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Lac la Hache Tomahawks calling it quits

Uncertainty of rink availability, lack of players, volunteers were fatal

By Greg Sabatino

The Lac la Hache Tomahawks have officially pulled out of the Central Interior Hockey League (CIHL) for the 2016/17 season.

Tomahawks president and goaltender Willie Sellars says the decision came April 19 during the team’s board of directors meeting.

“It’s a number of things. We weren’t too sure about the status of the [Rolf Zeiss Memorial Arena] and we’re getting mixed messages about whether it’s closing or staying open, so that played into the decision.”

The Lac la Hache Community Club, responsible for operating and maintaining the arena, has stated power plant issues, rising maintenance costs, lack of use and a reduction in the number of volunteers from the community factored into the arena’s early closure in February.

Whether the arena will reopen is still unclear, Sellars adds.

“We also haven’t had the player commitment or the volunteers. We don’t have enough of either one. The 16-game [regular season] schedule is too much for us.”

Sellars notes an option moving forward could be to form an independent team to play enough exhibition games in order to potentially qualify for the Coy Cup senior men’s provincial championship.

“We’ll see what happens with the Lac la Hache Rink. If we went as an independent and just played exhibition games, I think we’d have an easier time icing a team for a limited amount of games. But that’s something we’ll look at later in the summer.”

What the Tomahawks’ departure means for the CIHL is also uncertain.

Last season, the CIHL had two divisions: an East Division with three teams — the Williams Lake Stampeders, the Quesnel Kangaroos and the Tomahawks — and a West Division with four teams — the Smithers Steelheads, the Terrace River Kings, the Prince Rupert Rampage and the Kitimat Ice Demons.

Removing the Tomahawks from the equation leaves two teams in the east and four teams in the west, creating unbalanced divisions.

The CIHL hosts its annual general meeting in May, when a decision will likely be made moving forward, however, Sellars says a team from Fort St. James had expressed interest in joining the league.

“We won’t know what’s going on until the AGM. I’m sure the machine will still run at the end of the day and it’s just unfortunate we have to pull out of the league.”

The CIHL regular season begins in October and ends in January prior to playoffs, which extend into early March.

Greg Sabatino is a staff writer with Williams Lake Tribune.