Category Archives: Hockey

This was in response to this DaCola post about the SF Hockey Association building there own facility;

This is stupid… all we need is a decent icerink and so far we only have 1/2 of one. The expo ice was taken down because we didn’t have enough money to fix the huge hole in the ice. And the SFIRC is only .5 of an ice rink because we only get 45 min of icetime…we have bantam boys practicing at 11 at night! It’s rediculous!! Not only do we just want to play hockey, be we also want to host tournaments. The girls team had to take their Varsity tournament to Sioux Center Iowa because we didn’t have any ice! If you guys are so narrow-minded to think that we can take what we have…then you are people who hate little kids.

First off, call a whaaabulance. Secondly, what is wrong with a private facility? I am all for a new ice rink, but why are we constantly going to taxpayers for this stuff? Seriously?! I heard Michelle Erpenbach brag about Yankton Trail Park for the Soccer Association in her AL interview. But let’s tell the truth about that park. You are only allowed to use the park for sanctioned games, you must also pay an association fee that goes to the city. The only time this ‘publicly owned’ park can be used by the ‘public’ for free is Jazzfest, a music festival. If an ice rink is privately funded, the Hockey Association can do what they want with it, without the fascist grip of the city on them.

Now I want to address the crybaby above. Growing up, I never got to go anywhere unless it was part of HS sanctioned sport and I rode on the school district’s bus. My big ‘event’ of the year was spending a week in Huron at the state fair where I participated in 4-H and Open class competitions. If you have a problem with driving your kids to Sioux Center for a tournament, maybe you should pull your kids out of hockey. I get so sick and tired of whiney ass parents that think there kids’ club sports should be subsidized by me. Here’s the deal. I don’t have children, but I have no problem with funding the school district through my property taxes, it is an investment in the future. But if your kids do not participate in public school activities, tough shit, pay for it yourself.

No city control. No taxpayer dollars?

I heard from a very reliable source last night that the SF Hockey Association is in the planning stages to build their own $12 million dollar facility. This is good news for several reasons;

• The association and parents will have control of the facility and will reap the benefits from managing it.

• If successful, it will prove once and for all that these organizations can run a facility on their own without the help of the city and maybe start a trend in Sioux Falls.

• City beauracrats have proven time and time again that they are wasteful when running these kind of facilities.

• It will cost taxpayers of Sioux Falls $0 and for once the people who will use the facility will be the ones paying for it (makes sense? Huh?)

I want to commend the SFHA ahead of time, if this is their plan. It is good to see an organization taking the bull by the horns for once. This is how these special interest projects should be done in Sioux Falls.

Of course the Gargoyle Leader can’t stop beating a dead horse, the new youth ice hockey rink proposal in Sioux Falls;

A group of local sports enthusiasts says Sioux Falls needs a new indoor ice rink, and their goal is to get the facility built – perhaps as early as fall 2012.

You and I know that the only people pushing for this ice rink are parents of kids that play hockey and the AL.

Because more than 450 youngsters are included in the hockey association, the current ice space is not enough, said Jayson Drake, president of the youth hockey group.

Voters rejected an ice rink already. And in the online poll today they are rejecting it again by over 56%. And in a recent poll asking if voters would support a retail tax increase to build a new events center, almost 60% said no. The AL and elitists in our community just don’t get it, the middle class and working poor are sick of paying for your playgrounds. If you want a hockey rink, pool your money and get investors and corporate donations and build the damn thing already.

“We are realistic,” he said. “We’ll have a fundraising challenge. Our expectations probably wouldn’t be to build a fully decked-out facility by Day 1. We need to decide how to get one rink first.”

So far, no donations have been sought or raised because the group still is working on its nonprofit status.

You have talking about this for over 5 years, look at all the money you could have raised in that time period. Taxpayers are sick of subsidizing this stuff. I fully support a new rink, but it should be built with private money and be privately managed.

UPDATED: 10:30 PM •  I see the hockey parents went online and swayed the poll so they would win, it is at 61%