Collective action needed for good of our game

Posted Feb 9, 2012 By EMC News

It's no accident hockey is our national sport.

Over the past century the game has become ingrained in our collective psyche well before the introduction of television brought National Hockey League matches into the living rooms of the nations.

Canadian weather has a lot to do with our enthusiasm for the sport.

Cold winter fields covered by a sheet of snow and ice aren't exactly ideal for rugby, football, soccer and other sports popular in warmer climates.

Enter the outdoor ice rink.

The City of Ottawa, for instance, has 247 of them to meet the clamouring demand from school children looking to play a game of shinny and parents who want to enjoy some time skating with their tots.

Every winter you see the hordes of children gathered at the outdoor rinks or suited up in pads, jerseys and helmets, playing organized games in arenas.

And every year parents dig deep in their wallets to pay the ever-increasing cost to outfit their kids and pay registration fees to play organized hockey.

Canadians have a hunger for hockey, but municipalities are finding it increasingly more difficult to meet that need.

Every year, hundreds of hockey teams in Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley jockey for limited ice time in the region's arenas.

And every year the demand only increases.

But the cost of building new arenas to provide ice time can be prohibitive and municipalities have a big wish list for infrastructure improvements the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to replace Ottawa's antiquated water pipes spring to mind which means, we must come up with creative solutions to meet this burgeoning demand.

One idea is to find more effective ways to schedule ice time.

Cities should provide more scheduling options for teams such as the Capital City Condors, a team that caters to children with developmental disabilities, who because of their medical needs require more flexible ice times.

Another idea worth exploring is encouraging more so-called "P3 partnerships," partnering with businesses to share the costs of building new arenas.

We've already seen creative solutions from individuals and associations within the community.

Think of the hundreds of volunteers who donate their time to maintain the region's outdoor ice rinks at no cost to the city.

These are people who saw a need, and stepped up to volunteer their time.

Hockey.

It's our game.

It's our collective responsibility to keep it that way.