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THE STATE OF OUR TORONTO.


Say the names, "Hayley Wickenheiser", "Caroline Ouelette", "Marie-Philip Poulin", "Becky Kellar", or almost any other of the 18 members of Canada's Olympic Women's Hockey Team; and every proud Canadian will tell you that our women excel in hockey on an international scale, just as our men do; and that Hayley, (2010 team captain) and the Canadian Women's Hockey team have brought home two straight Olympic Gold Medal victories to justify that pride. (Since the writing of this essay, the Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey Team has earned its third Gold Medal in The 2010 Vancouver Olympics.)

So it's no wonder that more and more little girls aspire to be hockey players --an aspiration that for many years before the advent of women's professional sports had been the province of the men of the NHL and boys getting up early to shovel off the rink for a game of shinny, joined by the occasional tomboy kid sister who showed remarkable talent --for a girl.

That remarkable talent is showing up more and more on home ice nowadays with the advent of Little League Girls' Hockey; and now we have three sets of ice time to distribute to worthy players: Little League Girls Hockey, Little League Boys Hockey, and --the thing that keeps a lot of older non-pros in shape (or the thing that they keep in shape to play)-- pick up or shinny hockey. These are in addition to scheduled league games for young adult and adult leagues.

And the numbers and sizes of ice rinks have been expanding to keep up to the demand, while still providing needed time for our outstanding figure skating programs and just plain good-old recreational skating to the blare of a set of speakers and more hot chocolate than one would think humanly possible to consume in the course of one year.

But in spite of the increase in rink numbers, there still is not enough ice time for the Little Leaguers to apportion fairly to all players. There is enough time for the games, and if the team is lucky enough to get a rink for practice, for maybe one practice between games. Some Little Leagues also have time for one teaching session, but that is restricted, due to a necessary coach-to-child instruction ratio, to only children who have shown promise as hockey players. Coaches might be available for other children who need more time spent learning skating skills as well as hockey skills, but rink time isn't.

Where is this shortage of rink time being felt most severely? In Toronto.

Is it fair that the children who do not show hockey-player promise don't get the coaching time they need to at least learn the basics so they can play with their more fortunate friends? No. Nor is it fair to their teams, because the untutored players are more likely to fumble around the ice ineffectively while their more skilled buddies dipsy-doodle in and around them easily to get the length of the ice and take a shot. But that's the case, and we can blame the situation squarely on the lack of ice time for children learning to play.

The leagues are upset by this, hockey parents who have less skilled kids who can't get coached at home by a Walter Gretzky dad or grandpa wonder why their kids can't get that extra help, and we as Torontonians should be upset by the inequity and injustice caused our kids by the lack of ice time.

I've been thinking about this problem. Is there really a lack of ice surface; and if there is, what can be done about it?

The answer is yes and no. There is enough surface. But not all the surfaces we have are reliable enough to host those extra rink times. I write of the myriad outdoor rinks run by the city's parks and recreation department in addition to the many expensive indoor ones we already have and continue to build and expand. In many cases, these are sophisticated surfaces, with their own refrigeration units powering ice even in slightly warmer temperatures.

They are, however, out-of-doors rinks. They are subject to freezing wind conditions, snowfall, ice that's been scarred up by heavy recreational use, warm days too hot for the rink refrigeration to continue working, lack of change rooms, skate sharpening facilities, and that all-important hot chocolate addition that makes practice even more fun.

I've said all along that I'm all about solutions.

So, if our new Mayor wants some good advice regarding a solution to this problem, it would be to ask city council to approve complete enclosures for those outdoor skating rinks as a priority; and use inflatable tents of the kind one might find being used for winterized tennis courts for the purpose. Every inflatable will have change areas, a mini Zamboni to clean the ice, refrigeration units to keep the ice usable, generous ice time apportioned strictly to teaching unskilled kids hockey within its schedule, and --wait for it-- yes, even a hot chocolate vendor. As an active participant in other sports, he should be working with the Little Leagues to make certain that there are enough outdoor rinks to cover the current deficit in case we need to put a couple more in our parks.

This means that the kids who want to learn to skate and play hockey will have more opportunity, kids who want to learn figure skating will have more space for inexpensive beginners' classes, shinny players will get more space to play pickup, adult learn-to-skate programs will have more places to grow, and we can all enjoy the free rink time locally, including hot chocolate. We'll see what we can do about converting the H.C. to something colder in the summer months when a lot of those Park Rinks can be used for myriad other purposes as well.

Will there still be places to skate under the stars? I don't think we need to put an inflatable over the city hall ice rink, which already has refrigeration, its own Zamboni, music, change benches, and lots of H.C., but is reserved for recreational skating alone. Perhaps there are other places that are also favoured by remaining out of doors. If so, they might remain thus.

[The following article was written in the Toronto Star Thursday, Jan 28th on pg GT 3 by 'Donovan': http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/756928--city-urged-to-control-prime-time-ice :

City urged to control prime-time ice

Parks department says central system is best way to guarantee girls' hockey gets more arena time

Ice time at all city-owned rinks, including those operated by independent boards of management, should be divided up through a new centralized system for the 2011-2012 season, a parks department report urges.

The report says such a system is the "only option" to successfully implement the city's ice allocation policy.

The recommendations, which go before next week's meeting of the city's community development committee, come after a series of stories by the Star explored complaints from organizers of girls' and women's hockey who say they're being shut out of some rinks.

The rinks at the centre of the controversy are eight that are city-owned, but operated by independent boards of management.

Late last year, after the Toronto Leaside Girls' Hockey Association threatened to launch a human rights complaint over being denied prime-time ice at some board-run arenas, the city demanded all independent arenas come up with plans for next season so that "all children and youth activity for both girls and boys receives its proportionate share of prime-time ice."

Prime-time ice is during weekday evenings and weekends.

Aside from the eight independent arenas, which operate 10 rinks, there are 40 other city-run arenas operating 48 ice pads.

Under the proposed changes, the eight board-run facilities would be lumped in with the other 40 arenas, and ice time would be divvied up city-wide.
Under the city's ice allocation policy, 60 per cent of ice time should be set aside for community youth, 25 per cent competitive youth, 1 per cent competitive junior hockey, 13 per cent community adult use and 1 per cent private commercial use.

But according to information submitted to the city by the arena boards for last season, only three were above the 60 per cent threshold for community use: Leaside Memorial Arena (95 per cent), North Toronto Arena (67 per cent) and the two pads at McCormick Arena (67 per cent).
The others were at 50 per cent or below.

North Toronto currently sets aside no prime-time ice for girls' hockey, which has incensed officials with the Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association. Ron Baker, president of Leaside Girls, said if the proposed changes are adopted there will be fairer ice allocation across the city.
But city Councillor John Parker, who sits on the board at the Leaside arena, is opposed to the recommended changes, saying they will "undercut" a system that is already working at the arena boards.

"It will mark the beginning of the end of any useful role the boards can play in supporting neighbourhood activity and local rinks," Parker said. The proposal would still require approval by city council.]

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