City hall has seen such an increased demand for ice time at the Pla-Mor Palace that it is extending the 2023-24 season by an extra week to accommodate a major tournament.
The arena use policy outlines the City of Moose Jaw’s annual arena seasons and the procedures for special events that use ice surfaces. The parks and recreation department last reviewed the document in June, but after monitoring the ice requests for this season, it decided to make further amendments.
Derek Blais, director of parks and rec, discussed the changes to the policy during city council’s Oct. 10 regular meeting.
The extended spring ice season at the Bert Hunt and Wally Boschuk arenas this past April led to more demand for more spring hockey next April, particularly from Epic Hockey, his report said. The group hosted a successful inaugural tournament this spring and wants to host a second tournament from April 11 to 14, 2024.
To grant this request, parks and rec must add an extra week to those arenas’ ice season, which would extend the season to April 14 from April 7.
Epic Hockey’s tournament in April attracted nearly 30 out-of-town teams, but they ran into issues finding hotel rooms and attempting to play all their games in Moose Jaw on the same weekend, Blais told council.
Organizers were forced to move an entire age division to Assiniboia so they could play and have accommodations.
Extending the ice season by a week will allow organizers to break up the tournament over two weekends and bring in more teams — over 50, said Blais. This ensures everyone can play in Moose Jaw and organizers don’t have to rely on other communities for hockey rinks or accommodations.
List of changes
The full changes that parks and rec made to the 2024 arena use policy include:
- The Bert Hunt and Wally Boschuk arenas’ ice seasons start on Oct. 2 and conclude on April 14, 2024
- The policy updates the definition of spring ice to reflect the season’s end date of mid-April
- The policy now reflects regular rates and fees from Oct. 1 to April 14, 2024
The ice time at the arenas in 2024 will be:
- Events Centre: Aug. 8 to the end of the Warriors’ season
- Kinsmen Ice: Sept. 11 to March 17, 2024
- Kinsmen Sport Court: April 1, 2024 to Aug. 18, 2024
Parks and rec does not expect there to be extra costs with extending the Pla-More Palace ice season by one week since the revenue from the Epic Ice Melt tournament and user groups’ rentals should offset operating costs, the report added.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Oct. 23.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
