Hockey families in Winnipeg are up in arms after Southdale Community Centre announced it will be closing the facility for a movie shoot for three weeks in January.
“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,” said Hockey Winnipeg in a statement posted on their website.
As a result, the west rink will be closed from Jan. 3 to 23, 2026, and the east rink will shut down from Jan. 12 to 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,” said Hockey Winnipeg. “More than 60 teams, ranging from grassroots U7 House League to elite U18 AAA, will be affected.”
Hockey Winnipeg said in the statement that it can relocate and reschedule all games to other facilities, but in doing so, it will lead to the cancellation of practices and development programs.
“It will also mean games with additional travel and potentially at arenas outside of St. Boniface,” said Hockey Winnipeg. “Beyond that still, it will require some games to be played in facilities that are not well equipped to support competitive play.”
Hockey Winnipeg not opposed to idea of using community centre as filming location
Hockey Winnipeg says it is not opposed to the idea of using community centres as filming locations. However, they are disappointed that the project was scheduled without regard for the 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,” said Hockey Winnipeg. “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.”
All of those affected have been contacted
All concerns of Hockey Winnipeg and its membership have been communicated to the Southdale Community Centre.
“Our volunteers are working diligently to minimize the disruption and to reorganize programming as efficiently as possible,” said Hockey Winnipeg. “We ask for your patience and understanding as we manage this significant and unexpected challenge.”
Southdale Community Centre has yet to comment on the situation.
