KADE GATES

Two Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) teams are in dire need of help from their communities if they want to survive to play another year. Otherwise, the future looks grim.

The Kindersley Klippers and Weyburn Red Wings — two longtime members of the SJHL — announced this season that they were in a bleak financial situation.

The cost to run a team annually varies from $300,000 to $800,000 depending on travel schedules, ice time rentals and equipment needs. This is just a small sample; plenty of other teams around Junior A hockey in Canada also cannot afford to ice teams.

The Neepawa Natives of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League also announced they were $90,000 in debt, a major blow to the town of just over 3,800 that also relies on the team to help stimulate the local economy. The same story of communities losing their teams due to poor financial standing is happening all over the country.

Neepawa mayor Ken Waddell summed up the sentiments of many when he spoke of the financial trouble with CBC News.

“It means a lot to the community. You know, the name is out there all over the place because of the hockey team.”

But the question is, who is to blame for these teams’ financial difficulties? Is it the management, the community or the players? All of these factors play a part in the cocktail that is the demise of Junior A hockey in Saskatchewan.

In January, Weyburn was the first team in the SJHL to announce that they were struggling financially with $180,000 in debt and that if things did not turn around, they would be required to fold at the season’s end. Red Wings president Larry Tribiger spoke about the team’s issues with Global News.

“You can’t pinpoint exactly when the team’s financial woes started but it came to a head this month,” Tribiger said. “One of the biggest reasons is declining attendance at the games, Junior A teams rely heavily on attendance. Also, busing and equipment costs have gone up.”

The Klippers themselves are an estimated $80,500 in debt to the town of Kindersley and are currently trying to pay back $500 of debt per game played. The Klippers average attendance last year was 591, third last in the SJHL — only ahead of Lac La Ronge and Notre Dame — which is not great for a team that finished fourth in the league.

In all of these cases, a common theme emerges: poor fan attendance has crippled these teams. The community and the team should be intertwined together, but lately communities are no longer supporting the product on the ice. If fans want these teams to improve, they need to support their team by giving them the financial flexibility to attract players.

Unfortunately, even the most loyal communities aren’t safe from geography. The disappointing truth is that many players refuse to report to northern or isolated markets like Lac La Ronge, Nepawa and Flin Flon, Man. There are frequent rumours that players who are suddenly scratched by these teams and then sent out of town are demanding trades and refusing to report to these towns.

This leaves these teams shorthanded as they have to trade away talented players just to field a roster. Frequently, the players acquired in these deals are of a lesser talent level. Lac La Ronge last made the playoffs in 2011–12, while Neepawa hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2009–10 season.

If these teams start to fold, the biggest loser will be the communities that house these teams. Junior A hockey teams pay billets to house their players in local homes. It costs teams roughly $70,000 to billet their players and that money is pooled back into local families and businesses. As the games bring in visiting teams and their fans, the towns’ hotels and restaurants will lose out on potential game day profits.

All in all nobody wins if Junior A hockey in this province dies off.