Another sellout crowd at AIS Arena. This time, when the Canberra Brave took on the Melbourne Ice. Photo: Verity Griffin.
As we undergo feasibility study after feasibility study to determine a potential site for a new stadium, the sport of ice hockey is thriving by taking matters into its own hands.
The move from Phillip to the AIS Arena has been a masterstroke for the Canberra Brave, with sellout crowds for all nine games so far in the Australian Ice Hockey League.
With close to 3000 fans packing into the arena for every home game, the numbers are triple that of past years at Phillip. They are easily the biggest crowds for Australian Ice Hockey League games in this country.
What the Brave has successfully done is to make each game an event in its own right, offering plenty of entertainment both on and off the ice.
The team’s success has also been a contributing factor, with the Brave currently sitting in the top three.
It has also provided the AIS Arena with a major winter tenant for at least two years.
Canberra Brave’s new temporary home at the AIS Arena. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The packed arena has prompted a major rethink of the proposed ice sports facility slated for Tuggeranong.
A proposal has been floated to make the new Convention Centre the home of the Canberra Brave in the future, with seating capacity upwards of 6000, effectively opening the sport to an even wider audience.
If ice hockey is part of the planning for the construction of the Convention Centre infrastructure, it would essentially mean that a smaller facility could be built at Tuggeranong without the need for significant spectator seating.
The success of the move from Phillip to the AIS Arena is the perfect example of how a facility can transform a sport and should send a strong message to the ACT Government.
Whether it does or not remains to be seen.
AIS Arena is the Canberra Brave’s temporary home for the next couple of years and is attracting big crowds to games. Photo: Canberra Brave.
I have no doubt that both the Raiders and the Brumbies will attract far bigger crowds if Canberra Stadium were a more inviting facility.
As the Brave rides the wave of success, the ACT Government is reviewing the outcomes of the latest feasibility study into a potential location.
The government seems to be running out of options with Bruce firming as the preferred site, with the former headquarters and the current stadium footprint the two remaining in the race, with Civic and Exhibition Park out of the running.
It is, of course, one thing to have a preferred site and another to have the funding to build it.
