Bancroft Minor Hockey and other user groups of the North Hastings Community Centre are using ice in Highlands East while the town awaits the installation of a new cooling plant.
The piece of equipment is coming from an American manufacturer and was expected to arrive in July but was instead delivered at the end of August.
Bancroft Jets Minor Hockey President Marc Gibson said while the situation is unfortunate, there is no blame to be laid against the town. He added the association looked at a number of area arenas to book ice time and settled on the Keith Tallman Memorial Arena in Wilberforce.
“We start at the beginning of September and our games start in October. It’s pretty important for us to have practices up and running now. We reached out to Wilberforce and with all the great cooperation we were able to get a proposal in front of their council at Highland East and they approved putting in the ice a month and a half early.”
Gibson added minor hockey wanted to ensure the ice was well-used and enlisted the support of Bancroft girls hockey as well as the figure skating club.
“Together we are going to rent 40 hours per week in Wilberforce and that seemed to do the trick for their council’s approval.”
The arena is about a half hour drive from Bancroft, one of the main driving forces behind Gibson’s ask. He also looked at arenas elsewhere including Apsley which is also about 30 minutes away.
“But they also have a minor hockey program there so we would have been jockeying for ice time down there. Another option would have been Minden, which is an hour away and also Marmora, which again is an hour away.”
Gibson also speculated on the reason why the equipment’s delivery was behind schedule.
“Apparently, they are being used in AI data centres because it is a cooling plant. What used to be probably just for arenas and other niche things has now become a sought-after commodity.”
The overall North Hastings Community Centre arena-plant/accessibility project was budgeted at just over $2.4 million. Bancroft contributed just under $500,000 while the remaining $1.9 million came from the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program.
