The St. Croix Valley Recreation Center, where boys and girls hockey teams practice and play their games, is getting remodeled this summer. The facility endured a makeover in 2019 the walls were painted. It now will now have a structure remodel for things like the shower room and the high school locker rooms.

The locker rooms are a tight squeeze for the boys and girls high school teams. There is not a lot of room for improvements in the boys locker room unless they completely remodel. 

“I hate being so close to my teammates. It gets annoying later on in the season when it’s more stressful practices,” sophomore Blake Vanek said.

The shower room has not been updated since the building. The boys team has no problem showering in it, but they wish it was nicer and cleaner. A lack of gender-specific showers also makes it difficult for the girls to feel comfortable showering at the rink. In order to fully remodel the rink and accommodate all needs, they must put the new shower rooms on the same side of the rink as the high school locker rooms.

“If the showers were updated and gender-separated, I would be more inclined to shower at the Rec,” junior goalie Lily Timmons said.

Sharing a huge customized locker room with both the girls and boys team would be the most ideal for the center. It would separate the high school teams to the other side of the rink and be more private to the public. The boys team fits both junior varsity and varsity in their one locker room while the girls only have their varsity team in their locker room. 

“I look at the girls team the same way I look at the Mahtomedi boys team. I hate sharing a rink with them but i would be more happy to share with the pony girls than the Mahtomedi boys,” junior Blaine Batchelor said.

The owner of the building has been talking about this remodel for a couple years now, he is just waiting for approval from the town and government with funding. They would have a top 5 curling indoor rink at the front of the rink, so they can pull in more people than just hockey fans. The updates include training areas, food, curling, hockey, and soccer all in one.

“You know fitting both teams in one room sucks because it gets pretty packed in there and opening up the other side of the hall would benefit us. But I would say we have more team chemistry no matter what team you are on because we all share a locker room and do everything together,” Batchelor said.

The remodel is planning on sharing with the girls team, it would be a two story training and locker rooms. They would share the workout room and training field but would have separate locker rooms and shower.

“You kind of grow up playing there and so I feel like changing it would just ruin the vibe that the Rec has,” Timmons said when asked if she would like her locker room to change in any way.

The St. Croix valley recreation center is a 20-year-old rink and is in need of a remodel. This summer, the Rec will be getting updated to a new facility so it can be used to its full potential. This remodel will help the Rec Center to be updated and look fresh for many years to come.