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With the development of what is known as the Cross-Ice Hockey; a program recently initiated across both Canada and the United States by their governing hockey bodies, our research and development and design teams have been busy coming up with the best solution to making this program become implemented on a large scale.

What began as a pilot project, Cross-Ice Hockey was instituted and geared toward novice-aged players across North America. Requiring that the ice surface be divided in half,  this allows younger players the time needed to properly develop their skills as well as effectively utilizing available ice space in local arenas.

What they have found so far is that the program keeps younger players in a constant state of involvement in the game and hence, develops better camaraderie among players and enhances on-ice skills.

The strength forged between our organization and those involved in our extensive dealer network is formidable. Selecting from the very best organizations around the world, we have the ability to form partnerships with key industry representatives and pass the benefits along to our growing customer base.

As such, we proudly share our internal leads garnered through our extensive offline and online properties with those selected for our dealer program and one of our recent projects is the perfect example of that synergy at work.

One of our more popular products is our suite of custom wall padding solutions. These solutions range from completely padded rooms and gymnasiums to small padded areas strategically placed in high-impact zones such as beneath basketball goals.

While simple in theory, depending on the intended use of these padding solutions, they can become quite complex and customized. With doorways, corners, electrical outlets and switches all adorning wall surfaces in most buildings, each padding job entails certain nuanced design elements.

At the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in central Ontario lies the town of Belleville.  Settled in the late 1700’s, the town, referred to as the heart of the Quinte region, is home to a number of public elementary and secondary schools along with post-secondary institutions such as Loyalist College and the Academy of Learning College.

It was the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, however, that brought our team to town on this occasion as a pair of the school’s in the board were looking for new wall padding for their gymnasiums.  As such, our sales team quickly were acquainted with keys stakeholders from the organization, kicking off the initial stages of the planning process.

One of our more recent projects brought us to the beautiful Ottawa Valley and one of the area’s epicenters for Irish heritage. Known for its legendary St. Patrick’s Day celebrations each year, the town of Douglas was originally surveyed into farm lots to accommodate settlers from the Irish Isle and soon became a booming region for its timber production.

Today, this small town is part of the Admaston/Bromley Township, which is made up of a number of other small towns and hamlets in the region with a population of roughly 3,000 residents who call it home. 

As one of the feeder schools for these small communities, we were recently commissioned by the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board to supply and install some customized padding for St. Michael’s School. The school acts as an inclusive educational conduit, ensuring high academic standards as well as community involvement for all those who attend.

A great place for organized events, theatre, and assemblies, a gymnasium’s stage is invaluable to the school, community centre or facility in which it resides. When it comes to athletic play and events, these areas can lead to potential injury as high-speed athletes can run into them during practice or play.

To solve this problem, we developed a line of specially designed pads that can easily be installed on stages located within gymnasiums. Made from the same tough and durable heavy-duty vinyl and 2” high-density foam as our wall padding, they are more than enough to keep your students, participants, and athletes safe.

These padding systems are also designed and manufactured with a 6” return which is used to cover the top of the stage surface, used in conjunction with a pair of Velcro strips to secure the padding to the stage or to allow the padding to be removed for special events.

In line with the University of North Carolina’s thrilling win over Gonzaga earlier this week for the college basketball National Championship, one of our most recent projects featured Tar Heel team colours.

Once again, we traveled to the wonderful and wild Canadian west to Cold Lake, Alberta, this time to work with L'école Voyageur, part of Alberta’s French-speaking conseil scolaire centre-est school board.

The school, which operates exclusively in the French language, needed a specialized padding solution for use in their gymnasium and turned to our expert sales team for advice.  While padding can sometimes be considered rather rudimentary, the truth is, it is often far from routine and that was certainly the case with this project.

The school was interested in placing wall padding beneath their basketball systems, but the layout of the gymnasium made it slightly more complex from a design standpoint.  As every facility is different, the gymnasium at école Voyageur featured a doorway just to the left of the basketball system, which obviously would not allow for a standard wall padding installation.

While we typically service the industrial and institutional markets, oftentimes we lend our prowess to the residential crowd where and when possible.  From installing indoor or outdoor basketball systems, barrier netting projects, or providing hockey goals for backyard rinks, our products are used around the home more than most think.

One such area in which we provide a great deal of coverage for the residential market is within our custom padding department.  Due to the wide variety of uses and specific needs, we are seeing a much higher volume of residential padding projects coming into our facility.

Founded in 1949, St. Alban’s Boys and Girls Clubserves over 2,000 members per year, not to mention over 1,000 others across 18 satellite sites in the Greater Toronto Area.  It is here their dedicated staff and volunteers have been establishing a diverse range of programming including after-school programs, sports and athletic programs, camps, tutoring, mentoring and employment readiness programs for close to 70 years.

While we work with a number of Boys and Girls Clubs scattered throughout both Canada and the United States, this is not the first time the St. Alban’s Club has turned to us for help with improving their athletic facilities.  Previously, we were commissioned to install a state-of-the-art gym divider curtain for the club and once again, the club’s stakeholders tapped us for our expertise with regards to padding their gymnasium and stage.