Anjuli Patil
The public had an opportunity Sunday to weigh in on a proposal to put an NHL-sized hockey rink in the middle of the Emera Oval.
Twenty-two people attended a public meeting held by Hockey on the Halifax Oval to learn more about the group's idea and ask questions.
"I thought it went really well," said Ryan O'Quinn, one of the organizers, who spoke for just over an hour detailing how the rink could be built and how the funding for it could be secured.
Not much pushback
Nobody who spoke up at the meeting rejected the idea, but there was a question from someone asking how the rink — if it were to become a reality — could be kept for the public and not be booked up all the time by minor and recreational hockey groups.
"It's nice to know I'm not doing something too controversial here," O'Quinn said. "But I was actually anticipating maybe a bit of pushback and we didn't really get any of that today, so that was a bit of a surprise."
Ryan O'Quinn (left) and Tyler Reynolds (right) are the lead volunteers in a community effort to put a hockey rink in the middle of the Emera Oval. (Anjuli Patil/CBC)
Jon Jessome, a hockey coach who lives in Bedford, N.S., attended the meeting and said he would support a rink in the oval.
"A lot of people should get behind it because it's going to support not only hockey but the community as a whole by bringing people together. I think there could be a lot of different programs set up just by having this space," said Jessome.
'A really cool project'
Jessome works with two different Hockey Nova Scotia programs: the Black Youth Ice Hockey Initiative and First Shift, a program focused on teaching hockey.
"I thought it was a really cool project and it made a lot of sense for an underutilized space. It was just a smart way to bring accessibility to hockey," said Jessome.
Organizers say the rink could be used for more than just hockey. (Submitted by Tyler Reynolds)
Jessome said he liked the proposed idea of having a bridge over the oval so hockey players wouldn't disrupt those skating the loop.
"I don't think it would be a huge cost to do something like that and would enable the space to be used more freely," said Jessome.
Rob Johnson, a north-end Halifax resident, attended the meeting with his six-year-old daughter Tindra.
"I think very much like the oval, which was originally built like a temporary structure and nobody saw or thought at the time the value and the use that it would come to have and the meaning that it would have to Halifax, I think the same is true with a hockey rink inside the oval," said Johnson.
City has no plans for rink
Johnson said he went to the University of Calgary, which has an indoor oval with a skating rink inside it.
"I think having a central space, the infrastructure is there. It makes sense on so many levels," Johnson said.
Coun. Lindell Smith, who represents the district that includes the oval, said he's aware of the hockey rink proposal but hasn't had a chance yet to speak to the group's organizers.
There are no current plans for the municipality to add a hockey rink to the oval, but if it eventually received approval from the city, the group estimated the cost of the project would be about $2-million.
An aerial view of the site plan. (Submitted by Tyler Reynolds)
O'Quinn said about $900,000 of that initial $2-million cost would cover contingency expenses like delays. On top of that, he estimated it would cost roughly $250,000 per year to operate the rink — which would pay for things like staff and maintenance.
But taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for the initial build. Hockey on the Halifax Oval is hoping to fund that cost with the help of a private philanthropist. O'Quinn said he's hoping to secure a financial commitment by July of this year.
"We do need to show the city that there is someone out there who has the means who shares the same vision as we do with this space," said O'Quinn.
