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Like most other small Minnesota towns - Thief River Falls has a hockey rink or two.
Those rinks help make the community what it is.
"I look at the arena as a community gathering space more than anything and it would be a
large void to the community itself without it."
But underneath that sheet of ice, something is about to change.
In the state of Hockey, there are more than 250 indoor sheets of ice.
The Minnesota Ice Arena Managers Association says about two-thirds use R-22 - or Freon
-- based systems. "One of the concerns and reasons for this
is potential global warming effects, now that's Freon based."
Starting in 2020 -- federal law will not allow production of Freon.
Rinks still using Freon based systems have to find alternatives.
"What would be required is a different type of refrigerant where it would be CO2, Ammonia,
a hybrid Freon, involves replacing seals and some other parts on our compressor motors,
in the ice plant downstairs." Where Carbon Dioxide is fairly new to arenas
and is more efficient than Freon - it comes with higher operating costs.
Ammonia is a refrigerant that would be more natural and less expensive.
But it is a dangerous chemical to handle. "A leak would be be, when you have a couple
thousand people at any location, it would be very detrimental."
Some towns may also not have the funds to switch, especially in the smaller communities.
With the third period coming up for communities across the state of hockey - it's time to
develop a new gameplan. In Thief River Falls with photographer Alex
Stadnik, I'm Zack Worthy reporting for Studio One.