Why Braemar Lost a Sheet of Ice This Fall, and Where Edina Is Skating Instead
"We're going to be down one sheet of ice for a period of time. For a lot of communities, that's not that big of a deal. But in Edina, it really is," project communications coordinator Steve Peckham told the Edina Sun-Current in late summer, after crews rebuilding Braemar Arena's East Rink dug into frozen ground.
The East Rink was supposed to be finished by Oct. 20. As of the City of Edina's Oct. 9 update, it is scheduled to be available for play by Dec. 26. The frozen ground behind that change has been under the rink for about a decade, and the rebuild was the first chance to measure it.
According to the Sun-Current, the East Rink's subfloor heating system failed about ten years ago, and the ground under the rink froze solid. As the frost expanded, the rink floor turned uneven, with slow spots and fast spots that Braemar staff spent years trying to work around.
The city knew the history and tested twice, once in 2023 and again in summer 2025. For the second test the rink closed for seven weeks, and the result was negative for permafrost. Peckham told the paper the testing showed signs that frost had been there before. Those tests drill probes into the ice at scattered points, and none of the spot checks found frost. "The problem with the two tests that we had done previously is that it is not a perfect science," he said.
The South Rink was finished in July, and crews then moved to the East Rink. They melted the ice, removed the top layer of sand, and pulled out the corroded steel coolant pipes from the late 1960s. Digging deeper, they hit frozen ground. With that much material gone, an engineering firm could take a more accurate reading. On Monday, Aug. 24, it found frost 12 feet deep at the thickest point.
The city's project page explains why work stopped instead of going ahead. A new concrete floor poured over frozen ground would likely lead to a major structural failure later. "To build a lasting facility, we must completely thaw the subsoil before construction resumes." A floor poured over that frost would likely have developed the same uneven spots the old one had.
Crews removed two feet of sand so heating tubes and thermal pads could sit closer to the top of the frost. Ground Thaw Units started heating the rink floor on Sept. 11. Peckham had described the setup to the Sun-Current as "a giant heating blanket that works at high intensity," and said the retest was planned for mid-October. It came a few days early. On Oct. 9, an engineering firm confirmed the frost was gone after four weeks of remediation.
That clean test is why the target moved up. The Sun-Current's August estimate was Jan. 1. The city's Oct. 9 schedule lays out what's left:
The city adds a caveat. There are "no guarantees we won't encounter another unforeseen obstacle that could impact this timeline," and staff and crews are committed to "making every day productive." In August, Peckham said it was too early to know how the delay would affect construction costs.
Braemar is now running on the South and West rinks during the busiest stretch of the hockey calendar. The city's own project page says demand for ice time already outran capacity before any of this, across youth, high school and adult hockey, figure skating and open skating.
The Edina Hockey Association's 2026/2027 ice scheduling memo for 12U, Peewee and Bantam teams opens with "THIS IS A VERY DIFFERENT YEAR WITH REGARD TO ICE." The association bought as much ice as it could to get teams close to their ice budgets, which means early morning and late night practices at rinks across the metro. The memo lays out where the ice is coming from:
| Use | Where |
|---|---|
| Home district games | Braemar, which holds most of its ice for these games, plus Minnesota Made–Edina North and South rinks, Minnesota Made–Valley View, Richfield and Bloomington |
| Purchased practice ice | Mariucci, Ridder, Burnsville, Plymouth, University of St. Thomas, Brooklyn Park and others |
The memo also changes how schedules reach families. Team ice will go onto team calendars in much smaller batches, likely every two or three weeks through at least the end of 2026, so the association can keep buying ice as it comes up. Some practices will run odd lengths, such as 65 or 80 minutes, so no purchased time goes to waste. Teams can sell or trade ice only with other Edina teams, for insurance reasons. Ice was posted through Oct. 23, and the next batch is expected around Oct. 15, when District 6 approves the Bantam, Peewee and 12U game schedules.
The high school program is in the same position. Edina boys hockey usually practices Monday through Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Braemar, but the team says that because of limited ice this fall, practices "could run later this November and December." The Braemar-City of Lakes Figure Skating Club has a fall ice contract running through Nov. 25 and a Winter 1 contract from Oct. 19 to Dec. 23. Its announcement doesn't say which rink those sessions use. If the East Rink opens on schedule, it will come back three days after that winter contract ends.
Public skating is still running on the two working rinks. The city calendar lists open skate on the South Rink on Tuesday, Oct. 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., and on the West Rink on Sunday, Oct. 18, from 2:15 to 3:45 p.m. Open skating is for all ages, and single admission is $7. The same calendar still shows East Rink open skates on Oct. 15, 20 and 22. Those entries conflict with the city's Oct. 9 construction update, so call the arena before going to one of them.
One December date is already set. The figure skating club's Holiday Pops show and VEAP fundraiser is Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the West Arena, with $10 tickets at the door.
The East Rink floor is one early piece of a bigger project. Braemar was built in the 1960s and has had piecemeal upgrades since. The city says some of its infrastructure is failing or past its expected lifespan. The $45.2 million expansion adds a fourth indoor sheet, a central corridor connecting all the rinks, and a second lobby to ease congestion. It also expands gathering space and upgrades the restrooms, locker rooms, spectator seating, accessibility, refrigeration and HVAC.
Funding comes from the half-cent local sales tax Edina voters approved in November 2022. The city notes that everyone who shops in Edina pays it, including the many non-residents who also use Braemar. In early September, the City Council approved a $33.2 million guaranteed maximum price for Knutson Construction Services, the project's construction manager. "Establishing the GMP locks us into the largest portion of our overall project budget," Braemar Arena general manager Jesse Buchholz said in the city's announcement.
For the full expansion, the most recent public target is from February. The Edina Zephyrus reported then that the work was expected to finish in fall 2027. That date came before anyone found the frost. The Dec. 26 target applies only to the East Rink, and the city has not published a revised date for the whole project.
When the East Rink reopens, it will sit on a new subfloor heating system, new coolant pipes and a new concrete floor, poured over ground an engineering firm has confirmed is free of the frost that warped the old surface.
Jim Schwarz follows projects like the Braemar expansion closely for the Edina homeowners he advises. If you'd like to talk through how this work fits into your own plans, schedule a private consultation.
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