While he’s “extremely thrilled” a floor replacement at the Castlegar recreation complex arena will be completed early, the president of the Rebels junior hockey club says they will still hold their training camp in Trail this year.
Mike Johnstone says it’s too late to cancel their three-day camp scheduled for the Cominco Arena in late August. It was originally booked with the understanding the Rebels would not be able to get back into their home rink before early October.
Last week the Regional District of Central Kootenay announced the project should actually be finished around Aug. 9.
“We’re thrilled to hear the plan is ahead of schedule and we’ll be in the rink at the beginning of September,” Johnstone said.
When the project was announced last year, it was thought the Rebels might have to play on the road for extended parts of two seasons. But they missed the playoffs, so their season ended before the project began, and now they will be able to start next season as normal.
The only inconvenience for the club was that they had to clean out their dressing room while the work was underway. “For us it was smooth sailing,” Johnstone said.
However, other groups were much more affected, including the West Kootenay Wolfpack lacrosse team and the Castlegar Skating Club.