The Vancouver Canucks’ long-running practice facility search may be heading in a new direction again, and this time the target appears to be downtown.
CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported Friday that the club is exploring a partnership with the City of Vancouver on a site even closer to Rogers Arena than Britannia. He also said the Canucks are looking at a setup with more than one sheet of ice, something that would open the door for broader community use.
“The City’s got land in very ideal spots in proximity to Rogers Arena. I’ve heard there is a location in mind, downtown, that’s even closer than Britannia is,” Dhaliwal said on Donnie and Dhali.
“They want more than one rink, possibly two or three. They want minor hockey to be involved.
They want the City to be involved.”
That would mark another turn in a saga that has dragged on for more than a decade. The Canucks have tried repeatedly to land a dedicated practice facility, and the lack of one has become a sore spot for the franchise. They are set to become the only NHL team without their own facility.
Just three months ago, the team announced a Memorandum of Understanding to build at Britannia. That plan immediately drew pushback from three Vancouver hockey associations, who raised concerns about the Canucks taking ice time away from children who play the game.
The club had previously been linked to a different downtown-adjacent idea as well. At one point, the Canucks were in talks to build across the street from Rogers Arena as part of the Plaza of Nations redevelopment, but that project collapsed in 2021.
“In addition to the rink, the Canucks were also set to have about 25,000 sq ft of commercial space over multiple levels dedicated for their uses, including over 8,000 sq ft of space immediately adjacent to the rink as a sports medicine hub for both the team and the community,” Daily Hive Urbanized’s Kenneth Chan reported at the time.
A site across from Rogers Arena would be as close as the Canucks could get, but fitting multiple sheets of ice there could be difficult. Another possibility is City-owned land near Main and Terminal, which is not technically downtown but sits about a 10-minute walk from Rogers Arena.
The biggest issue, no matter which location wins out, is whether the project adds ice to the city rather than taking it away. Henrik Sedin seemed to acknowledge that point recently on the debut episode of The Sat Shah Show.
“I’m confident we’re going to get something done,” Henrik said. “For this organization, and for the owners, it’s important that we have discussions with minor hockey as well. We want to make sure that we do this the right way, and can help with the lack of ice sheets that we have in this city… We’re working on it, we’re getting there, it might take some time, but we’re getting closer.”
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