It began as a bubble covering an ice rink. Then the bubble collapsed in a storm and it was back to the drawing board.

Undaunted by the setback, pediatrician Dr. Angela Gilladoga, businessman Tom Sawyer and a group of determined Bangor-area citizens eventually made a badly needed indoor ice arena a reality in Bangor.

The Sawyer Arena became completely enclosed with the building of the fourth and final wall in 1991.

The arena, built primarily for youth hockey and now used by several high school teams, filled a void that would be left by the closing of Sockalexis Memorial Ice Arena on Indian Island in 1992.

Eleven years and more than a million dollars later, people will be pleasantly surprised to see the facility today.

The latest renovation, with a price tag in the $675,000 range, has transformed it into a prototype low-budget arena.

There are six new locker rooms and the four in the middle have access to a four-stall shower room with rest room facilities.

The modern locker rooms are roomy with high ceilings. And they lead right into the players’ benches on the right side of the arena.

The former locker rooms were cramped and didn’t have shower facilities and the players had to walk through the fans on that (left) side of the arena.

“We used to have hockey bags everywhere,” said 14-year-old Bangor bantam Ben Estabrook, who noted that players had to watch where they stepped. “Now we have [plenty of] room for 15 to 20 players. And we can take showers. It’s really nice. It’s the best arena around.”

Eleven-year-old peewee Josh Leonard of Bangor said he likes the fact “we can walk to the benches from the locker room without having the fans bother you.

“It’s a lot better now,” said Leonard.

Joe Nelson, the rink manager, said, “We felt it would be advantageous not to have the spectators be in the way of the players or the players be in the way of the spectators who want to use the bathrooms or walk to their seats.”

The spectators, who used to mostly stand on wooden benches, will now have 398 new plastic bench seats so they can sit comfortably during the game. And there are still the bench seats located behind one of the goals.

There are new rest room facilities on the spectators’ side of the arena and there is a wide- open area complete with picnic tables and benches.

The concession stand is closer to the entrance and there is a new ticket booth to the left of the entrance. The old ticket booth was in the same area as the skate sharpening equipment which made for cramped quarters.

The additions have included handicapped-accessible facilities.

And several storage areas have been added along with an alarm system and more netting to protect the spectators from loose pucks.

Nelson said he is “very happy” with the additions.

Sawyer Arena’s ice sheet has always been considered among the fastest and best in the state thanks to former rink manager Tim McDougal and his dedication.

Nelson and his crew have continued the tradition and now there’s a much nicer facility surrounding it.

“A lot of people have made this facility the way it is today. It has gotten a little bit better and better as we’ve gone along,” said Nelson.

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-823, 1-800-310-8600 or e-mail lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.