Just over four weeks after the roof of a southeast Calgary arena collapsed the pair of officials who recognized the danger are being honoured at a special hockey game.

Emergency officials were called to the Fairview Arena and Community Hall on February 20 after a section of the roof caved in, right over one the rinks at the facility.

No one was injured in the incident because the building had been evacuated on Feb. 19 and was closed to the public when the roof finally gave in.

The arena had a packed schedule in the days leading up to the incident and there was even a hockey game scheduled to take place on that very rink that ended up being buried in tons of rubble.

Jeremy Sheyne, the head coach for Blackfoot Chiefs Novice 1B Gold, one of the teams scheduled to play that day, says he’s tried not to think about what could have happened had two men not closed Fairview.

“Obviously, driving by the arena, I live in Willow Park so I cruise by it every day and realize there wasn’t much roof left. There would have been 60 people in that arena; it’s pretty scary to think about. I think it’s good the kids can’t really comprehend it, but the coaches definitely have.”

Sheyne says he owes Bruce Falconer, manager of Fairview Arena and City of Calgary safety codes officer Rob Trotta, the two men who spotted the issue a lot.

“We played in that arena just a few days prior and there were some Blackfoot teams practicing just the night before so it’s pretty amazing call from their aspect. From what I understand it was only a few cracks so some people might not have shut that arena down.”

Mel Linn, the head coach for Blackfoot Chiefs Novice 1A Blue, said that when they were told about the time when the roof came down, it caused a bit of panic.

“Most of the parents and coaches said ‘what would we have done in that situation?’ It kind of heightened our awareness about what other rinks we practice at.”

Linn says there were some good people in place to watch out for things at the arena.

“There was a lot of potential for injury and worse.”

Nine-year-old Dawson Henry, one of the players who would have been on the ice when the roof collapsed says he thinks about what could have happened too.

“Luckily the guy who owned it, he cancelled the practice because if you were kind of in the middle, you might have survived, but you might have gotten a severe injury.”

Falconer, the manager of the Fairview Arena, says he was working at the building when a fan notified him about a very large crack in the roof.

“I went to have a look right away, I took a picture of it and I got onto the phone to call my boss, the director of Fairview, to let them know I was going to shut it down and get some inspectors in.”

He said that he thinks about what could have happened from time to time.

“I sort of believe that the building gave us a little bit of notice by the cracking and if it was a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, it could have been a whole lot worse.”

Rob Trotta says he was called in by the Calgary Fire Department to investigate a roof failure by some of the trusses.

“I reviewed the roof trusses and I observed that there were some failures in some of the bottom cords of the trusses, which immediately raised a red flag with me.”

He said that he felt there was imminent danger of failure or collapse and issued an order to shut down the arena.

Trotta says that while he knows there is a shortage of ice in Calgary, safety trumps everything.

“It’s a no-brainer in that sense and I’m glad things worked out the way they did.”

Investigators are still working to determine what caused the roof to collapse and there is no information on whether or not the rest of the building can be saved.

(With files from Glenn Campbell)