BY KEITH LACEY
The City of Greater Sudbury?s decision to close all municipal arenas following the massive power blackout that
swept across Ontario last week hadsome people steaming.
Many others supported the decision as very few municipally owned and operated buildings suck up more hydro energy than hockey arenas.
City managers were huddled up for several hours Friday before making the announcement at around 2 pm to allow four rinks with ice installed to resume operations Friday at 5 pm.
Steve Richardson, co-owner of the Pro Players Hockey School in Valley East, said he fully understands why the city wanted to conserve energy during this history-making energy blackout.
However, the decision to close every arena scheduled to be open this time of year, in the middle of tryouts for dozens of hockey teams, is questionable at best, said Richardson.
Richardson contacted leisure service departments in eight other Ontario communities, including Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay. Not one decided to close every rink in that community.
Greater Sudbury is the only city of this size in the entire province that decided to shut down all arenas since the power outage a week ago, said Richardson.
?How did every other city in this province decide to keep at least some arenas open and we didn?t,? Richardson asked. ?I just don?t understand it.?
?I fully understand why they want to conserve energy, but there was simply no need to shut down every arena. If they can have arenas open in Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Barrie, Peterborough, Oshawa and Lindsay, they could have kept open at least a couple of arenas here in Sudbury.?
Caroline Hallsworth, the city?s general manager of leisure services, said there have been ?very few complaints? about the city?s decision to close the arenas.
?There have only been a handful of complaints?most of the public has been quite understanding,? she said. ?We do understand there are users who do invest a lot of time and effort into their ice programs.?
City managers had considered opening a couple of arenas over the past week, but ultimately decided to keep them all closed because it wouldn?t be fair to decide which user groups could access the available ice time, said
Hallsworth.
?We didn?t want to be forced to decide between user groups?it?s a matter of fairness,? she said. ?It?s always been city policy to treat all ice users fairly and there?s no way we could do that by opening just one or two arenas.?
A total of eight of the city?s 13 arenas either had ice in them or were in the process of making ice when the blackout hit, said Hallsworth.
The power it takes to operate eight arenas is the equivalent of power used to provide air conditioning to 500 homes, she said.
Statistics released by the province shows Sudbury ranked second in the entire province in reducing hydro output since the blackout. This clearly indicates citizens across this community have done their part to ensure another sweeping blackout doesn?t take place, she said.
?So many people from this community have done their part to reduce energy consumption. We?re trying to be leaders in conservation through this very difficult time. We were simply not prepared to have eight ice plants running while there?s still concern over the power grid.?
Richardson?s didn?t agree with Hallsworth?s assessment of the situation, saying hockey schools like his are the only reason ice is put into certain arenas in late August.
?From my knowledge, I?m the only user right now out here in Valley East,? he said. ?The hockey camp I run is the only reason the ice is put in at this time of year.
?I have to put up a certain amount of money and sign a contract guaranteeing 50 hours of ice time before the city will put in the ice out here.
?Preferred customers such as hockey schools should have been given special preference under all the circumstances. We?re the only reason the ice was put in in the first place this time of year.?
Hallsworth said ice time was ?booked solid? at all eight arenas this week, and the city wasn?t about to play favourites.
Brian Kuruliak, president of the Sudbury Minor Hockey Association, said the power outage couldn?t have happened at a worst time as most ?rep? or travel teams had to postpone tryouts this past week.
The Sudbury Northern Wolves of the Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey League have also postponed numerous tryouts, said Kuruliak.
?It?s certainly not been a good week for a lot of people involved in minor hockey,? he said. ?I know a lot of our young people, including my own son, want to know when they can get back on the ice.?
Kuruliak said he doesn?t mind not having ice time this week if it solves problems in the long run.
?I?d rather the kids miss one or two practices or tryouts than have to go another two or three weeks without any
ice time if everything shuts down again,? he said.
?I?m sure the people at the city are having a tough time, but I have to commend them on making very difficult choices during this unique event.?
If everything returns to normal, most hockey clubs will still have ample time to conduct proper tryouts in the next week or so, said Kuruliak.
?If we get another huge blackout, the people from this city should be patted on the back and if everything goes as
planned and we return to normal, then we can say we tried harder than most,? he said.
