A New Spectator Facility For St. Catharines and the Ice Dogs

This week Niagara Ice Dog action moved from the ice surface to Council Chambers in St. Catharines City Hall. On December 5^th the St. Catharines city counsel voted 9-3 in favour of building a new spectator facility……a new home for the Ice Dogs!

While the action in the chamber may have been a much slower pace than a typical hockey game, the final vote resulted in cheers, high fives and hugs for Ice Dog owners Bill and Denise Burke.

For months the “Let’s Build It” campaign has been heating up to lobby city counsellors to go forward with the building of a new spectator facility for the city of St. Catharines. The Jack Gatecliff Arena, home to the Niagara Ice Dogs was built in 1938 and is the oldest and by far most dilapidated in the OHL.

http://intheobloggers.blogspot.com/2011/10/honeymoon-is-over-at-jack.html

Leading up to the much anticipated vote Ice Dog owner Bill Burke made it clear it was not feasible for the Dogs to stay in St. Catharines if a new facility was not built. This was not just an idle threat from a disgruntled owner but a fact backed by the Ontario Hockey League.

The most surprising part of the “Let’s Build It” campaign was how the Ice Dog players themselves became involved in the process. While current Ice Dogs will never enjoy the new facilities by the time construction is completed, many players became active in supporting the “Let’s Build It” campaign. Team captain Andrew Agozzino, Niagara-on-the-Lake native Alex Friesen and coach Marty Williamson made video clips to promote the campaign and encourage councillors to support a new arena. The night of the vote city hall was packed with Ice Dog players and team staff.

After the vote was finalized the twitterverse heated up in response to the news a new facility was approved.

Glad to hear st.catharines has decided to build a new rink for the #icedogs the city deserves it.. The #jack will always be my fav rink tho! –Chris Desousa

WOOOHOOOO, new arena for my IceDogs. I want it named the Ryan Strome Entertainment Center on Mitchell Theoret Avenue #imahappypandanow – Johnny Super Fan

But like with most good news there is a catch…..the motion to build a new arena came with a friendly amendment to change the name of the team from Niagara to St. Catharines Ice Dogs.

So while the decision of building a new facility has been decided, debate starts about a possible name change. Some people still have not got used to the change from Mississauga to Niagara, will fans, and most importantly, the Burkes, accept a change of Niagara to St. Catharines?

The next chapter of the Ice Dog off ice drama continues…………

Dog Bytes:

• Saturday night’s game against Kingston began with Mayor Brian McMullan and St. Catharines city councilors dropping the puck
• Saturday night’s game against Kingston was the beginning of a seven game stretch missing four players at Team Canada
• Ice Dogs lost 3-2 to Kingston Saturday evening with almost half of their roster filled with Jr. B players to replace regulars hurt or at the Team Canada Camp
  
• This week Dougie Hamilton signed an Entry Level Contract with the Boston Bruins
• Rookie Broderick Kelly racked up his first (and second) OHL career points this week-end with two assists
• They can't build the new arena soon enough.....during the first period, it took referee Rob Langdon and the two linesmen an extra minute or two to catch a mouse that made its way onto the ice.

The Honeymoon is over at "The Jack"

When Bill Burke made the decision to purchase the Mississauga Ice Dogs and relocate the team to Niagara many naysayers felt Burke was making a huge mistake. The dilapidated conditions of the Jack Gatecliff Arena (aka “The Jack”) were sub par and many doubted Burke could develop an economically feasible business plan. Buoyed by St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan’s prediction of there only being 5-7 years of life left in the old barn, Burke was confident if he held in, a new facility would be available.

Now in the Ice Dog’s fifth season in Niagara there are still no plans for a replacement arena. The talk is getting louder, in fact some St. Catharines residents are shouting, why should the taxpayers build an Ice Dog Palace? The city is certainly divided on whether this new facility should be given the go ahead. At the last city council meeting a motion was put forward to hold a referendum to determine if the citizens of St. Catharines want to build a new spectator facility.

The fate of the Ice Dogs in Niagara may very well be in the hands of politicians.

Local MPP and season ticket holder Jim Bradley acknowledges the arena is due for replacement. “This has to be the oldest arena in the circuit. It is cozy, the fans are very enthusiastic, (it’s) very compact but requires hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to maintain because of its age…. A decision (for a new arena) is strictly up to city council, and I am not supposed to coach them but as a hockey fan it is always nice to see a top notch facility in any community….As a provincial member of parliament….if the city made the decision to proceed with the arena and were looking for funding sources outside of the city, they would come to the province of Ontario and the government of Canada. At that time it would my responsibility to advocate on their behalf.”

Ice Dog owner Bill Burke is tired of the moniker “Ice Dog Palace” to describe the new spectator facility. He is adamant the entire community would benefit from such a facility not just hockey fans. With the Ice Dogs as “anchor tenants” it could be a success for the whole city. Burke says a downtown facility would be more than two or three nights of hockey in the winter but rather year-round opportunities for other entertainment such as concerts. Partnering up with downtown restaurants and bars could make a terrific night out for anyone.

Burke sums up the conditions of the current arena in one word -brutal.

Burkes says he believes they “have worked hard to put a great team on the ice, every year has been competitive, it’s a great atmosphere but the amenities and the age of the rink, the concessions, the washrooms – its brutal.” Owning an OHL team is a business and Burke is aware peoples’ livelihood depends on the success of the team. The Ice Dogs have 15 full time employees, 52 on game day and these employees are counting on the team to be successful so they have their source of revenue. Burke says “we’re sold out every night and can’t break even. To make a go of it, the magic number is 3500 but up to 4500 is a proper business model. I don’t want to make any money but I don’t want to haemorrhage every year.”

Burke assures “we’re not holding a gun to anyone’s head, we love it in Niagara, we love the fans, the players love living here, they love playing here but we need a proper facility. The league was kind to us five years ago, but the honeymoon is over.”

Saturday night’s game against the Plymouth Whalers was another sold out game for the Ice Dogs. Following a 4-1 win over Ottawa Thursday night, it was a second consecutive much needed win for the struggling Dogs. Following back to back losses and a long bus home last week-end, Coach Williamson had the boys back on the ice early morning Sunday for an extra no-pucks allowed practice. Williams said “they needed a message” they are a 20 member team. Williamson says the team has a lot of character. They went on the ice and worked hard, no moaning and groaning, a matter of refocusing. And refocus they did. Williamson was pleased with their effort this week and is giving the boys a deserved day off this Sunday.

Williamson will be busy however figuring out what to do with his goaltending team. While Mark Visentin appears to be back healthy and in fine form (his second shutout of the year on Saturday night) the Dogs currently have three goal tenders. It appears Czech import Jaroslav Pavelka is the odd man out. Williamson says he will be speaking with Pavelka’s agent this week.