Demand for ice time hits peak
Longer travels for early games often common in rinks
There’s only so much time in the day to allocate for events
DALE OVIATT
Increased demand for ice time at Canada Olympic Park will mean youth players in some parts of the city will have to travel farther for games and practices.
The Bow River Bruins Hockey Association, the largest in the city, recently sent a letter to parents saying players in all age divisions will have more games and practices elsewhere as a result.
“It’s going to mean earlier ice times and an extra bit of drive time,” said Bruins second vice-president Ryan Laverty, who wrote the letter.
Laverty’s letter said WinSport Canada, which runs COP, has “bumped minor hockey to the bottom of its priority list” and is giving priority to adult hockey and elite programs.
But WinSport countered that demand from a variety of sources is responsible for the crunch — and the organization said it’s complying with an agreement to devote a percentage of its ice time to youth sports.
In exchange for public funding that helped a $212-million expansion that includes four hockey rinks, WinSport must devote 75 per cent of prime-time hours on two of the ice pads to youth activities, including ringette and skating lessons in addition to hockey.
“We make sure we go by those rules,” spokesman Dale Oviatt said, adding the facility defines prime-time bookings as 4 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and all day on weekends.
Oviatt acknowledged the overall availability for minor hockey has decreased, mainly because of some high-profile events coming to the facility: the Continental Cup curling tournament will tie up the main, 3,000-seat arena for 11 days in January, while two rinks will be used in March to host the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s hockey championship in March.
“There’s only so much time in the day to allocate for events,” Oviatt said.
The effect on Hockey Calgary is a 50 per cent reduction in its bookings for games and practices at COP, said president Kevin Kobelka.
Hockey Calgary, the governing body for youth hockey in the city, will see its weekday bookings in November shrink to 19, from 47 last year.
Weekend slots are also down, to 32 from 61, but Kobelka said Hockey Calgary is not as hard-pressed to find openings elsewhere on Saturdays and Sundays.
Kobelka stressed WinSport doesn’t have a contractual obligation to Hockey Calgary, but said he’s irked adult players get so much ice time during family-friendly hours.
“When I walk into their rink and see guys suiting up to take the ice at 4:30 to 9:30, in prime time, I don’t think that’s right,” he said.
The ice time Hockey Calgary buys directly from WinSport may be down, but Oviatt said that doesn’t account for all the youth games and practices being booked at the facility: several associations under the Hockey Calgary umbrella have booked their own slots for practices and tournaments, for example.
The problem for the Bow River Bruins is exacerbated by the fact the association has only one home rink (Bowness Community Arena) and needs to supplement its ice time by finding slots elsewhere.
Laverty said the Bruins have also lost ice time at the Edge School in Springbank, where administrators recently expanded the hockey program. “We’re getting squeezed with 1,100 kids in the organization and one sheet of ice of their own,” he said.
A lack of ice time has been a long-standing issue in the city, but Kobelka said he’s worried things will reach the point where the increased travel and unattractive ice times will wear down players and their parents.
“You wonder why kids are dropping out,” he said.
However, Kobelka acknowledged there’s no easy solution to the icetime crunch: it’s difficult to justify the expense of building another cityowned rink when the facilities sit mainly idle during the day between Monday and Friday.
“You’d be building more facilities for five hours of the day. I understand that,” he said.