On behalf of Hockey Winnipeg, the St. Boniface Minor Hockey Association, and the Hockey Winnipeg High Performance Council, we regret to inform our parents, players, coaches, and fans of a significant upcoming disruption to our community programming.
Southdale Community Centre has advised us of a facility closure to accommodate the filming of a movie. The west rink will be closed from January 3–23, 2026, and the east rink will be closed from January 12–16, 2026. These closures will result in the loss of approximately 100 hours of scheduled activities, including roughly 85 hours of ice time during the peak period of our season. More than 60 teams, ranging from grassroots U7 House League to elite U18 AAA, will be affected.
While Hockey Winnipeg can relocate and reschedule all games to other facilities, doing so will come at the expense of practices and development programs. It will also mean games with additional travel and potentially at arenas outside of St. Boniface. Beyond that still, it will require some games to be played in facilities that are not well equipped to support competitive play.
Hockey Winnipeg is not opposed to the use of community centres as filming locations. When done responsibly and collaboratively such partnerships can bring excitement and value to the community. However, it is disappointing that this project was scheduled without regard for the significant impact on community sport programming. These closures will also affect private development programs, high school hockey programs, local junior hockey, ringette, adult recreational hockey, figure skating, learn to skate programming, free skate and numerous other user groups as ice across the City and surrounding area will have to be repurposed. We strongly urge all involved parties to reconsider the filming timeline to one that is far less disruptive. In publicly funded Community Centres, youth sports and community programs should not be displaced for private enterprise.
We have communicated the concerns of Hockey Winnipeg and its membership to Southdale Community Centre, including the lack of available practice ice, the increased cost of securing alternate ice times, and the added burden on families due to increased travel, as well as the administrative burden to reschedule Hockey Winnipeg’s programming.
Our volunteers are working diligently to minimize the disruption and to reorganize programming as efficiently as possible. We ask for your patience and understanding as we manage this significant and unexpected challenge. We are optimistic that Southdale Community Centre will put people and community over private enterprise and profit and work collaboratively with community stakeholders to minimize disruption to community programming.
Hockey Winnipeg
St. Boniface Minor Hockey Association
Hockey Winnipeg High-Performance Council
