Windsor working to allocate ice time after arena fire

WFCU Centre fire on Monday, April 28, 2025. (Source: Annette Demers)

The City of Windsor says it is working with user groups to complete ice allocations for 2025/26 across city arenas.

Earlier this year, a fire broke out on the roof of the WFCU Centre, damaging the AM800 rink — the primary home for the Riverside Minor Hockey Association.

A city staff report warned the damage could take up to a year to resolve and recommended converting Capri’s Rink A back into a typical skating rink to fill the gap.

Last month, council voted to convert the Capri rink back to hockey ice offsetting Windsor’s municipal curling season to run April through August in 2026.

Speaking on AM800’s The Shift with Patty Handysides, James Chacko, executive director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities said the planning process to shift user groups away from the AM800 rink was ongoing.

“We’re about halfway through that process, which is the regular process for this time of year, those meetings typically take place at the end of June, early July, then we finalize all of the schedules by end July and issue all the permits,” Chacko said.

The fire on the roof at the WFCU Centre caused $1-million in damages.

Chacko says contractors are on site working to get the AM800 rink back into service for 2026.

“There’s been a lot of work going on to not only repair or replace the structure of the roof itself, but a number of the HVAC type of systems have to be either partially, or fully replaced, because of a lot of those units were sitting on the roof and sustained damage,” he said.

At the time of the Capri decision, Windsor’s curling community expressed their disappointment.

Chacko said with how the schedule is currently shaping out, curlers will see an extended season once it resumes in 2026.

“People would be able to curl continuously basically from April 2026 right through April 2027, because you would see the spring/summer season run right into the fall/winter, so you would basically get a full 12 month window of curling, and then moving forward for the following season, again, just that ongoing fall/winter season curling at Capri,” Chacko said.

Chacko said any convenors or group organizers who are experiencing issues with ice allocations should reach out to him or arena managers for assistance.

— Dustin Coffman/AM800 News