Jr. B Thorold Blackhawks to play next season in Port Colborne

Against the wishes and hopes of the city, the Thorold Blackhawks Jr. B hockey squad will be playing their 2022-2023 season in Port Colborne’s Vale Health and Wellness Centre.

Team owner, GM and coach Scott Barnes said on Tuesday, “Due to the ongoing renovations at The Frank Doherty Arena, the Thorold Blackhawks will be playing their home games out of the Port Colborne Vale Centre for the upcoming 2022-23 season.”

It seems the uncertainty of when the Thorold Frank Doherty Arena will finish their renovations left the team with some uncertainty.

In February, Thorold City Council awarded a $1-million contract to complete renovations for needed upgrades to the ice plant at the arena and had hoped the upgrades would be on track for completion in September.

Barnes said his wasn’t willing to take the chance. “With the continued uncertainty of a completion date for the work being done at the arena, and after dealing with two years of COVID issues, the players need a stable home for the season.”

He added, “The City of Thorold helped immensely through this process in an attempt to find alternative solutions but we felt the need to secure stability for the season. We are still the Thorold Blackhawks playing out of Port Colborne and we hope to return to Thorold better than ever for the 2023-24 season.”

Thorold city staff did made the effort to accommodate the Thorold Blackhawks at Canada Games Park as a temporary solution until the upgrades were complete.

“We are extremely disappointed that the Thorold Blackhawks chose to play in Port Colborne this season,” says Mayor Terry Ugulini.

“Staff worked closely with the Thorold Blackhawks to accommodate their scheduling needs. Alternate arrangements for practices, league games and a storage locker were secured at Canada Games Park Facility until the new ice plant at Doherty Arena was completed.”

The Thorold team was one of many teams to changes their logos back in 2016. The previous logo was a caricature of an Indigenous man in a hockey uniform. The new one became a hawk head with feathers.