‘Show us the numbers’: Charlottetown parents question spike in minor hockey team fees

Charlottetown parents question spike in minor hockey team fees

At a Charlottetown rink, some parents say the biggest hit this fall was not on the ice but on their wallets.

Andrew Wood says his son Emery’s team fee to play in the Greater Charlottetown Minor Hockey Association (GCMHA) more than doubled for the 2025-2026 season. Last year, it was $1,600, split between players. But after two city leagues merged into the GCMHA earlier this year, the price jumped to $4,000. That’s on top of the base registration cost.

“What went through my mind was, why the heck are they so much more this year than they have been?” said Wood.

A point of frustration, he says, is that parents only learned about the team fee increase after they had already registered.

“Most parents seem to be quite annoyed as well,” he said. “The biggest thing a lot of us had concerns with is why it wasn’t communicated beforehand.”

Wood said, in today’s economy, the increase takes a toll, especially for parents with several children participating.

“I’m fortunate enough I only have the one child playing sports, but at the same time I’m a single-income family.”

CTV News reached out to the GCMHA and Hockey P.E.I. to ask about fee increases, but neither responded by deadline.

The GCMHA is governed by a volunteer board. Its website says that registration and team fees cover things like ice time, referees and some equipment.

League operators across the country say costs are rising, and the expenses to run hockey have increased.

Leaders at LUG Sports, a recreational league that runs hockey games in Canada and the United States, say inflation is pushing baseline costs higher.

“Typically, when you see increases in some of the larger costs associated with operating a program, with ice time being the number one cost… it can happen that the price would increase for the player,” said Ethan Wright, LUG Sports’ co-founder.

Wood said if leadership inherited a deficit after the leagues were merged, or needed to raise prices to cover operational costs, that should have been reflected in registration fees rather than in team fees, so parents know what they are signing up for.

He said they now want to know how the calculation was made.

“Transparency is all we’re looking for,” he said. “I say just show us the numbers. Back it up.”

Wood said some parents have fundraised to help cover costs. He added his son has around one year left before aging out of minor hockey, so he’ll do what it takes to keep him on the ice until then.