Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/701202
16 / JULY.AUGUST.2016 RINKMAGAZINE.COM IT'S A DIFFICULT SCENE TO IMAGINE. You manage a local arena in a small town. Your facility, an iconic local landmark, is becoming as rundown as it is legendary; your community continues to flounder in the wake of an economic collapse. Times are good, but times are tough. Except on this day, you sit on the precipice of the sort of breakthrough that could solve almost all of your problems. It almost seems surreal, except truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. For Andrew MacIver, an employee of the city of Marquette, Mich., who manages Lakeview Arena, this was reality this past April as he waited for the final decision of whether his facility would win the 2016 Kraft Hockeyville USA title. "We told everyone that was anywhere near this building at 3:00 p.m. to come to Lakeview," MacIver said. "Everyone that could have possibly been near the stage for the live (TV) shot was there. I was standing right next to the stage when the announce- ment was made. For some reason, it was like, when you're on a treadmill or watching your microwave, time seems to go really slow. It seemed to be even slower waiting for that announcement to come through." If time seemed to move slowly for MacIver, it would have been hard to blame him. With $150,000 in arena upgrades on the line, as well as the opportunity to host an NHL preseason game and receive national attention, what he was awaiting was probably the most crucial moment in his 3,100-seat facility's 42-year history. "When it came through that we won, that moment in time there was unreal," MacIver said. "Everyone blew the roof off the building it seemed. I definitely cel- ebrated quite a bit there. My wife was with me at the announcement. We were over the moon, really." Kraft Hockeyville breathes life into Upper Peninsula landmark // by DAN MARRAZZA A New Legacy at Lakeview Featured Rink Lakeview Arena | | Marquette, Mich. PHOTOS: LAKEVIEW ARENA