations, including

and Australia. New Zealand failed to make it out of their group and the Final saw Canada defeat the United States 4-3.

References

External links

*
Dunedin Ice Hockey Association

Dunedin Ice Skating Club

Dunedin Curling Club

New Zealand Ice Hockey League

New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League
{{coord, -45.907689, 170.504733, display=title Sports venues in Dunedin Indoor ice hockey venues in New Zealand 2004 establishments in New Zealand Sports venues completed in 2004