October 16, 1996
NR.080

GRAND OPENING OF ROYAL BANK CANADIAN HOCKEY CENTRE

CALGARY -- The Royal Bank Canadian Hockey Centre, the state-of-the-art, self-contained headquarters for Canada's hockey development programs from entry level to the national teams, was officially opened today, Canadian Hockey announced.

The $2.5-million, 25,000 square-foot expansion of the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena complex becomes the home of Canada's men's and women's national teams, as well as the managers of Canadian Hockey's coaching, officiating and women's programs. The complex includes new offices that will house all of Canadian Hockey's hockey operations and Calgary-based business operations and administration staff.

The Royal Bank Canadian Hockey Centre boasts refurbished dressing rooms and training areas for Canada's men's and women's national teams, as well as a world-class fitness and sport medicine centre for use by competitive athletes and the general public alike.

'It's a great opportunity for us to maintain and reinforce our status as the world leader in the development of the game,' said Frank Lento, Chairman of Canadian Hockey. 'It's an exciting time for all those associated with hockey development in Canada.

'Obviously, it's a world-class facility and we're all extremely proud of it. The players, of course, will be the main beneficiaries of the programs run at the new centre.'

The Royal Bank Canadian Hockey Centre also will be home to the men's national junior team, and will serve as a special training facility for Canada's national figure skating program.

The head office of Canadian Hockey administration remains at the National Sport Centre in Ottawa, where Canadian Hockey President Murray Costello is based.

'It's a dream come true for Canadian Hockey to have a facility like this,' said Costello. 'This will become our creative think tank, a place where we can bring together our best hockey minds to brainstorm on ways to improve and update our programs.

'We're going to need it in order to stay competitive in the world.'

The Royal Bank, along with the Government of Alberta, CODA, the Saddledome Foundation and the Flames Project 75 Hockey Association shared the capital cost of the project, as did Calgary Sport Physiotherapy, which will operate a world-class fitness and sports medicine centre at the Hockey Centre.

That element of the complex, which Calgary Sport Physiotherapy operates under the name Canadian Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation, serves the needs of all injured athletes, novice to competitor. The sports medicine centre has a staff of 20 professionals, including physiotherapists, kinesiologists, massage therapists and sports-medicine specialists.

A prominent feature of the fitness/sport medicine centre is the acceleration program, designed to improve the power, speed and agility of all athletes. For hockey, that program uses a unique skating treadmill, with which athletes can finetune their skating technique as well as their power.

The fitness, sport medicine and administrative elements of the new centre, along with the Olympic-size ice surface of Father David Bauer Arena, combine to make the Royal Bank Canadian Hockey Centre the only sport-specific, all-encompassing training centre for any sport in Canada. As well, it is the largest hockey training centre in the world.

Bob Nicholson, Canadian Hockey's senior vice-president, hockey operations, said centralizing all hockey development activity at the Calgary office will enable the association to deliver its many programs more effectively.

'For the first time in our hockey history the high-performance and grass-roots development people are now under the same roof,' said Nicholson. 'It means that Jamie McDonald (Manager, coaching), who coordinates coaching development programs, can go down the hall and talk with (Men's National Team head coach) Andy Murray and get his input.'

The managers of Canadian Hockey's coaching and officiating, along with Nicholson, all have recently transferred to Calgary from Ottawa. The women's program manager, Glynis Peters, also will relocate from Ottawa to Calgary next month. Beginning in September 1997, the national women's team will be based at the Royal Bank Canadian Hockey Centre full-time as it prepares for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Other programs that will make extensive use of the Royal Bank National Training Centre programs include: The national junior team; the national under-18 team and regional under-17 programs. The facility also will be used on a regular basis for the Hockey Alberta high performance hockey programs at the under-16 and under-15 levels.

The Royal Bank Canadian Hockey Centre also includes a new public entrance and a Breakaway outlet -- a boutique selling Canadian Hockey's popular line of licensed merchandise.

Through a 50-year lease agreement with the City of Calgary, which owns the overall facility, Canadian Hockey is the primary tenant at the Father David Bauer Olympic Arena. But community minor hockey and figure skating groups will continue to use the complex extensively.. As well, the Calgary Royals Junior A and University of Calgary Dinosaurs hockey teams will continue to use it as their home arena.

Canadian Hockey will continue to operate the Centre of Excellence at the Saddledome, along with similar Centres in Vancouver, Toronto and Saint John, N.B. The centres of excellence, which emphasize grassroots programming, link Canadian Hockey to the community through research, seminars and clinics.