Long-time users angry about Young Guns Hockey Academy bumping them from Brandt Centre (2024)

A new, independent hockey academy — part of the privately-owned Hockey Super League — is being organized in Regina with unprecedented control of the Brandt Centre, upsetting senior/recreational teams who rented the arena’s ice for decades and have taken their complaints to City Hall.

Representatives from eight senior/recreational teams met Monday with Mayor Sandra Masters and Ward 2 Councillor Bob Hawkins to voice their displeasure about possibly being bumped from their long-time home.

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“They told us they’re going to make a motion to postpone all agreements with Young Guns,” said Steve Alport, a senior hockey player whose team has been renting ice time at the 47-year-old Brandt Centre for about 30 years. “Our team hasn’t been there the longest, either. The guys in the room were between 30-something and 75 because, you know, this is a huge part of our social lives and a way to stay active.

“It means we would keep our times in the Brandt Centre for this year and maybe talk to the city about resurrecting the Optimist and Kinsmen arenas, turning those over to a community-type of association and hopefully finding some funds to do an upgrade.”

Although the 6,000-seat Brandt Centre has typically been under the auspices of the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) for the booking of everything from rodeos to concerts to hockey games, the City of Regina ultimately controls REAL. The city recently assumed about $9 million in debts accrued by REAL before forcing it to undergo an administrative shakeup that installed a new board of directors.

Masters and Hawkins told the hockey group they plan to file the motion this week with City Council.

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Whenever the Brandt Centre wasn’t available in the past, the senior/recreational teams would book ice at one of five City of Regina arenas or one of the six REAL rinks nearby at the Co-Operators Centre. The city recently gave most of their excess ice time to Hockey Regina, Alport said, so their alternative could be playing in the little-used, undersized and outdated Kinsmen and Optimist arenas.

Alport said his group was told REAL’s new board was not informed about the agreement with Young Guns, who may be forced to find alternative ice time.

Repeated messages left with REAL received no responses.

Young Guns Hockey Academy plans to start its programs in early September for players in the 2015 and 2017 age groups.

Mike Reich, a former junior and college player who coaches and organizes the Young Guns program, intended to schedule practices, games and “Showcase” tournaments around the Brandt Centre’s primary tenants, the WHL’s Regina Pats, before booking times for senior, recreational and beer-league teams that traditionally played games in off-prime hours.

“We’ve had a lot of good, encouraging conversations with people who are happy that we’re having development for youth hockey,” said Reich.

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“Some guys have been ticked off because they’ve been (in the Brandt Centre) for years, playing beer-league hockey. But after they’ve heard a little more and talked to me a few times, they’ve been a little better about it.”

As an independent program with its own qualification policies, training regimens and insurance policies, Young Guns is not affiliated with Hockey Regina, Hockey Saskatchewan or Hockey Canada.

Reich said he has received numerous inquiries about a program that intends to improve the quality of minor hockey players from Regina, surrounding area and the U.S., with 75 hours per team designated for skills development, 35-40 games against Hockey Super League teams from Moose Jaw, Calgary and Edmonton, including the regional Showcases.

With many recent junior and pro draft choices coming directly from private academies in Canada and the U.S., which teach a mixture of North American and European styles, Reich is hopeful Young Guns can get a toehold in Regina to expand its age groups and include female hockey.

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