Vancouver Canucks open Rogers Arena to youth hockey teams amid rink shutdown

The community of Squamish is rapidly expanding and so is the demand to play hockey, but there's one big problem: there's no ice.

The Vancouver Canucks opened their doors to a B..C hockey association in need of ice time.

On Monday evening, teams from Squamish were given hours of ice at Rogers Arena after their home arena was shut down for maintenance and job action in recent months.

The owner of the Canucks, Francesco Aquilini, was met with a big “thank you” from a group of eight-year-olds who were lacing up their skates and preparing to hit the ice.

In light of the closure and limited ice time to accommodate all players, BC Hockey issued a letter to Squamish’s mayor and council asking for a resolution, as parents are being forced to drive more than 100 kilometres at times to find available ice.

“There’s a need to address retrofit of many different facilities and to ensure that the needs of the community are met with the demand for ice times,” said Jeremy Ainsworth, the chief program officer for BC Hockey.

“Hockey rinks play a vital role in supporting the health and growth of development of children and youth.”

Parents told CTV News they were expected to drive to Whistler, Richmond, and at times Langley to find available ice for their kids, as the community has been reluctant to build another rink or an additional ice pad.

“We are over 300 members and we cannot accept any more, so we are turning away kids as young as five that want to play hockey because we cannot accommodate them,” said Leah Hodges, the president of Squamish Minor Hockey.

In an interview with CTV News, the mayor of Squamish, Armand Hurford, explained that he understands the concerns, but it comes down to cash.

The project would be tens of millions of dollars for a community of around 30,000 people.

“We know these facilities are important to communities,” said Mayor Hurford. “We also know they’re incredibly expensive.”

He went on to say that the district’s been working to address facilities deficits, including firehalls and the public works building, that had been identified as over capacity and end-of-life. He mentioned that these upgrades have now been completed.

The mayor cautioned that paying for these facilities has already driven up the tax increase to the tune of 13 per cent and questions whether residents would accept a further hike for recreation upgrades.

“Going forward, what is a reasonable tax increase to make these investments sooner into the recreation facilities?” said the mayor.

Hurford is now calling on other levels of government to step in and help foot the bill.