NORTH BAY – Gil Pharand, a hockey coach in North Bay, is expressing concern over the issue of concession stands in some of the City's arenas not being open at a key time.
"Everybody wants something to happen that benefits minor hockey," he expressed.
He says the city recently hosted a minor hockey tournament and concessions stands at the West Ferris Arena or Pete Palangio Pad were not operating.
"Last weekend we were in the North Bay Challenge Cup as one of the teams competing. There were 41 teams there, amongst the division, 35 of those were from out of town and neither canteen was open," he explained.
One of the coach's ideas is to contract the canteen out to allow a private organization to turn a profit.
North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says the city put out a request for proposals looking for a new operator after the last stepped aside, claiming there was no profit to be made.
"We've offered the space to hockey associations and not-for-profits if they want to put something in there during the hockey tournaments and so far we've had very little uptake," said McDonald.
Pharand is also disappointed with the lack of WI-FI access to both arenas, saying tournament committees need to update their websites.
He says over the last few weeks, he's been to several northern Ontario arenas that all have functioning concessions and internet access.
The city says the WI-FI problem at the arenas will be fixed by 2020. As for the canteens, McDonald believes competition is a key factor.
"We have outstanding restaurants and coffee shops and I think that's part of the challenge," he explained.
"When you walk into a place and you really have the wow factor when you see it… it makes you want to go back there for these tournaments again. I want that to happen here in North Bay," said Pharand.
For now, discussions continue on how to best operate the canteens for the good of the game.
