St. James Civic Centre set to reopen

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This article was published 31/08/2022 (1360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. JAMES

After two years, the reigning Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League champions, St. James Jr. Canucks, are heading home.

“It means a lot. It’s really exciting to have a room back,” said club president Justin Steeves.

The team’s home arena, the St. James Civic Centre, closed on April 1, 2020 for a major renewal and renovation project. The centre serves more than the hockey team, however, as it provides a host of community services. The building includes the arena, a swimming pool, weight room, and various other spaces.

The $10-million renewal and renovation project took part in two phases. Phase one focused on renewing the building, including upgrades to mechanical and electrical systems and to the building envelope. Phase two included various arena repairs.

The building, which was built in 1967, was originally scheduled to open in June 2021, but problems during construction caused significant delays.

“As reported to Council, there were two separate incidents involving the release of silica dust at the work site, each time requiring work to pause until the site was safely cleared to resume work,” city spokesperson Adam Campbell said in an email.

Campbell said the city intends to recoup any additional costs due to the delays from the contractor.

The facility is scheduled to open Sept. 6, except for the arena. Ice making will begin shortly after opening, and the arena should be ready in late September, Campbell said.

Steeves said his team is itching to get back into their room when the arena does open.

“We’re lucky to have such a nice room. The boys all have their lockers. We have our office space. Our athletic therapist has her own room. We’re very, very fortunate to have what we have,” he said.

The team spent time playing out of Keith Bodley Arena in Westwood during the championship season, but the arena simply didn’t have the spectator capacity needed once the playoffs came around.

“At Bodley, the capacity is just under 300, which was okay for regular season, but as soon as we got into the first round, we quickly realized it was not going to work for the playoff run,” Steeves said.

So, Steeves called up connections at the BellMTS Iceplex, and the team moved its games to that facility for the remainder of the playoffs.

As the Jr. Canucks try to defend their crown next season, the team should have no trouble fitting their fans into the St. James Civic Centre’s approximately 1,000-person capacity.

“That’s the perfect size for our league, and that’s the kind of crowd we had in the finals,” he said.

Steeves, who is a resident of the area, said he noticed a “ripple effect” from the closure of the St. James Civic Centre.

“It was really hard for some teams to get ice. They were only practicing one time per week,” he said. “But also with the swimming pool. My kids have swimming lessons there… It really affected the community because it stopped, not just hockey teams, but a variety of different people from using the facility for different things.”

In addition to the renewal project, a $14-million expansion is currently in the design phase.