N.B.’s first dedicated ball hockey complex taking shape in Saint John

Work is underway in Saint John on the Maritimes’ first dedicated ball hockey facility.

Saint John will soon be the location of Atlantic Canada’s first dedicated ball hockey facility.

Knapper, a Canadian ball hockey company, is well underway with construction on the Knapper Centre Saint John. It will be located on the city’s east side within the McAllister Industrial Park.

“I’m really pumped, in fact it’s something I have cherished for the last three years,” says Renaud Barrière, who is the director of development for Knapper. “It’s been a long process and to see that (facility) being built up as we speak, it’s really exciting.”

The new centre will feature two state of the art ball hockey pads, one indoors and one out. It will also boast a pub/lounge area, various multipurpose rooms, and dressing rooms for teams to prepare in.

The centre itself will create up to 40 new job opportunities on the city’s east side.

Not only will the facility be able to host ball hockey events, Barrière says other sports like pickleball may also have a chance to take advantage of the space.

As to why Knapper decided Saint John was the ideal spot for their first location east of Quebec, Barrière says it’s because of the infrastructure and high engagement levels already present within the city.

“People are already playing (ball hockey),” Barrière says. “We’re looking at like more than 500 kids playing as we speak. There are more than 60 to 70 teams playing five on five, and they’re like 15 people per team. So, the community is pretty active right now.”

The Knapper ground was first approved to construct a facility along Manawagonish Road in the fall of 2023, but the decision was met with some resistance from residents within the west side community.

Rather then press on, Knapper took a step back to reassess if they could find a new location in town. With the help of the city they settled on the industrial park site, one that everyone in the community is happy with.

“We listened to the people and we were not comfortable coming out from Quebec to implement something that would be looked at in a negative way,” admits Barrière. “So, it just didn’t cut it out for us.”

Barrière believes that willingness between the two parties to work together to find a solution is a sign of the strong relationship that has already formed between Knapper and the city. He says the growing partnership could lead to more programs and opportunities in collaboration with one another.

Gary Crossman is the president of the New Brunswick Ball Hockey Association and will be the general manager of the new facility. He says he always dreamed about having a place in Saint John for ball hockey players to call their own ever since starting a league in Saint John out of the Boys and Girls Club.

“A lot of hockey players took to ball hockey in Saint John and it’s just growing ever year,” Crossman says, noting there are over 1,500 players signed up between the men’s, women’s, co-ed, and youth leagues in the area. “Out of New Brunswick, Saint John has probably the biggest population for ball hockey.”

Crossman says the centre will allow for ball hockey players to have a year-round space, as many of the league’s operate in hockey rinks in the summer months while the ice is out.

He also says this will help New Brunswick when it comes to preparing for national titles against other provinces.“

That’s one of the things going against the big guns like Quebec and Ontario, they play all year round,” says Crossman. “We play ice hockey in winter and ball hockey in summer so we’re not up to par with those guys, but now we’re getting there and this will be huge for us.”

Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon is also excited to see the new rink get going. She says she is proud the Knapper group selected Saint John as their first site in the Maritimes.

She says its location within the McAllister Industrial Park is easy enough to get to from anywhere within the city, and will add to the Saint John’s growing list of infrastructure investments.“

Every city is trying to create an atmosphere where you want to live, work and play and this adds to that,” Reardon says. “It adds to that recreation that we can provide in Saint John, and that’s huge to attract people because everyone today, it’s all of a quality of life, and it’s all about moving to a place that has amenities.”

The arena is set to begin hosting games in late spring.

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