Winners, losers expected with Markham's new ice allocation rules

Yorkregion.com
March 21, 2015
By Amanda Persico

When your child plays hockey and how much ice time is given to that particular hockey club is about to change.

Markham recently adopted a new ice allocation policy, in which ice time in Markham will be allocated based on residency.

That means the more Markham residents a hockey or skating club has, the more ice time it will get under the city’s new policy.

All 670 hours of available ice time are up for grabs.

The new formula divides ice users into categories, house league youth hockey, competitive youth hockey, adult hockey, community skating groups and competitive hockey.

Youth house league hockey or community hockey gets the bulk, about 30 per cent, of the city’s ice time or about 200 hours.

Each category is then further subdivided by residency - the more Markham players; the more ice time a group gets within that category.

Previously, ice times were distributed by historical need, “no questions asked,” said the city’s recreation director Mary Creighton.

And this limited the ability for groups to grow and get more ice time, she added.

Along with ensuring Markham residents are using Markham ice pads, the new policy puts house league and youth recreation programs at the top of the priority list.

“There will be winners and losers,” Creighton said.

Since ice allocation has been an ongoing issue, pitting user groups against each other for ice time, setting up a formula based on residency is only fair, said Councillor Don Hamilton said.

“The city has been trying to get something more equitable than just higgledy-piggledy handing hours out,” he said. “This is really good, totally transparent.”

But the new formula leaves the Thornhill Community Hockey League (TCHL) on the losing side of ice time, losing upward of about 30 hours, which almost cuts the amount of ice time in half.

“No club wants to see another club shut down,” Crieghton said.

And other clubs agreed to give special consideration to the long-standing hockey club, she added.

As a way to help soften the blow, Markham council agreed to include the Vaughan side of Thornhill, those with an L4J postal code, into the ice allocation formula for all user groups.

That means, the TCHL would only see a loss of about 13 hours instead of 30 hours.

The TCHL could not be reached for comment.

Ice time for the Markham Islanders club will also be impacted. The club’s current 64.5 hours would drop to 56 hours.

“We don’t know what affect this will have,” said Randy Jacobs, a general manager with the Islanders club.

The new policy also includes division of the city’s shoulder ice time - Monday to Friday, 4 to 5 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 7 to 8 a.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. - where shoulder time was divvied up based on need with no formal policy or precedents in place.

“We are spoiled,” Creighton said. “We don’t have groups that start at 6 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday. If you go to any other municipality that’s very common practise.”

City staff are gathering current enrolment numbers from local hockey and skating clubs and checking residency of each player in order to set a new ice time schedule for the 2016/2017.