They were going to put the ice in the middle of Ford Field but decided to change it to one of the end zones.
Bismarck Bobcats didn't seem to want to be in the Civic Center and wanted to move to the VFW. The Bobcats move to the VFW rushed the second rink addition. If I remember right the seating along the boards at the Civic Center were above the glass.
It sounds like Bismarck was going to build a 14,000 seat arena north along US 83 (not sure if they intended to have hockey there), but is now not happening because of the Civic Center Exhibition Hall expansion.