Académie Ste-Cécile breaks ground on $7.5 million hockey arena

Students and staff at Académie Ste-Cécile celebrate the official groundbreaking of a new $7.5-million hockey arena. October 21, 2025. (Meagan Delaurier/AM800 News)

The ground has officially been broken for a brand-new hockey arena at a local private school.

Académie Ste-Cécile International School held the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday for their new 36,000-square-foot arena.

The $7.5 million arena, which will be named the Stallions Arena, will be attached to the existing gymnasium and will feature an NHL-sized ice pad with retractable bleachers, locker rooms, and a weight room.

The school currently has 60 kids taking part in the hockey program from Grade 9 to Grade 12, which includes a U18 boys’ team, a U17 boys’ team, and a U19 girls’ team.

The teams play between 50 and 60 games per season against other prep schools from across Canada and the U.S. and currently use the ice pad at the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex.

The ice surface is scheduled to be completed by August 2026, with the remaining work to follow.

Robb Serviss, Athletic Director and hockey coach at Académie Ste-Cécile, said being able to practice at home will be a huge benefit.

“They have to hop on a bus every day, and we usually go to Capri Rec Centre to practice... to be able to stay on campus here, just better synergy with their overall day schedule with academics and hockey is going to be a huge plus,” said Serviss.

He said the players are very excited.

“For the seniors... they’re not happy. But for the juniors, the Grade 11s and Grade 10s, they’re ecstatic to think we’re going to have our own arena on campus.”

Serviss said this arena will help the school expand the hockey program and potentially see new programs.

“And I think where I really want to grow is actually figure skating. We’ve had some interest from abroad, but also because we’re going to have our own ice rink that we are strictly going to be using, we’re going to need more programming... and I think figure skating would be an amazing fit with our school.”

He added that the $7.5 million for the project was raised completely through the school.

AMICO Design has been selected as the general contractor, while Sfera Architectural Associates Inc. has been selected as the architect for the project.

Académie Ste-Cécile International School is a private, co-educational, day and resident, elementary and secondary school.

The school also offers state-of-the-art athletic facilities, an NBA-sized basketball court, an indoor running track, an outdoor turf and running track, and outdoor basketball, tennis, and pickleball courts.