County Arena addition means women no longer need to change in first aid station

Every year the number of girls and women playing hockey in Nova Scotia grows by about nine per cent and in Cape Breton it's even higher at 10 per cent.

But in one arena the girls are still dressing in the first aid station.

County Arena was built 40 years ago and Cape Breton Regional Municipality's facilities manager Paul MacDonald says it's showing its age, especially when it comes to providing a space for female players.

'No place to go'

"We only had four [dressing] rooms," he said. "So it was difficult for the female players to dress before the game. They had no place to go, really, so they were sort of put into a broom closet kind of atmosphere and it's just something they shouldn't have to deal with."

That's about to change. CBRM has called a tender for the design of an addition to the County Arena. MacDonald says it will include two office spaces, a new box office and four large dressing rooms with some of that space allocated to female players.

"It's just odd when you're away from the rest of your teammates changing in a room," said MacDonald.

Thrilled with tender

The Cape Breton County Minor Hockey Association was thrilled to see the tender.

"We were extremely excited. Something we've been working on and hoping for a couple of years now. It's much needed. Cape Breton County Arena is a great of the old-rink era but it is certainly in need of a little bit of infrastructure help," said Claude Sampson, co-ordinator of female hockey.

CBRM says the addition should cost about $300,000 and is being cost-shared with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. It should be completed in time for next year's hockey season.