Gravenhurst Minor Hockey Association (GMHA) is circulating a petition around town to gain support from town council for more ice time during the week than it is currently assigned.

GMHA president Ted Watts explained the petition responds to a recommendation from the Ontario Minor Hockey Association to hold two ice practices for every minor hockey game played.

The petition is also a means for the local minor hockey organization to obtain “optimal ice time” in support of player development, since GMHA considers itself the biggest local user group of Gravenhurst Centennial Centre.

In a telephone interview, Watts said minor hockey should come first and other users fitted around GMHA.

“Our organization is the only organization that represents a very high percentage of Gravenhurst residents,” he said, noting the North Central AAA Predators don’t have many local players, but are allocated prime weekend ice time. “The whole purpose of that arena is to serve our kids, not Orillia or Parry Sound. We would like to see the town fill our request and work the others around it.”

Watts explained GMHA asked for 24 or 25 hours last year and ended up with 20 or 21 hours each week.

“It varied from week to week and that was a problem also,” he said. “I remember when my son started playing hockey and there were only 98 kids in the program and we still had 30 hours. Now we have more than 130 kids and for the past few years we’ve requested more than what we’ve ended up getting.”

Watts said the organization plans to request up to four more hours in ice time, but early morning practices are not the solution because Gravenhurst schools are so spread out and some players attend Catholic schools or French Immersion, not offered in Gravenhurst. He said taking extra time on the weekends poses difficulties in scheduling for travelling rep teams.

“We need 25 hours,” he said. “We need a little more than what we’ve been getting during the week.”

The extra ice time would facilitate an OMHA skills program with specialty clinics for player development. The OMHA mentor is only available during the week and any travel expenses are charged back to the local group, said Watts.

“In order to make this organization thrive, we need more success on the ice,” Watts explained. “It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about trying your best and having fun. Teams that lose 10-0 don’t usually have that much fun. Ice time is important to allow us to do our best to develop our players.”

During the annual general meeting for GMHA on April 28, reports from various executive members touched on the ice time issue and different circumstances whereby GMHA played second fiddle to other users, some of which were referred to as “non-local”.

Tournament director for the past season, Robb White said GMHA lost about $650 in the five-day March Break Madness Tournament and the biggest obstacle was ice time.

He was disappointed the town was not willing to cancel public skating during the atom tournament, which caused a two-hour void in the competition, “turned off” some teams, and as a result two teams backed out. White said public skating was cancelled to facilitate the Amazin’ Grays old-timer tournament.

Despite booking its ice time in advance, GMHA received an e-mail from the town bumping the tyke team’s ice on Valentine’s Day for a South Muskoka Shield playoff game.

“We signed a contract and we pay for that (the ice), but we haven’t had a say in the matter,” White said. “Part of the frustration is we’re forced to sign a contract that doesn’t meet our requirements, but we have no other choice. We make a request and town staff allocates the time.”

Speaking at the AGM, Ed Smith agreed GMHA needs more ice time and suggested making a request this year for ice time in Bala.