Hockey Players Await Vote On Ice Time
Posted December 2, 2009 6:43 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Girls fighting to gain their fair share of ice time will have to wait a bit longer after a vote on who gets priority at city rinks was put over.
Dozens of young hockey players wearing their jerseys converged on City Hall Tuesday with parents and coaches to take in the hours-long debate on how ice time should be allocated.
One of the chief recommendations put forward Tuesday would require rinks to submit their ice time to the city for approval. If that request is adopted, it would go into effect for the 2010-11 season.
A vote on the issue was put over until, at the earliest, Wednesday.
The Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association threatened a human rights complaint in October claiming men’s recreational teams shut them out and force girls clubs to purchase ice time at private rinks costing about $1 million over five years.
“They understand that there’s men playing on ice that the children should have, they’re playing at better times for less cost and that the girls deserve their fair share,” Ron Baker, president of the Leaside Girls Hockey Association, said Tuesday.
Critics charge there’s simply not enough ice time to go around because no new rinks have been built in the city in 30 years.
“It isn’t a gender issue, it’s the fact that there isn’t a lot of ice time,” mother Robin Martin said.
