The Best Seats
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Constructed in 2004, the Bell Sensplex serves as the official practice facility for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators hockey club. Built in partnership with the City of Ottawa, the 180,000 square foot facility boasts three NHL-sized ice surfaces, one Olympic-sized ice rink and an indoor fieldhouse and additionally serves a number of minor hockey leagues and short track speed skating clubs in the greater Ottawa region.

We were recently contacted by stakeholders from within the Sensplex organization with questions regarding some safety netting for the Olympic-sized rink inside this community-focused athletic facility.

Half-ice hockey has recently been declared as the new standard for youth hockey. In fact, both USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have ruled that novice leagues and players are now required to institute the half-ice playing style. If you’re a parent, or a student yourself, you likely have some questions about this change.

Parental Concerns

By far, one of the most common concerns parents have voiced since these changes have been announced is: “How is this real hockey? 

This is a question best answered by the studies that prove young children (8 and under) need to focus on having fun and developing key skills. They will be learning a range of valuable skills in half-ice hockey on a rink layout that’s better suited to their pace, size, and skill level.

Some game changes will promote more play time as well, fostering interest in the sport of hockey. 

There are plenty of gadgets out there today, all created with the goal of helping hockey players become the best on their team, but what’s really necessary?

Out of all the techniques and tactics being employed today to help young hockey players prove their worth in the rink, cross-ice hockey is among the most successful of them all.

Why Cross-Ice Hockey?

For younger players, cross-ice hockey came to the forefront back in the 1970s although it wasn’t adopted into American and Canadian hockey leagues until just recently. It sprouted from a study that realized for amateur youth hockey games, players had an average of .5 shots per game.

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.

With hopes of better developing the future Sidney Crosbys of the world, Canada’s national pastime’s governing body passed new rules defining rink size for the nation’s youngest hockey players.

Hockey Canada announced in late March that it would be implementing a new rule that would see all rink sizes shrink by 50 percent to accommodate players 6 years and under.  While the organization has been advocating for this age-related rink sizing for nearly three decades, it is now only making it official, even though a number of provincial amateur hockey organizations already require it.

The move is expected to make better players out of younger children as much time is wasted chasing stray pucks across large ice surfaces.  While it is certainly great exercise for the children, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of membership development believes the smaller surface allows children a better opportunity to get a real feel for the game.

With snow flurries in the forecast, winter is upon us (most of us anyways) and with that comes the busy season in hockey rinks and ice surfaces across Canada and the United States.

As the fastest game on ice, hockey is also considered to be one of the most high-impact sports on the planet and with good reason.  In addition to quick-moving skaters and errant hockey sticks, the game is centred on a gliding puck that at times, can be travelling at over 100 miles per hour.

While the majority of hockey rinks are equipped with boards and proper spectator protection using heavy-duty glass, the risk of spectator injury in the game is still rising due to deflected pucks.  With up to 12 sticks being on the ice at any time, the risk for a deflected puck to clear the boards and head into the crowd was and is still, very high.  In fact, it was not until 2002 that the National Hockey League finally made a ruling stating that all ice surfaces were to be equipped with additional netting surrounding both goals above the height of the glass.

With Labour Day weekend in our rear-view, we have now passed the unofficial end of summer.  While summer does not technically end for another couple of weeks, and as kids head back to school and we get on with our regular routines, now is a great time to plan ahead for the coming winter months.

Up here in Canada and in many places in the United States, winter sports such as hockey, ringette, figure skating, speed skating and skiing are popular pastimes as temperatures begin to drop.  With that in mind, many rink owners and operators are busy planning their busy season, ensuring their facility and equipment is ready to roll when the snow begins to fly.

Kanata Lasers with team bus at provincial championships

We are the product of a locally-founded and homegrown success story and as such we do all we can to give back and support local causes and organizations where and when possible.

As part of our proud Canadian heritage, hockey is naturally a big part of who we are.  Not only do we specialize in supplying hockey leagues and teams across Canada and the United States with hockey goals, barrier netting and padding, we support the game on a local level as well.

Fresh off an outstanding season and championing the HEO AAA league, the Kanata Lasers AAA Midget hockey team was looking for support as they embarked on their final goal of the season: a shot at the Ontario Provincial Championships earlier in the month of April. 

Photo depicting divider panels.  Photo Credit: Cornwall Standard-Freeholder  

Steady growth in popularity has helped the sport of hockey gain a broader audience and a larger pool of players from all over North America. According to USA Hockey, there were more people playing hockey in the United States than ever recorded before during the 2013-2014 season.

Where analysts are seeing huge growth in the sport, are with registrants aged 6 and under. The number of registrants in this very young age group has grown by about 4% per year since 2013 and does not show much sign of slowing down.

Most of us have accepted it; winter is officially on its way and before we know it, the snow will start flying. With professional hockey season now underway, along with thousands of other recreational leagues across North America, arena facility operators are evaluating the condition of their hockey nets.

While most might assume it best to upgrade existing hockey goals, nets and fenders before the hockey seasons begin, sometimes that just is not possible. With so many arenas hosting hockey leagues and other events all year round, it is getting harder and harder to find a facility that actually experiences a great deal of downtime on the ice.

Whether it is a psychological cue due to the changing weather, the fact is this time of year is when we typically see an increase in requests from our ice-loving hockey and arena facility operators. This is also a time when many new builds are finally completed before the frost and newly founded arenas are in search of officially sized and professional-quality hockey goals and nets.