The Portage College Voyageurs will not be coming to Cold Lake.
The city is shaking their heads in disappointment after an announcement on July 19 that the college's men's hockey team would be staying in Lac La Biche after all.
The college retracted their original decision to move the team to Cold Lake after Lac La Biche County announced they had filed a complaint with the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, naming Portage College as the defendant. If the college didn't back-out of their agreement with Cold Lake, the county was going to sue.
“It's disappointing. We're disappointed because we were working with Portage College to bring this high level of hockey to Cold Lake. There was a really good buzz about it. It's unfortunate that the County of Lac La Biche was going to sue the college. We got caught in it… but, our council is going to take the high road and not be suing anybody because that's not our style,” explained Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
The decision to keep the team in Lac La Biche wasn't an easy one for the college to make.
Trent Keough, president and CEO of Portage College said in a release, “College administration couldn't justify the board of governors spending taxpayer dollars in a costly legal battle over who owns naming rights to a hockey team.”
The legal costs, he estimated, would have been well over $100,000.
“There is no known positive or beneficial end value given to all Portage students by contesting the statement of claim. Consequently, we cancelled our original decision on awarding team naming rights to the City of Cold Lake,” Keough added.
For hockey fans it's a frustration that is felt by losing the opportunity for high-level hockey in the area. For business owners, landlords looking for renters, and council, they're feeling their discontent in a multitude of ways.
The city had estimated that over $800,000 would have been brought into the community each year over the next three years with the hockey team playing out of the Energy Centre. That financial loss is now felt across the city.
“The economic impact through renting, restaurants, and other businesses, it's going to be a big loss,” Copeland expressed. “It built up a lot of hope. There was a good buzz in this community about hockey, and now this decision has been made, and it's just unfortunate for Cold Lake and area.”
The city's loss is Lac La Biche's gain.
In a release, Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Mogrhabi said, “We're pleased to see the Voyageurs staying at the Bold Centre, which has been the team's home base for years.”
He continued, “The Voyageurs are a source of community pride, and the team's presence in our community generates a wide variety of economic benefits. That is why council and I wanted to keep them here, and we look forward to three more years of local Voyageurs action.”
In January, Lac La Biche County refused to offer the Portage College Voyageurs financial sustainability at a cost of $100,000 per year over the next three years. In response, the college approached the City of Cold Lake in March, offering them the same package deal.
“We accepted it, no problem,” Copeland said.
Shortly after accepting the college's offer, Portage's decision to move the team was questioned by Lac La Biche County, who asked their board of governors to take a second-look at the time line of events that led to the decision.
After getting the green light from the board, Portage announced in June that the team would officially be coming to Cold Lake.
Since then, the city has been working at looking into the addition of change rooms, high-tech internet for game-streaming, and other impacts moving the team to the Energy Centre would have.
Although they had not spent a dime, it was the efforts put in by staff that has now gone to waste.
Copeland believes Lac La Biche County failed to consider the consequences of refusing to financially sustain the team in January, and after hearing Cold Lake was picking up the deal, decided they had changed their minds about wanting the team.
“As elected officials, you make decisions when you're in council. You have to live with the decisions you make. Going around and threatening to sue someone to reverse your first decision is interesting. I don't think it's the right thing to do,” Copeland said.
