By Peter Watts /

Like their neighbours to the south, the good folks in Saskatoon are paying a lot of money for ice rentals.

Minor hockey fees are rising quicker than the number of sheets of ice that are available, and there’s no sign of improvement in the short term.

“A lot of my job seems to be as a lobbyist,” said Saskatoon minor hockey executive director Kelly Boes. “We’ve got access to 14 sheets of ice in nine facilities and we’re paying something over $200 an hour.

“We get a city subsidy that accounts for about 30% of what we pay in the city arenas. But the city wants to get out of the ice rental business and wants the private sector to play more of a role in building and operating arenas.

“Six of the sheets are owned by a TSX-listed company. The bottom line is that fees are up about 10% this season and the cost of ice is a big reason for that.

“And there’s one facility that has two sheets of ice that is owned by a not-for-profit community group. We’re talking to them about taking over what’s left of the mortgage and operating it ourselves.

“That would allow us to do a lot more programming and to make better use of the available icetime. The group that built the facility is willing to turn it over to us. But we have to set up a separate entity under the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association banner to run it. We hope to have that done by early next year.”

Meantime, Boes is proud of a program that offers a city-wide draft for players in the AA Peewee and Bantam programs. It’s now in its fourth season and is being expanded this fall to include Midget AA.

The AAA Contact and Blazer programs operate above the minor hockey umbrella.

“It’s been really well-received and has resulted in strong and broadly based competitive leagues,” Boes said.

Blades & the Novices

He’s also proud of a program that links more than 40 novice teams with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades.

The youngsters wear crested jerseys with the Blades logo prominently displayed. The Blades provide an on-ice coaching seminar for the novice team coaches, during which time Blades head coach Lorne Molleken and his staff are miked.

“It’s been a real help to our coaches and it’s a real thrill for our seven- and eight-year-olds,” Boes said. “Once in a while, one of the Blades players shows up at practice and that’s a treat. And the Blades help with coaching and power-skating instructors, which greatly assists our novice skills development program.”

Blades president Jack Brodsky likes the program as well.

“It’s a great community partnership for us,” he said. “It’s good exposure for our name and our logo. And it allows the youngsters to feel like they’re part of the Blades too.”

World Junior Update

Seasons ticket holders of the Blades have had first crack at ticket packages for the 2010 world junior hockey tournament, which was awarded to Saskatoon and Regina in July by Hockey Canada.

The public sale is due to start this month.

“We’ve got 16 months to do what Calgary and Edmonton have 40 months to do for 2012,” says Brodsky. “But the work has to be done and we knew that at the time of our bid.

“So we’ll just get to work and get ready. I think we’re all really proud of the fact that Saskatoon is the only Canadian city to have this tournament twice in its history.

“I wasn’t involved last time in 1991 but I have a lot of good memories of the hockey that was played.

“And there’ll be a further legacy from the 2010 event,” Brodsky added. “In ’91, we expanded Credit Union Place from 7,800 seats to 11,300. We hope we can bring the seating capacity up to 15,000 for this event.”

Huskies on the Prowl

Dave Adolph won a CIS men’s hockey title in 1982-83 while playing for Dave King at the University of Saskatchewan.

Twenty-six years later, he’s still looking for his second title. In the process, he’s closing in on 400 career wins as he begins his 16th season as the team’s head coach.

“We’re going to be really young this season but if we can mature and grow as a group we should be pretty good as the season goes along,” he said.

“We’ve recruited 14 rookies out of the Western Hockey League. We’re having to replace nine players who graduated last spring.

“But I’m pretty pleased with getting forward Steve DaSilva, who was one of the top scorers in the WHL last season, from the Kootenay Ice. We’ve added five defencemen from the WHL and we have a dozen players returning from last year’s team that lost to Alberta in the conference championship but still went on to the nationals.”

The women’s program is guided by Steve Cook, who served as a part-time coach for four seasons before being named the first full-time women’s hockey coach in school history in August.

Sixteen players are back, including one full line — Breanne George, Shaye Christiansen, and Chelsea Purcell — that was a terror in Canada West last season and are off to a blazing start this fall.

One player from B.C., six from Alberta (including both goaltenders) and one from Manitoba, make this a real Prairie team as the Canada West season gets underway.