While the Dawson Creek City Council has approved a bid to fix the broken chiller at Memorial Arena and plans to have repairs done by Oct. 31 at the latest, many ice users have been left pondering the status of their season.

That includes the largest collection of ice users, the Dawson Creek Minor Hockey Association.

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The DCMHA took to Facebook earlier this week to address a number of concerns that had been put forward by parents to the Board of Directors.

Board of Director Shawn Brinsky put together a list of Frequently Asked Questions in order to help inform parents and ice users about what the associations knows about the upcoming season.

Among those concerns, DCMHA has decided to keep fees the same this year as they have been in the past, but decided to extend the early registration deadline to July 31 in order to provide parents with a better picture about what the season will look like by that time.

There has been some concern that ice may cost more if teams are forced to play their home games in Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge, Taylor or even Fort St. John. Brinsky is convinced this will likely not be the case.

“Ice rates in neighbouring communities are typically lower than what he pay here in Dawson Creek so we might find a savings there, so they balance out and allow us to keep the numbers the same,” Brinsky noted to the Alaska Highway News in a phone interview about a potential change to registration fees and having to pay the cost of referees travelling further to games.

The foggy ice status has created significant concern for the board that minor hockey registration will be lower than usual this season, a problem that Brinsky saw when he lived in Fort Nelson.

“When we lost our rink in [Fort Nelson] because a collapse and we lost our entire year,” he said. “We still facilitated minor hockey in Fort Nelson. Utilizing an outdoor rink and travel exclusively for all games… we took a significant hit [with registration] that even to this day you can see [there].”

Another potential roadblock for the upcoming season that the DCMHA and their teams will face is the competitive groups have deadlines to submit ice availability in order to have schedules made for the upcoming season.

“Typically in July, those leagues host their scheduling meetings where the different teams need to come with their ice slots available and a schedule can be made out,” he said.

Brinsky remains unsure about what the DCMHA will do to help facilitate teams ice needs when league ice meetings take place later this summer.

Currently the Oct. 31 completion date would also be a hindrance to competitive teams holding tryouts to select their roster. DCMHA hopes they can address this problem by using other arena facilities in the area to make their selections.

“Our competitive programs start in the first week of September,” Brinsky said. “Our recreational programs have historically started the first week in October. So no matter who you are you will be impacted from seven weeks to four weeks.”

As an example, last season in the Edmonton Rural Bantam Hockey League in which the Dawson Creek Bantam Canucks played, their first home game was Oct. 5. In the All Peace Hockey League last season the first home game for a Dawson Creek team was Nov. 1. In the Pewee AA Northern Hockey League the first home game was Oct. 19.

There are still plenty of questions that remain for the upcoming hockey season, but according to the association they remain committed to providing hockey for the 2015-2016 season.

“Yes,” Brinksy wrote on the DCMHA Facebook page. “DCMHA is confident the city will complete the necessary work in time for there to be minor hockey in Dawson Creek.”

sports@ahnfsj.ca