Jef Jarmovitch, the owner of the Elliot Lake Vikings hockey team, is frustrated and disappointed about the decision by council to close Centennial Arena to the public indefinitely after a recommendation by a structural engineer indicating the Centennial Arena is potentially unsafe.
The same initial engineering report recommends further study to determine the extent of damage to the wood structure and when it might reopen.
Jarmovitch said he was not told about the roof membrane leaking since March and the damage water could do to the roof trusses when he signed an agreement with the city to purchase and rename the team the Vikings and use the arena as its home for games and practices.
Upon learning about the arena closure today, Jarmovitch said he has relayed the news to his players, indicating the closure decision means they have “no home.” He said he is inquiring about possible games and practices in Blind River and Espanola as alternative rinks. The team even explored using the Massey arena and discovered it can be used for team practices, but is too small to host Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) games.
The owner said if he had been made aware of leakage occurring since March he may not have taken on the team or the city’s arena. Jarmovitch said he signed off on any structural issues in his contract with the city.
“I did sign off on it,” he told ElliotLakeToday. “But I hadn’t been told for eight months water was coming in. I didn’t know when I bought the team there’s going to be some structural damage.”
Even the fact the city had planned to have a structural assessment done this month, Jarmovitch said he thought local contractors could have been brought in to look over the structure during its summer closure. He pointed out that he has no engineering background.
Depending on how long the arena is closed Jarmovitch could be facing additional costs of about $10,000 on the season.
The schedule has the Vikings playing a home game against the Soo Thunderbirds that the team will play in Blind River which will mean it will pay about $1,500 to bus the players from Elliot Lake.
“It’s going to cost me $1,500 to rent a bus to have a home game,” a clearly frustrated Jarmovitch said in his phone conversation.
If there is any redeeming factor of the news, it’s that the Vikings are playing on the road for the next week.
“At least the first week of this catastrophe we’ll be out of town.”