Players say that seniors' hockey in Squamish is fighting for its life after ice times for those in their 50s and over have changed to an onerous 10:45 p.m. slot on Sunday.
Previously, the members of Hilltop Hockey warned the District that this unwanted change to their Brennan Park schedule would decimate their numbers.
As of Dec. 12, that prediction has proven to be accurate.
Troy Lynn, who spoke on behalf of the remaining players on the team, said that the group went from roughly 50 players to 17.
Lynn said that the new ice time was forced upon the group, which didn't get to have a say on whether this would be an acceptable change.
"Guys that I play with, they always bring up ageism," he said. "Just discriminating against seniors. Like, youth and seniors have very little to do in this town."
Lynn said that the new 10:45 p.m. time is a stark break from their previous schedule, which was a three-ice-time rotation that was in place for about 15 to 20 years.
He said this had senior players hitting the ice roughly around either 7:45 p.m., 9 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. The times were rotated between multiple user groups to share the space.
But the new 10:45 p.m. time on Sunday night has proven to be too much for several players.
Lynn said he appeared before council to ask for help and was directed to talk to Brennan Park arena staff.
By his account, Hilltop players went to staff, who offered the seniors daytime slots.
However, he said that simply doesn't work for the members, many of whom are still working or have volunteer commitments for the community during the day.
"Half the guys in our user group still work or they volunteer," said Lynn.
The group's goalies are also a bit on the younger side, as the group recruits people younger than 55 to be goaltenders. That's because the job is especially hard on the body.
"When you hit 50, you can't be a goalie," said Lynn. "Well, you can, but when you hit the ice, you can't get back up. So our goalies are younger guys ... they have jobs."
The new late ice time has been extremely challenging for them.
And those who aren't working anymore are still making worthwhile daytime contributions to the community, he said.
"We've got a guy that's like 76. He's retired. But he does ski. He's still active," said Lynn. "He still volunteers up in Whistler. I got three or four guys volunteering. A couple of them volunteer to teach disabled people to ski. So daytime ice wasn't an option."
Lynn said that it's an especially sad development, since a number of the players in the group were advocates for getting the arena built in the first place.
"I'd say like half of them were the guys, when they were in their 20s, late 20s, early 30s, that fought like crazy to get the arena built. And now they can't even use it, which is kind of crazy," he said.
Lynn said the seniors have no intention of giving up, and will continue to lobby the District for change.
"We keep going, because if we don't, then we lose the voice," he said. "Like [they'll] just say, 'Yup they gave up. Give the time to somebody else.' And then we'll never get the ice time back."
In response, the District issued a written statement to The Squamish Chief.
“The District supports our Recreation and Culture staff's dedication to building a balanced program that considers the needs of all of our ice users against our values of equity and fairness,” said spokesperson Rachel Boguski.
“As demand for ice time remains high amongst all our ice user groups, we are working to review and refine our allocation process.”
She noted that staff recently met with representatives from Hilltop Hockey to propose interim solutions and reiterate the District’s commitment to further discussion once a draft ice allocation process and policy is ready for review in early 2023.
“It is our hope that the new ice allocation policy will better address the concerns of the seniors’ hockey community while also considering the needs of the community at large,” Boguski said.
