Saints excited with new home

Press Release

With only a few weeks before the MJHL pre-season kicks off, optimism is running high in the camp of the Winnipeg Saints.

First and foremost for the Saints was finding a new home rink, after it was determined the club would no longer reside in St. Adolphe (a small community just outside Winnipeg.)

After months of negotiations with the city of Winnipeg, the Saints are now calling the Winnipeg Civic Centre home. As many MJHL fans may remember, the Civic Centre was the former home of the St. James Canadians, who captured back-to-back championships in the mid-1990s. It’s a large, bright facility ─ perfect for junior hockey.

The Saints are hoping history will repeat itself.

“When we evaluated what went on last year, we decided that a move back to the city would be good for the team, and luckily the Civic Centre agreed to take us in,” says Saints’ GM/Head Coach David Anning.

With the hopes of calling the Civic Centre home for the long term, the Saints have decided to take things on a year to year basis, and are eager to gain fans and corporate support now that they’re back in the city.

“It alleviates travel for our players, who no longer have to go outside the city,” explains Anning of the benefits of relocating the team. “Being in the city also helps us establish corporate support within the city, as well as attract fans…which is something we struggled with in St. Adolphe in terms of attendance.”

The Saints’ marketing team is working hard off the ice to rally support by going door-to-door and making phone calls, already having partnered with the St. James-Assiniboia Chamber of Commerce and the Minor Hockey Association.

Anning and the rest of the coaching staff are working equally as hard to make sure that things are coming together on the ice.

“We acquired Craig Scott from the Steelers,” he says of some recent additions to their roster. “As a 20 year old we expect him to be a leader. We’ve got five young kids coming up through the ranks, so with these signings we can add to the group we already have in place, and hopefully everyone can start contributing already this year.”

With new team mates and a new home, Anning is hopeful that they team will see some on ice successes in their new building.

“We want to keep improving,” he says. “With successes on the ice come individual success. One of our mandates is to help players advance beyond junior hockey…helping the 20 year olds advance to the pro or college levels or whatever they want to do.

“We’re excited and looking forward to playing in the Civic Centre. We’ve played there twice when we were in the MJHL finals…it’s an enjoyable atmosphere for our players, a real quality place to play.”

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)