It was a special evening for the community of LeRoy Tuesday night as they held the first hockey game in their new arena.

The AA Midget Humboldt Broncos entertained the Northeast Wolfpack in an exhibition contest that Humboldt won 4-2.

Rink Rebuild Committee Member Ramsee McGrath was at the game.

"It felt really good, the reception was wonderful," McGrath said Wednesday afternoon. "Everyone came up to us and congratulated us on the new rink and how well it looks. It was very emotional actually, kids skating around out there and lots of smiles."

There wasn't many smiles in the community in May of 2013 when their rink burned down but now three long years later they have their heartbeat back and McGrath couldn't be happier.

"You know there is lots of buzz in the community right now and to be honest, I've been in the rink over the last few days and you see people in the rink that you haven't even seen in the community for a while, it's really exciting."

They have an official grand opening celebration in the works, that will take place on the weekend of November 5th. We will have many more details as that event draws near but for now the action will slowly pick up including the town's main draw, the Long Lake Hockey League's Braves.

They will have a home again despite the hurdles they had to clear as a fundraising committee. McGrath admitted that there was days where they thought this may never come.

"We were always optimistic but there was some times when it was very frustrating. You find a way and fight through it and try to raise as much money as you can."

The facility came with a pricetag of about $5.6 million.

You can hear more from mcGrath below in his interview with Bolt FM's Clark Stork.