91Ѽ

Skip to content

Warriors respond to ice time concerns

Warriors’ owner Kim Dobranski said they hope to benefit the entire community
17583189_web1_180907-KCN-Warriors-Kim-Dobranski-Geoff-Grimwood
West 91Ѽ Warriors owner Kin Dobranski (left) and former head coach and general manager Geoff Grimwood. —Image: Alistair Waters/Capital News

The concerns over the amount of available ice time in West 91Ѽ are growing.

The West 91Ѽ Warriors have changed the start times of their Saturday night home games in the upcoming season from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m., hoping to engage more families and younger fans.

The switch of the start times has had a ripple effect on the other leagues that share ice at Royal LePage Place, that could limit the amount of teams and players that get to use the ice.

Warriors’ owner Kim Dobranski released a statement this week looking to assure hockey families in West 91Ѽ.

“Everything we as an organization do is for the benefit of the community at large,” Dobranski said.

“Myself and the all-star cast of staff and volunteers will continue to work for the community.”

READ MORE: West 91Ѽ Warriors schedule released

READ MORE: Kelsey Serwa announces official retirement

In the statement, Dobranski refers mostly to concerns brought forth by West 91Ѽ Minor Hockey Association, which claims the change of start time could take away significant amounts of time from youth players.

Dobranski claims the Warriors have made other changes to their schedule this season, including eliminating most of their weekday games and most of their Sunday games, which are expected to translate into an increase of ice time for minor hockey, not a decrease.

“Our lease is extremely clear that we are the anchor tenant and have first rights to all ice in Jim Lind and Royal LePage for our practices and games prior to any other program allocations. It’s been this way for 13 years,” Dobranski said.

READ MORE: Okanagan football foursome named to Team B.C.

The Capital News has reached out for a response from West 91Ѽ Minor Hockey.

West 91Ѽ Mayor Gord Milsom is slated to meet with the Warriors organization next week to discuss the ongoing concerns with game times and ice availability.

To report a typo, email:
newstips@kelownacapnews.com
.



newstips@kelownacapnews.com

Like us on and follow us on .





(or

91Ѽ

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }