Does Moose Jaw have a shortage of recreation space for hockey?
In 1986 Moose Jaw’s population was 35,073 and the Civic Centre was apparently quite adequate for space then. In 2006 Moose Jaw’s population has declined to 32,132. We have 3,000 less people now than we did 23 years ago which is approximately the capacity of the Civic Centre, but suddenly we are being told we have a shortage of recreation space. For comparison, Prince Albert is bigger than Moose Jaw by 2,000 people and their newly renovated rink called the Art Hauser Centre has a capacity of only 2,591 seats for hockey. Moose Jaw’s proposed downtown multiplex is begging for 4,500 seats even though the Warriors average attendance is only 2300. Clearly, we do not have aspace deficit. Incidently, no one threatened to remove the Raiders from Prince Albert if they didn’t build a new rink.
