The Delta Ice Hawks likely won't be returning to the Ladner Leisure Centre for their 20th season.
The Delta parks and recreation commission has reccomended the junior "B" hockey club not have its ice allocation renewed for the 2016-17 campaign.
While the Ice Hawks’ contract is on a season-to-season basis, there is a three-year allocation for main user groups — namely youth-oriented sports —which recently expired. Submissions for ice time over the next three years was requested back in January and the consensus was more is needed.
The commission was presented options at last month’s meeting from parks, recreation and culture director Ken Kuntz to deal with the different challenges of ice allocations. Among them was Delta not renewing its contract with the Ice Hawks which was fully endorsed.
“There is always pressure for more ice time from everyone,” explained Delta councillor and parks and recreation commission chair Robert Campbell. “If we follow our policy fee and charges bylaw it’s youth comes first. Unfortunately, junior ‘B’ hockey is near the bottom of the barrel.”
Campbell added the three-year ice allocation is only in the recommendation stage and the entire process could take a while before a final report is drafted and presented to council.
“It could take several weeks to sort everything out before final approval,” explained Todd Stewardson, Delta’s deputy director of parks, recreation and culture. “When it comes to ice allocation, there is always lot of integral moving parts. We still need all the staff reports. There is no definite conclusion to this.”
In the meantime, Ice Hawks owner Wes Mussio is stunned by this potential decision. He purchased the team last fall and was asked to meet with parks and recreation staff soon after to discuss the current partnership.
He made it known he wanted the club more active in the community including ticket giveaways to minor hockey players, figure skaters, students and seniors. He followed through with the promise, including playoff games. He received approval to renovate the Ice Hawks dressing room area, entirely funded by the team. He also checked into the possibility of having a beer garden and advertising in the arena. The beer garden idea was mentioned at the parks and rec commission meeting, as was the special hourly ice rate ($135) the team receives.
“We made a number of inquiries about what could and could not be done,” said Mussio, a Vancouver lawyer. “After the meeting, it was our clear impression that the director wasn't really interested in any of our proposals and we never went ahead with anything. We did ask if we could have a special event beer garden to which the director said we can make a proposal to council. That idea ended right there.”
What also has Mussio perplexed is the lack of communication. He only learned of the commission’s recommendation after being contacted by the Optimist on Tuesday.
He too was asked to submit his ice allocation request in January and actually suggested the club likely won’t need the two late evening 75-minute practice slots and would consider playing some games at Sungod Arena in North Delta.
“That’s the funny thing. We were actually asking for less ice time,” said Mussio. “The guys were complaining about the late practice time and we were going to buy time at the Great Pacific Forum.
Adding the league is in an "uproar" right now over this development, Mussio says he might not wait for Delta's final decision. He already has three cities that are "very interested" in hosting the team.
The Ice Hawks were founded back in 1996. Alumni players include NHL stars Brent Seabrook and Milan Lucic.
