Longtime rec leaguers angry after REAL lets hockey academy bump them from Regina's Brandt Centre
Council's frustration with REAL's business model, lack of income played role in deal, mayor says
A private hockey academy and a group of senior recreational hockey players are locked in a faceoff over ice time at Regina's Brandt Centre.
The group of senior recreational hockey players say they've been renting the same ice times for decades, but have now been displaced after a deal put a private hockey academy in charge.
"This is our meeting place. You've got 20 seniors teams. We meet amongst each other, we play, we have the odd pop after. There's a friendship here amongst our teams," Dennis Todd said on Thursday.
Todd said teams have been renting the ice at the 6,000-seat arena for more than 30 years. Now, because of the recently announced partnership, that may be coming to an end.
"[Now] they're taking away old-timers hockey altogether," he said.
The concern from Todd and other recreational hockey players has grown to the point that they've taken their complaints to city hall and Mayor Sandra Masters.
Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) is a municipal corporation that is supposed to draw attractions and entertainment opportunities while managing city owned facilities like Mosaic Stadium and the Brandt Centre.
A July 31 memo from REAL notified users of the Brandt Centre that it had partnered with the Young Guns Hockey Academy, which is part of the privately-owned Hockey Super League.
"Beginning October 1, the Young Guns will become the proprietors of the Brandt Centre's prime time ice," reads the memo, signed by Trevor Walsh, REAL vice president of venue management and event services.
I hope any ice that is lost by past groups over the next month can be made up for you with more development opportunities for your grandchildren or children over the years.- Mike Reich, Young Guns Hockey Academy founder, in email to Brandt Centre users
The academy plans to have its teams play in the Hockey Super League, which markets itself as developing high-level players looking for an alternative to Hockey Canada leagues.
The league is not sanctioned by Hockey Saskatchewan or Hockey Canada.
The deal will see Young Guns use the Brandt Centre as its home base, according to the memo, and access to regular ice times at the facility could be impacted.
The memo advises users that Young Guns would be in touch to arrange ice allocations and confirm times by the first week of September.
Todd said the news sent the hockey players scrambling for answers. He said the level of consultation from REAL was "terrible."
The details of the partnership are not known and its not clear how long it will last. REAL has not answered requests for comment or responded to attempts to arrange an interview.
Mike Reich, the founder of the Young Guns Hockey Academy, sent an email to users of the Brandt Centre on Aug. 6.
It provides a few more details, including the organization's response to the backlash from senior recreational hockey players.
"If you have any other inquiries, I'd be happy to chat rather than have you go after an association or city that has provided us with the opportunity for our current and future players," Reich writes in the email.
"I hope any ice that is lost by past groups over the next month can be made up for you with more development opportunities for your grandchildren or children over the years."
Reich did not respond to an interview request on Thursday.
Mayor Sandra Masters has already signalled her displeasure with the agreement. She met with representatives from the senior hockey players this week and agreed to put a motion on the floor of council to respond to their concerns.
"Anytime you're going to surprise the public, and again I'll say in a civically owned asset, it has a tendency to strike up communication into my office," said Masters after a meeting of executive committee on Wednesday.
REAL's shifting goal
The municipal corporation has repeatedly drawn the ire of Regina city council after the disastrous rebranding of Tourism Regina to Experience Regina.
REAL also came under a microscope after a report prepared by MNP indicated that as of Sept. 30, 2023, REAL carried $17 million in debt and that it is incapable of paying back the money on its own. The City of Regina ultimately bears the cost of paying back that debt because it is REAL's only shareholder.
That's why council recently agreed to provide REAL with a grant to pay back $8-million owed by REAL for inappropriately accessing pandemic wage subsidies.
Council's frustration with REAL's business model and its lack of income appears to have played a role in the decision about the deal.
"If you're told to be commercially viable and you can get a cheque written that exceeds what you're currently earning, maybe that's fair," said Masters after a meeting of executive committee on Wednesday.
"I think the inherent problem in this from my perspective is the community benefit and kind of respecting existing relationships."
Masters said she was still weighing the wording of the motion and that it was contingent on the results of a REAL board meeting set for this week.
An updated agenda for next week's city council meeting will be posted on the city's website Friday.
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