The Magna Centre in Newmarket is to include four arenas — three regulation-sized rinks and an Olympic-sized jewel with seating for more than 1,000 specators.
Why?
It is a noble gesture to construct a rink with international dimensions and one which the National Hockey League likely should have dictated to member teams when they were building new digs during the past two decades or so.
But who is going to willingly want to call this rink home?
Every user group will agree that it could use more ice time.
Will the Newmarket Minor Hockey Association put the enlarged ice surface to good use? Who knows? Possibly, although there is little advantage to playing on an enlarged ice surface as opposed to traditional ice floe.
One must wonder, though, who else, with the ability to draw an audience of that size is going to even want to use that ice surface?
Not likely the Newmarket Skating Club, which is comfortably set up at the Ray Twinney Complex. Its ice shows and carnivals draw crowds too large to be accommodated at the new joint.
The Newmarket Hurricanes? Doubtful the Jr. A franchise would be eager to move out of the bowl at the RTC in favour of a smaller seating facility.
Unless, of course, the plan is to rip down the RTC one day in the not too distant future. The place is 20 years old, which seems to be beyond middle age for facilities in Newmarket these days.
Quaker Pool, after all, reached its 30s and is now a flat piece of real estate awaiting its next orders.
The real need for ice in the community has nothing to do with Olympic dimensions. It is the adult leagues, the rentals and, yes, youth groups, too.
Maybe it’s nice to say we have an Olympic-sized ice surface in our midst. But that’s as far as it goes.
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