Twelve-year-old Calum McKay-Stratton think the decision should be a no-brainer.
He thinks it’s time the city opened up its rinks so he can get on with pursuing his passion for figure skating with the Northern B.C. Centre for Skating.
Like most kids in the city who compete in figure skating, speed skating hockey and ringette, McKay-Stratton hasn’t stepped foot on indoor ice since the COVID pandemic hit in March and he misses it terribly.
“I’m not happy because I can’t skate,” said McKay-Stratton, sitting next to his friend Kohl Derksen Monday afternoon on the steps of city hall. “I think there are other things that are a priority and that’s why they haven’t opened the ice rinks in Prince George yet.”
Stratton-McKay and Derksen joined a group of about 20 parents and their kids who were part of the afternoon sit-in protest to let city counselors and Mayor Lyn Hall know they are not pleased with a report by city staff which recommends keeping city arenas closed the rest of this year and all of 2021 to save money.
At tonight’s public meeting at city hall, council will discuss a report from Adam Davey, the city’s director of community services and public safety, which recommends that RMCA and the Eklsentre, the two swimming pools, and the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre should remain closed through 2020 to reduce the city’s budget shortfall.
McKay-Stratton, who turns 13 on Aug. 20, has been figure skating for five years. He loves to compete and doesn’t want to fall behind his age-group peers in other cities who have had ice in place for several weeks already.
“I think I’ll barely know how to skate if they don’t open the rinks,” he said.
His grandmother, Fern McKay, was there at city hall to support Calum and she says time for the city to get out the hoses and flood the rinks.
“I would understand it more if it was a COVID problem but it’s not a COVID problem that’s keeping them closed, it’s a city problem, to save money, and I don’t think that’s fair to the kids,” McKay said. “All the other rinks in other towns and cities are open and ours are still closed. We’re not a tiny city and we should open at least a couple rinks for the kids. ”
Cheryl Cousins, whose 16-year-old son Scott has been asked to try out for the Kelowna Rockets she and her husband Bill have been forced to travel outside the city to Williams Lake and stay overnight in hotels just so Scott can work on his skating and hockey skills.
“He’s been listed by the Kelowna Rockets and he’s got goals for himself and he’s not going to be able to realize those goals in Prince George if we don’t get ice,” said Cheryl Cousins.
“The part that is the most frustrating that we’re putting money ahead of physical, emotional and mental health and I have a hard time accepting that. It’s a stressor for them. My son has been pretty vocal about Prince George and it’s really sad when you hear him say he hates living where he is.”
Karen Myatovic’s son Nico, also 16, was drafted a year ago by the Seattle Thunderbirds and he’s in a similar situation as Cousins – trying to make a big impression and rise above the rest of the rookies trying to earn a Western Hockey League roster spot, with training camps only a month away.
“We need to get our kids back into a regular routine,” said Karen. “A year or two years in the life of our kids is huge, when you talk about shutting things down and altering their paths. Nico is trying to break in with the Seattle Thunderbirds and he needs to be on the ice. A year away from the ice for him is a huge deal.
‘At the end of the day, it’s about more than money, it’s about wellness. We check in with our kids and we they think they’re doing OK, but are they doing OK? They want some normalcy back. They were ripped out of this sport and they want to get back to it. It’s an outlet for them and they want to get back to it.”
Myatovic played centre for the Cariboo Cougars major midget team and Cousins, also a centre, skated for the Cariboo Cougars minor midgets. Both families are considering sending their boys to one of the hockey academies in the Okanagan or Lower Mainland if Prince George continues to remain ice-free.
“We’ve never been academy people and we don’t want to be academy people, we don’t want to send our child away to do what he wants to do, he should be able to do that in Prince George,” said Cheryl Cousins. ”I emailed the council today and implored them, do the right thing for our kids, for our families, for the citizens of Prince George. Every other city the same size as Prince George – Kamloops, Kelowna, West Kelowna – to the best of my knowledge they have successfully opened their rinks. Why can’t our city do that for our kids?”
The city report states the least expensive option would be to open CN Centre and the three rinks of the Kin Centre in mid- or late-August and make those rinks available to user groups at an unsubsidized hourly rate. The average hourly cost of ice rental in Prince George in 2020 was $450. Assuming operating costs remain as they were earlier in 2020, an unsubsidized rate would be four times what it cost for youth ice rentals last season and more than double the cost for adults. Youth rates in 2019-20 averaged $112 per hour (about 25 per cent of the unsubsidized rate) and for adults it was $209 per hour (close to 50 per cent).
City staff anticipate user demand is enough to require three sheets of ice by Aug. 17 and will warrant a fourth rink by mid-September, with enough to justify a fifth or sixth rink by the end of September. Having ice at CN Centre would allow the Prince George Cougars to play in the same building that houses their team operations, with the Western Hockey League season scheduled to begin in October.
Keeping RMCA dark would force the Prince George Spruce Kings to find ice away from their dressing room and team offices. The B.C. Hockey League is targeting a return to play in December, after two months of practice/skill development for its 18 teams.
“The Spruce Kings are an important part of this town,” said Bill Cousins, who suggests the city delay construction of the new downtown leisure pool and use that money for the rinks.
“I appreciate what the counselors are doing and they aren’t easy decisions. But are there other options they can look at? We’ve been cautious with COVID and there are so many user groups and they all have plans getting back. The COVID numbers are low enough that we should be able to get things going again.”
