GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- An expensive mechanical problem is forcing the closure of Glacier Ice Arena. Tuesday night Save the Rink, Inc. met with the community to address options for the rink's future.

The rink will need at least a half a million dollars in funding to make the necessary repairs. The group is also dealing with the possibility that the bank will put it up for sale.

Mesa State Coach Kameron Dudek packed up the remainder of his things from the arena this afternoon.

"It was pretty sad," Dudek says. "It was like another chapter of ice sports here in the Grand Valley closing down."

He says losing even one season at the rink could be huge for local ice sports.

"It'll take years to get back to where we are if we miss even just one year," Dudek says. "That's not just Mesa State hockey, that's hockey in general."

Dudek and dozens of community members gathered Tuesday night to form a battle plan. Their first mission? Keep the bank from taking control.

"Our first step is to find a way to avoid foreclosure," says Save the Rink organizer Rob Pierce, "so the rink doesn't get chopped up into pieces before we can find a way to save it."

New ownership is an option, but there's no guarantee the buyer would use the building as an ice rink.

"What we're going to try to do is bring other things to the table," Pierce says, "so that it makes more financial sense to the bank to hold on to the property and let the current owners run it and continue making loan payments. It makes more sense to do that than to sell it off."

Many still question whether saving the rink is a realistic plan.

"I think it's rightfully so," Dudek says. "We want to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be."

Foreclosure or not, Dudek hopes at the end of the whole mess, the Grand Valley still has an ice rink to call its own.

"Ideally I would love to see the rink re-open in a much better financial situation," he says, "and keep hockey where its at now."

There are still the legal questions about the faulty machinery that caused the problem. If the owners do choose to pursue that case it could take years to be resolved.

If you'd like more information or want to take part in helping save the rink, go to savetherinkinc.com.