Another hockey season is underway in Manitoba, but two city-owned arenas that were supposed to host hundreds of hours of junior and minor hockey are sitting empty. The locker rooms at Terry Sawchuk Arena are vacant, and there is no ice in sight. “Two weeks ago, this was all flooded, lines were in ready to go and all of a sudden boom, they shut it down on us,” said Barry Bonni, president of the River East Royal Knights. Bonni, who is in his final year with the team, said the season will be remembered as a logistical mess. He has spent more than half his life coaching and managing the Royal Knights, which he founded in 1981 and coached to several championships. The team plays in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League. This week, the city announced Terry Sawchuk Arena will be closed for the rest of the season because it needs structural repairs. The closure follows work at the facility last year that interrupted games. “There’s no reason for that, these arenas could have been repaired during the summer and ready to go,” Bonni said Thursday. He said the closure has forced him to contact every team in the league. “The domino effect of us having to contact all the teams in the league and saying, ‘hey our game is cancelled until further notice, we’ll let you know when and where, we’ve got to let the league scheduler know, the referee and chief is beside himself.” The Royal Knights played their home games at Terry Sawchuk Arena. Bonni told CTV News the team has not found another arena. A City of Winnipeg spokesperson said in a statement that the closure followed an inspection that found structural issues with the facility’s glue-laminated beams. The problems were identified during restoration work last year, which led to the arena closing in late November, according to the statement. “While one beam was able to be restored in December, and the facility reopened in early January, further investigation last week has confirmed that eight to ten more require remediation.” The city said it is working through ice reallocations in order of priority under its indoor arena ice allocation policy. “While we recognize that alternative facilities do not fully replace the experience and convenience of access, we are committed to working with user groups to minimize disruption as much as we can,” the statement said. Terry Sawchuk isn’t the only rink closed this season. West Kildonan Memorial Community Centre is also out of commission. “We’re going to have to host home games at other arenas’ facilities so that’s going to take practice ice away from those associations such as APHA, St. James, everyone else as well,” said Derek German, president of the Seven Oaks Minor Hockey Association. German said his association is scrambling to find ice times, with hundreds of hours at stake. He said the association doesn’t know what the problem is at the arena. A city spokesperson said the city is conducting a code assessment of all its arenas, for submission to the province. West Kildonan Memorial Community Centre was found to need repairs before it can open. “(We’re) figuring out our hockey schedule right now, kind of forced some emergency meetings and we need to look at how this is going to affect everyone in Winnipeg,” said Ian McArton, executive director of Hockey Winnipeg. McArton said the announcements could not have come at a worse time. “This time, at this point in the middle of the month of October, the triple A hockey season has started, the double A season starts Friday, and the A hockey schedule is being created this weekend,” McArton said. “News like this comes out and throws everything for a loop.” Vivian Santos, the city’s standing policy committee chair for arena facilities, asked the public and parents for patience as the city tries to help associations find other places to skate. “Safety is always important and we want to make sure that when we open it up, that these are good usable spaces in the future,” Santos said.
