COLD LAKE - The City of Cold Lake will soon be starting an expression of interest system for junior hockey teams after two teams approached the City in July of this year.
During a special council meeting that took place on July 30, members of council made the decision to establish an expression of interest system for high level hockey leagues looking at expanding operations to the city.
However, council decided to take a pause and wait until January to begin taking expressions of interest for leagues interested in bringing high level hockey to the city for the 2026/27 season.
In July, the City was approached by two different Alberta-based Junior A hockey leagues that wanted to look at Cold Lake as a city to operate their teams out of, according to City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland.
“There continues to be a lot of interest for leagues to use our facilities and have a Junior hockey team call Cold Lake home,” Copeland said. “But with the season fast approaching, we wanted to take a measured approach. The hockey landscape in Canada is changing, there are several new leagues looking to expand, and we need to ensure that any user agreements are a good fit for the city and its facilities.”
As far as how the expression of interest process works, Copeland explained, the organization or the owner of a team in a league interested in setting up shop in the community would enter into an ice user agreement with the City of Cold Lake.
“We have ice user agreements with the Junior B hockey team that operates out of our city called the Cold Lake Junior B Ice,” Copeland said, adding that in the past, the city has had entered into ice user agreements with Junior A franchises that also operated in the community.
Most recently, the Cold Lake Aeros played out of the city, and were part of the Canadian-American Junior Hockey League, which was established in 2022. The league did not operate last season, and the team has announced it will not be returning to Cold Lake.
Through ice user agreements, teams look at how much they are going to pay for ice time during the day and during prime market times in the later afternoon and evenings. Other factors that are considered, according to Copeland, include the cleaning fees for stands after a game, as well as the cost per square foot for dressing rooms.
“We have a custom made dressing room for the junior program,” he noted.
Another consideration that would come into play when an agreement is signed between the City of Cold Lake and a new team pertains to office rentals for team management and staff, along with logos on the ice that teams can generate revenue from, or advertisement inside the arena.
“So, you sit down, and you work with the team, the organization, and develop that kind of agreement . . . Then, that would come to council for a vote decision,” Copeland said, explaining that administration would do all the work behind the scenes with the owner.
The Energy Centre is a great facility that a lot of teams want the opportunity to play out of, said Copeland.
“We know that we’ve got . . . one of the best arenas in Alberta for junior hockey, and it’s just a matter of taking our time and making sure that every league is considered,” he said.
Having a junior hockey franchise operating in Cold Lake, according to Copeland, could benefit both the community and the local economy.
Such a team, he said, provides an opportunity for local youth and young adults to play a high level of hockey and advance their careers at the college level - or even higher.
“It also showcases high level hockey to people in our community,” Copeland said.
The players themselves, Copeland continued, become a fabric of the community by helping out with youth sports and various volunteering initiatives.
Cold Lake council has always been supportive and has sponsored hockey teams operating in the city, along with tournaments and major events, which are economic drivers, said Copeland.
“We recognize that it’s filling hotel rooms, it’s filling up restaurants, and so, we want to have recreation also be part of an economic stimulus for our business community,” he said.
