SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — While it has remained warm outside, it is finally cooling down at a Sioux Falls ice rink.

Back in the first part of September, the Scheels Iceplex looked like this– a slushy mess. The mess was caused by problems with its chilling system.

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“We found out we had an internal leak in a plumbing fixture that has a combination of anhydrous ammonia in one element or one chamber of that fixture, and then our calcium chloride, which is what we circulate through the rink floors to refrigerate the floors those two chemicals were mixing, which essentially compromises the refrigeration effectiveness of the system,” Ice Sports Association board chair, Joe Zueger said.

However, around 7 weeks later, the ice is back and colder than ever.

“The fix to the actual core issue itself really took minutes or maybe an hour. The problem is to get to the ability to where we can isolate, identify what the real issue was and remediate it took over ten days,” Zueger said.

While losing the ice for over a month and a half was not ideal, it did give staff time to take care of other things around the rink.

“So you will see every piece of every wall has new paint. We have updated the facility. It’s there’s a lot of great new things to look at. And of course, the guys in the back of the house have just been busting,” Marketing Manager, Tania Kocmick said.

Now that the ice is back, they are excited to have people back on the ice.

“The last week in October always signifies the start of the hockey season, so to speak. So all of the kids come out. This is like their first practice week. So we’ll have everyone from the Mites, Atoms, which is the little guys up into the high school players,” Kocmick said.

“It wasn’t probably the ten year anniversary dinner we had planned, but the grand reopening is really exciting,” Zueger said.

Click here for information on different events that will be back this week at the Scheels IcePlex.