After seven months of restoration work, the large ice at the Taber Community Centre reopened to the public on Friday. The community centre was shuttered after an explosion on Dec. 17, 2025. The town’s investigation revealed the explosion was caused by a failure of a component within the fuel system of the Zamboni, which created a gas cloud within the ice resurfacer room and across the small ice surface. There were about a dozen people inside the centre at the time, but no one was injured. The auditorium, the Taber Chamber of Commerce, Tank 77 Museum, Bodymasters Gym and Archery Range all reopened in March. The town held a grand reopening for the hockey arena on Friday. “It’s great to have this large ice facility back up and running,” said mayor Andrew Prokop. The explosion destroyed a large wall that separates the ice arena and curling rink. Glass, boards and other areas within the arena were damaged. Derrin Thibault, the town’s chief administrative officer, says asbestos testing and abatement had to be done throughout the centre following the explosion. Once complete, contractors began restoration work with a deadline of Aug. 1. “This was an aggressive target to meet and we met it,” Thibault said. “It was pretty extensive damage and the building is so old we had a lot of things that needed to be upgraded.” The incident caused an abrupt stop to the hockey season in late December, but Prokop says that’s when the community and surrounding towns came together. “The minor hockey association didn’t actually lose any games, they managed to fit their games in elsewhere,” he said. “We’re very fortunate and grateful to the surrounding municipalities that we’re able to have ice availability for us.” Just hours after the explosion, Prokop says neighbouring communities began reaching out to provide resources and ice time for their players. From that point, Prokop says, the Taber community came together to support the rebuild of the arena. In March, the town hosted the PlayOn! Street Hockey Tournament, raising $145,000. And in April, Taber was also nominated for the Kraft Hockeyville, a national competition that awards the winning community with money for local arena upgrades. “We are very grateful that we had all that support from across the country,” Prokop said, adding the win and $300,000 it comes with will go a long way to repair the stadium. Restoration work has now shifted to the curling club, where some construction is already complete. Thibault says it will be a few more months before the town knows when it can reopen the curling rink. For now, the arena will welcome more than 250 hockey players for the annual Verset Skills Camp starting Aug. 1. The hockey season will get underway on Sept. 1. A final cost for construction has not yet been calculated as the town continues to deal with repairs and insurance.
