There is a growing need for more ice time in the city, and the solution is a new twinned ice facility.
At least that was the contention of local resident Carla Lammers when she made a presentation to the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Monday.
“I’m here to speak with you about Yorkton’s ice facilities; and to specifically ask the City to replace the Kinsmen arena with a twinned ice facility by the fall of 2019,” she said. “… My objective is to help the City better understand the need for a twinned ice facility, and agree to investigate it further with appropriate community members. I hope the City will agree that this need exists, and will commence plans to budget for and build a twinned ice facility to replace the current Kinsmen arena. I advocate at least one ice surface to be available for year round use, and recommend it be open for business in the fall of 2019.”
Lammers said the first concern is the growing limitations of existing ice facilities, in particular the Kinsmen Arena.
The Kinsmen Arena opened in October of 1974, is showing its age, she contended.
The main users of Yorkton’s ice facilities – both at the FAA and the Kinsmen Arena, include: Yorkton hockey clubs, Yorkton Figure Skating Club, recreation hockey teams, leisure skaters, and private ice renters -- such as high school hockey programs, spring hockey teams, curling tournaments, dry land events like the Harvest Showdown and Yorkton Exhibition.
In addition to the Yorkton Terriers and the Yorkton Maulers hockey clubs, Yorkton Minor Hockey is the biggest user of ice facilities. In the 2014/15 season, Yorkton Minor Hockey had 369 members, who participated in hockey programs designed for children aged 3 through to 17, said Lammers.
The amount of ice time available dictates what programs Yorkton Minor Hockey offers its members, including how much practice time and game time is available, who will have tournaments and when, and what else the club can offer.
In this past hockey season, Yorkton Minor Hockey was allocated:
“When you do the math, approximately 2,553 hours of ice were available last year. And this number of hours, as high as it might sound, was not enough,” offered Lammers. “The result was that teams had to travel outside of Yorkton to hold more practices, to make up missed games, and to host tournaments.”
And it’s not just an issue for hockey, said Lammers.
“The Yorkton Figure Skating Club has a membership of 75 kids from ages three-to-18 which includes beginners, provincial and national skating competitors,” she said. “During this last season, the club tried to rent 13 hours of ice time a week. Unfortunately, due to needs from the Yorkton hockey program, the figure skating club is often the first to lose ice time. Over the past several years, the Yorkton Figure skating club has complimented its ice hours by renting additional ice time in Melville – which adds commute time to its members and lost rink revenue to Yorkton.
“Both adult men and women rec teams also utilize Yorkton Ice facilities. The high schools held a “hockey class” for their students. Leisure skating is offered twice a week to the community, free of charge. The annual Perogie Cup held by the local Kinsmen and Kinnette Club. Provincial and carded hockey teams form in February and run March and April. Spring hockey teams start their season immediately following the end of the regular hockey season.
“Many non-ice events are also held at the Farrell Agency arena – which are excellent for the City of Yorkton and are exciting to “me the Citizen” ... however, they do take away from the already ‘not enough’ ice time of the key ice users in town. Last year such events meant approximately five weeks of lost ice time at the FAA.”
That is why Lammers was calling for a new twin ice facility, one which would have advantages past more time slots.
“First, a rebuild would result in a more energy and cost effective building. The Kinsmen is 40 years old – and one could say with some certainty that its structure, heating and cooling systems, layout and the like are likely not the most effective or efficient that exist on the market today,” she said.
But ultimately it is more ice time which is the key reason she was calling for a new twinned facility.
“Over the past few years, the YMH board has introduced a few new programs – such as the Yorkton Novice Hockey league, pre-season and in-season power skating and are excited to have a girls Bantam hockey team starting this year even though they have to practice exclusively in Theodore because there is no local ice time,” she said. “The introduction of new programs means some other program gets less ice time or ice time has to be booked outside of town. But, there are so many other programs YMH would like to offer – but cannot due to lack of ice.”
Lammers listed several examples including; an extended girls hockey program, a youth recreational league for ages 6-17, and three-on-three ice rec hockey thru the summer months.
There is also an economic aspect to a new twin facility, said Lammers.
“The revenue generated from local membership programs is complimented by the teams that come to play in Yorkton and have to stay overnight. When an out of town team requires a night over, it often means they need 14 hotel rooms and meals,” she said.
“Out of town teams often visit Yorkton for hockey tournaments. Last year YMH hosted eight tournaments – as that is all that ice time would allow. As few as seven and as many as 13 out of town teams attended these tournaments. This is not only good for Yorkton Minor Hockey, but local businesses also benefit from the economic spinoffs of these visitors. Visitors need hotel rooms, meals, buy gas, get skates sharpened and there is potential for them to go shopping!
“With more ice availability, the club would like to host more tournaments; because in addition to the revenue that tournaments bring to the community of Yorkton, they bring revenue to the hockey club – which in turns allows the club the ability to offer more programs to its membership.”
Lammers said with an obvious need, now is the time to get the process moving.
“There is no evidence of any slowdown in Yorkton’s growth. The region will continue to grow with the announcement of the expansion of K3 potash mine project near Esterhazy. Yorkton has committed to promoting health, wellness and healthy lifestyles and with that has also committed to developing and maintaining facilities that offer a diverse range of sports and recreation for all age groups and abilities,” she said.
“Money Sense Magazine’s Top City Ranking in June of 2015 published that Yorkton moved up the ranking to 86 from 100, out of 209 cities ranked. Yorkton’s improved status was reported by both Global News and Regina Leader post to be a result of Yorkton “... having strong arts and sports communities.” Now is the time for the City to commit to providing additional arena facilities to this community. It is my hope that you agree that the evidence is there to support such a facility.”
Council passed to file the report.
