Singapore's only ice rink is getting bulldozed for condos

Singapore's only ice rink will be shuttered on July 31 as the mall it resides in will be demolished to make way for apartment blocks. 

On the third floor of the JCube mall in a west-side Singapore suburb, past the KFC and the IMAX theater, sits an Olympic-sized ice rink where hockey players gather.  

In the island’s tropical heat, the cooling system sometimes buckles, creating fog so thick you can barely see the puck. Mold lingers on the surrounding white walls, and the Zamboni ice-cleaning machine often breaks down.   

As facilities go, it’s hardly world-class. But as Singapore’s only hockey rink, it’s where obsessives like Kiarra Chin, who plays on the women’s national team, go just about every day — though her routine will be upended in a few months when the mall will be bulldozed to make way for condominiums.   

“Hockey is half my heart; it’s part of who I am,’’ said the 22-year-old. “I’m kinda devastated.’’  

The wrecking ball threatens a close-knit community of athletes in a country where hockey has quietly taken off in recent years. What started as an excuse for expats from hockey-mad countries like Canada, Finland, and Sweden to ply their trade in undersized rinks blossomed into something much more with the opening of The Rink at JCube 13 years ago.  

The expats looked to give back to the community by setting up training sessions for Singaporeans, and there are now 12 teams spread across a league of three divisions. Singapore slowly began to develop national teams that now compete internationally — the men’s team finished third last year in their division at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Championships in Kyrgyzstan. The women’s team, drawing on just 45 players in a country of 5.6 million, finished third in the Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia in 2019. They’re back playing this week at the Asia women’s championships in Bangkok, with Chin scoring a goal in a win over the United Arab Emirates.  

Joewe Lam, director of development for the men’s program at the Singapore Ice Hockey Association, said it took seven years of training at JCube to hone these teams. When the rink closes on July 31, national team members may move on to something else, and young players won’t be given a chance to develop, he said. This is the fifth time — dating back decades — that Singapore has lost its only rink.  

“It throws everything we’ve done down the drain,’’ said Lam, 34, who was a member of the team that won a silver medal at the Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines in 2019.  

JCube’s conditions aren’t the only constraints facing players. Anyone looking to sharpen their skates to get an edge on the soft ice has to hope that Jason Demers, a Canadian offshore rig worker with one of the few portable sharpening devices in the country, isn’t out of town for too long. And with no stores selling equipment, players visiting their home countries often return with extra rolls of tape, gloves, and elbow pads to supply the group. One of the rink’s narrow dressing rooms has a floor-to-ceiling cage full of used equipment for borrowing.  

Still, The Rink is a magnet for speed and pleasure skaters, who jockey for slots that are gone almost as soon as online bookings open. Kids hockey programs run in the evenings. For older players, informal games known as “shinny” are held several days a week in the early morning or late at night, and spots fill up in minutes on WhatsApp chats. The high cost is no deterrent in one of the world’s wealthiest enclaves — The Rink charges almost S$600 (US$452) an hour to rent. In Canada, which has almost 8,000 rinks, last-minute rentals can be found in Toronto for as little as C$100 (US$74).  

“A little bit of magic will be really missed by a lot of guys,’’ said Nick Burton, 43, a money manager from Finland who has helped coach the men’s and women’s teams and chose Singapore over Hong Kong when he first moved to the region in part because of the hockey program. “It’s like instantly landing on your feet in a new country.’’  

As the rink’s shuttering approaches, the nearly 400 hockey players in Singapore are trying to get as many skates in as possible before it all ends. Markus Rische, 59, who’s been in Singapore for more than two decades, plays twice a week and says he’ll miss the chances to rub shoulders with players from all over the world while getting an air-conditioned break from the heat.  

“That’s a sad story,’’ the German said. “I hope the government and people in charge can figure it out so we have a smooth transition and get a new rink.’’  

The government is planning a new facility to be built near the national soccer stadium by 2029, according to a statement last month from the hockey association. Meanwhile, organizers are seeking help from “millionaires and billionaires’’ to raise the estimated S$5 million cost of a temporary rink to fill the gap, Lam said.  

The goal is to have something in place in just over a year, though it could be two or more if major redevelopment is needed on the temporary site, said association President Diane Foo, adding one investor has already been lined up.  

“Even though the rink is going to close, be hopeful,” she said. “There will be a new one definitely coming, don’t be sad about that.”  

In the meantime, hockey players will soon have to hop on a plane to other Asian cities to get their game on. Four hours away with a large Canadian population, Hong Kong has a more developed hockey scene and boasts a half dozen rinks.    

“I really feel for the local ice hockey community,’’ said Dave Wilton, 60, a retired commercial real estate broker from Canada who’s been playing since he was five and has enough photos from Asian tournaments to build an archive. “I’ve had my fill, but the youngsters are going to suffer.’’  

(Bloomberg)