By Laurence Heinen /
While Calgary continues to grow in size and numbers, new ice arenas haven’t been built to keep up with the demand by the ever-growing number of users.
The City of Calgary commissioned a recent study and discovered that at least 10 new arenas need to be constructed to keep up with the city’s ever-growing population.
“Shortage of ice is a major issue,” said Perry Cavanagh, president of Hockey Calgary, which hosted an Ice Summit at Max Bell Arena in August to discuss ideas to combat the problem.
Johnny Misley, vice president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada, was one of the panelists and he pointed out that ice shortage is a common concern across the country.
“I think the alarm bells are starting to go off,” said Misley, noting that 35 per cent of Canada’s arenas 35 years old or older and are in need of serious retrofitting or replacing.
.“We’ve got to make facilities a priority,” said Todd Jackson, Hockey Canada’s senior manager of safety and insurance. “If you don’t have places to play, it’s really tough to recruit new players.”
While many arenas need to be replaced or rebuilt, others need to be constructed in newer areas of major Canadian cities, including Calgary, to keep up with the demand for ice time by minor hockey organizations, female hockey groups as well as the ever-growing adult population who like to get out to play.
“The sports facility is a really, really important part of the community,” Jackson said. “It’s where the community meets and it really strengthens the community.”
The next step is for representatives from Hockey Canada and the Canadian Recreation Facilities Council to sit down with key stakeholders such as municipal, provincial and federal politicians to come up with steps and recommendations to solve the problem.
“There has to be other innovative ways of coming up with funding other than working with the governments,” Jackson said. “It’s hard to put a timeline on it. We have to determine what exactly our needs are. Once we do that then we can move to the next step.”
“We’re trying to gather data,” Misley added. “Then you have to build a strategic plan. The ultimate goal is to build more rinks.”
Cavanagh said Hockey Calgary has reviewed all the information collected at the ice summit and is taking action.
“Our obligation now is to format an action plan and start to move forward,” said Cavanagh, noting that Hockey Calgary is taking steps to advice its coaches how to run more efficient half-ice practices.
In addition, steps are being taken to utilize outdoor rinks for practices and to further research and implement the “rink in a box concept” which would involve building temporary structures in the winter complete with dressing rooms, seating and an ice plant.
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