Plan to build arena for Ice on hold

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This article was published 29/10/2021 (1417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Ice won’t have a new home anytime soon and will extend their stay at the University of Manitoba’s Wayne Fleming Arena for the 2022-23 season and likely beyond.

To date, no plan for the construction of a new arena has been established.

The U of M’s director of sport and recreation facilities, Simon Wang, confirmed Friday talks about a lease extension are ongoing.

“And I think there’s an appetite from their end,” said Wang. “I know that they still have a longer term plan (for an arena) and then certain (things) the WHL requires them to have for their home venue. So we’ll see what that might look like and we’ll go from there.”

Ice owners Greg Fettes, who serves as chairman and governor, and Matt Cockell, the club’s president and general manager, have been silent on the subject.

WHL commissioner Ron Robison did not respond to a request for comment.

The Free Press has learned the original plan to develop a parcel of land adjacent to the Rink Hockey Academy in the city’s southwest corner for a 4,500-seat arena, retail space and restaurants, has been shelved. That building was to be ready for occupancy at the start of the 2021-22 season.

When the Ice was moved from Cranbrook, B.C., to Winnipeg in the spring of 2019, Fettes and Cockell’s company, 50 Below Sports + Entertainment, was partnered with RHA. There has since been a corporate split between RHA and 50 Below. The Ice is now only a tenant at the RHA practice facility while playing games on the U of M campus.

Eighteen months ago, Fettes said the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to reconsider his construction plans.

“We don’t know what the hockey landscape’s going to look like after this,” he told the Free Press. “So are we taking a step back and making sure we understand that? Yes, absolutely.

“We’re going to do that but for all intents and purposes we’re still on the same track we were on. We’re doing our best to push forward but we are going to pay attention to see how are we going to be able to play games and how does that affect the type of building we build.”

At the time, Fettes said 50 Below would need at least two years to build a new rink and the team would need to spend an additional year at the U of M. The current lease expires at the end of 2021-22.

“We did extend it one year and we can look at extending it further if both parties agree and right now we have a really good working relationship with the Ice and I think it’s mutual in that sense,” said Wang.

In 2019, the Ice and U of M undertook significant upgrades to the 40-year-old arena to make it suitable as a temporary WHL home. But it remains too small — with a 1,600-seat capacity — and outmoded to serve as a permanent location for the team.

During the pandemic, the building’s chiller plant was replaced, but major work on the mechanical systems is still needed. In addition, upgraded dressing room facilities would be required if the Ice are to continue to play at the U of M and perhaps practise there. The Ice currently share dressing rooms with the Bisons men’s and women’s hockey teams.

“The facility is older and we know that we do need to make some basic infrastructure upgrades in the very near future to continue to operate that as an arena,” said Wang. “And then also what other enhancements that might be required from the Winnipeg Ice and the WHL.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14