New ice needed?

I never saw the Habs play at the Montreal Forum but one seat from that building holds a special place in my heart – numéro 19, rangée F, section 308.  

That seat, complete with original coffee stains on the back, now resides in a place of honor in my small home office. It dates back to when the Forum was closed and scavenged, back when the team was still legendary.

When I look at that old chair I can easily recall the emotion and excitement of those cannonading drives and scintillating saves as if I was there.  I can still sense the emotion of the crowd.

I think a lot of local hockey fans know that feeling. They can remember cheering for the home team with thousands of other local supporters at the Fort William Gardens whenever a home town superstar scored a big goal. It was just the Gardens but when all those fans jumped up to cheer it could have been Guy LaFleur scoring at the Forum.

Years from now, in a dusty old Thunder Bay garage, some future city resident will come across a seat or some other memorabilia from the glory days of the Fort William Gardens.  The building will be long gone by then but I wonder if any old memories will be rekindled.

There are plenty of people now living in this city who fondly remember filing into the Gardens for a hockey game, a dance, a Christmas party or any of a thousand community events dating back to 1951 when the building opened. 

Some former patrons may be a little disgruntled by the way this tired old building is being unceremoniously dumped in favour of a shiny new facility.  If the planners aren’t careful they will squander the decades of tradition, good will and community spirit that was generated every time Burton Cummings sang or the home team scored.

Our new events centre is being called a legacy project. I’m not sure what this means to the average taxpayer but the decades old legacy of the Fort William Gardens seems like it might be worth preserving and carrying forward. 

I attended the first community information session. According to some reports there was a “groundswell of support” for what was being referred to then as a multiplex facility. 

If my memory serves me well, I did not witness a groundswell that evening, unless you count the enthusiastic crowd taking advantage of the coffee and cookies.

At the end of the meeting there was one serious issue, a deal breaker really, that was still out there. There is general consensus that a strong anchor tenant is an absolute necessity. More specifically, it is being suggested that a semi-pro hockey franchise is needed to make this dream a reality.

Here’s what it says in Wikipedia about the Fort William Gardens.  “The isolation of Thunder Bay and travel costs have prevented the Gardens from retaining most teams.” 

Because of this geographic reality, securing and keeping an anchor tenant will be challenging to say the least. It may not even be economically, or ecologically possible.  I trust this will be reflected in the business plan.

Economics is one thing, demographics is another. As the Canadian (and Thunder Bay) population ages, participation in sports and attendance at sports events will drop off.  Aging Boomers will  prefer more enlightening activities such as reading, museums and theatres. 

Minor hockey boomed through the ’60s and ’70s and then declined.  Even the echo kids peaked in 1990 and the demand for new arenas dropped in 2002. Golf replaced hockey in 1998 as the most popular sport. Soccer has become the sport of choice for all Canadian kids five to 14 years old.  You have to wonder who will be playing hockey a generation from now.

Canadian author David Foote suggests caution when replacing old arenas.  He also recommends that any new ice be easily adaptable to curling which becomes more popular as former hockey stars and weekend warriors get older and mellower. 

I’m sure our community has the expertise to generate a business plan, a feasibility study and the funds necessary to build a new facility. 

But the big question still remains unanswered. How can we generate or rekindle the excitement, the enthusiasm and broad community support that grew up in the Fort William Gardens and should be the foundation of any future events centre?
We claim to be Superior by Nature.
 
This is a golden opportunity to prove it.