{"id":845006,"date":"2026-08-06T00:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845006\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:42:13","slug":"solution-to-vancouver-canucks-practice-facility-fiasco-seems-so-simple-daily-hive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845006\/","title":{"rendered":"Solution to Vancouver Canucks practice facility fiasco seems so simple | Daily Hive"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems so easy, so why is this so hard?<\/p>\n

The Vancouver Canucks have been trying to build a practice facility for more than a decade. Soon, they\u2019ll become the only team in the NHL without one.<\/p>\n

It has made them the butt of jokes.<\/p>\n

Jim Rutherford seemed bewildered at the difficulty of getting one built. Rick Tocchet and Patrik Allvin each praised the practice facilities in Philadelphia and Seattle, respectively, after leaving the organization.<\/p>\n

The Canucks have met with so many people. They\u2019ve had plans at the Plaza of Nations<\/a> that fell apart. What about UBC? How about SFU<\/a>? Would they go to Burnaby<\/a>?<\/p>\n

And now, it seems, they\u2019ve settled on Britannia.<\/p>\n

On the surface, it seems like a great plan. The East Vancouver location is close to downtown, where Rogers Arena is located and where many of their players live. They\u2019ll build a facility next to the rink, where they\u2019ll use the City-owned ice surface.<\/p>\n

\"canucks<\/p>\n

The new Canucks \u201ctraining venue\u201d would be built next to an existing rink. (Vancouver Canucks)<\/p>\n

Just one problem: they didn\u2019t get the support of the community first.<\/p>\n

When the Canucks and the City of Vancouver announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Thursday<\/a>, it was met with optimism from the fan base. It didn\u2019t matter that the press release didn\u2019t include much new information from what was reported in March<\/a>. By going public, it seemed to finally cement the Canucks\u2019 future plans at Britannia.<\/p>\n

Then came Friday.<\/p>\n

The mood among many fans totally changed after three local minor hockey associations expressed their concerns<\/a> over the new practice facility, as it seems that it\u2019ll come without a new sheet of ice. They say there\u2019s already a shortage of ice in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disappointed by the report that the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Canucks are exploring building a practice facility that could leverage an existing community rink at Britannia without creating desperately needed new ice capacity,\u201d the minor hockey associations said in a well-written and detailed statement.<\/p>\n

How can the City of Vancouver, or the Canucks for that matter, proceed with a plan that takes away ice time from children?<\/p>\n

The community is apparently getting something in return in this deal, though details so far have been vague. It\u2019ll be up to the powers that be to determine if the trade-off is a fair trade. And maybe it will be.<\/p>\n

But hopefully it\u2019s not hard for the public to determine.<\/p>\n

\"canucks<\/p>\n

Another rendering of the proposed Canucks practice facility at Britannia. (Vancouver Canucks)<\/p>\n

This is a billion-dollar organization<\/a> we\u2019re talking about here, and the City of Vancouver is prepared to give it land to build on. That already seems like an excellent deal for the Canucks.<\/p>\n

And remember what the Sedins said<\/a> when they took over as co-presidents?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the No. 1 organization in the league when it comes to community involvement. We need to get to that point,\u201d Daniel Sedin said in May, reflecting on his arrival to Vancouver in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta bring that back,\u201d Henrik Sedin added. \u201cJust to have the people in the city and this province to be proud to be Canucks fans again. And that\u2019s part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sedins were talking about players getting out in the community more, not necessarily about ownership building new facilities for the benefit of others, but the principle is the same.<\/p>\n

\"sedins<\/p>\n

Henrik and Daniel Sedin are trying to change how the Canucks conduct themselves in the community. (Rob Williams\/Daily Hive)<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my proposal.<\/p>\n

Give the Canucks land to build on, whether it be at Britannia or Hastings Park, as the minor hockey associations suggested. No need to worry about buying expensive Vancouver real estate. The Canucks get to build their dream practice facility, with all the bells and whistles that can help attract free agents. I\u2019m talking a state-of-the-art gym, a players\u2019 lounge with a view of the North Shore mountains \u2014 whatever they want. They can include a sports bar and a merchandise store that the team will profit from. They could name it the Aquilini family arena, or get a corporation to sponsor it instead.<\/p>\n

Just one caveat: the facility needs to include at least one new sheet of ice. The Canucks can use it whenever they want, but when they\u2019re not using it, the community gets to skate on it.<\/p>\n

Are you telling me Canucks Sports and Entertainment can\u2019t afford that? Because this is now a standard expense in the NHL.<\/p>\n

The Canucks still have a chance to be the hero of this story.<\/p>\n

Forget a vague press release; they can make a splash with a big press conference. They\u2019d get a ribbon-cutting ceremony, with minor hockey players present. They\u2019d be praised for their contribution to the community.<\/p>\n

You might also like:Vancouver minor hockey associations speak out in opposition of Canucks practice facility plan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It seems so easy, so why is this so hard? The Vancouver Canucks have been trying to build…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-845006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}