City council has decided to support a staff recommendation to shut the doors on the Northcrest Arena for good in April. This would have been a great thing if we were moving into the new twin pad arena at Trent University in the fall of 2020. That didn't happen and now they are telling us that they have plans to build the new twin pad arena at Fleming College and the possible opening date will be 2024. That leaves us 1 ice pad short for the next 4 years.
The twin-pad arena set to be built at Fleming hasn’t even been granted funding yet from the federal and provincial governments. At a meeting last week, it was reported that Northcrest would need more than $1.4-million in repairs to keep it alive for another three years. They need to make this investment.
How will losing the Northcrest impact the hockey user groups? We will be scrambling to find ice time for practices/games/development sessions /tryouts. Losing our ice time at the Northcrest will be devastating.
They tell us the city will help us get ice time at county arenas. We have been there and done that. There is no ice available. We have met with user groups and we have decided that we need to fight to keep the Northcrest open until the new facility is open.
We will be attending the city council meeting on Monday January 27, 2020 to speak on this matter.
How can you help? Let's start by taking a couple minutes of your time prior to Monday's meeting and send an email to members of city council expressing your concerns and the effect the closure will have. If you wish, register as a delegate and come speak at the council meeting. Have your player join us in front of city hall on Monday night between 5 pm and 6 pm prior to the meeting. We are hoping to have a large group of hockey players wearing their jerseys visible by the front doors off George Street.
Thanks for your help!