The Belle River District Minor Hockey Association is upset at the lack of age-appropriate ice time for its younger players at Lakeshore’s new Atlas Tube Centre.

“Our last ice time is 10pm, so we could have a 13-year-old or 14-year-old playing hockey until 11pm on a weeknight,” says Mike Kraynack, president of the minor hockey group adding the association has about 750 players registered. “Somebody’s going to have to make some tough decisions.”

Steve Salmons is Lakeshore’s director of community and development services and says the town understands late night game starts aren’t ideal for younger players.

“We get that point and we’re going to work with minor hockey. We’re going to talk to the other users in the facility and say, ‘can we do some shifting here for the benefit of the younger kids?’ I can’t imagine we’re not going to get a positive reception to that,” says Salmons, noting the three ice pads at the Atlas Tube Centre equal what the community was using prior to the new facility with two pads in Lakeshore and one in Essex. “All we did was take an existing scheduling system and impose it on the new facility.”

The Atlas Tube Centre opened on September 2.