PRINCE GEORGE – The ice sheet at the Elksentre can’t go in quickly enough according to user groups.
The arena has been closed since March 2020 and never re-opened along with the five other ice rinks within city limits after a council decision last year.
Prince George Minor Hockey (PGMHA) and the PG Rec Hockey League are hopeful council will make the right decision on June 28th, but can’t stress enough how much the facility is needed.
“The demand is there,” says Al Hines, President of the PG Rec Hockey League. “If they don’t reopen it until January 1st, which would be the alternative to not opening October 1st, there’s a cost to reopening this building no matter when you do. For them to save maybe $40-50k by not having it available for three months.. just doesn’t make sense.”
Rob Connelly, Vice President of PGMHA echoed a similar sentiment, saying the registration numbers are showing signs of returning to normal, meaning the normal ice time will need to be made available for programming.
The city has saved thousands of dollars by having the facility closed for this long.
The arena was already scheduled to reopen in January 2022, but user groups are hoping it happens a lot sooner with October set as the goal.
For perspective, the cost to run it for all of 2021 was brought to city council last year, estimated at $290k to taxpayers.
The handful of months the groups are asking the city for will likely would only cost a fraction.
A city spokesperson said the city could not comment as the matter is scheduled before council.
City councillor Terri McConnachie says the restart funding from higher levels of government “will help make this go”.
A vote will be taken on June 28th at the regularly scheduled city council meeting to decide what the future of the Elksentre looks like.
