The Thunder Bay North Stars will be able to call the Fort William Gardens home.
City officials have given the go ahead to the Junior ‘A’ franchise to use the facility for their Friday and Saturday night games against the visiting Kam River Fighting Walleye.
North Stars Director of Business Development Mike Tallari says the city weighed a number of options for the approval, including the cost of running the facility during the pandemic.
“The city was going to re-open the Gardens with limited hours but I think once the news came out that the Fort William First Nations arena closed down, it created an increased demand for ice and the city thought okay we’ll proceed ahead with this decision,” Tallari mentions.
Friday will mark 273 days since the Gardens hosted an SIJHL game. On March 6th the North Stars skated to a 6-5 overtime win over the Fort Frances Lakers, eleven days later the city closed the facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Director of Business Development reveals what the back-up plan would’ve been if the city had said no to using the Gardens.
“Since we only have two games left until the Christmas break, the plan was to play the remaining two games at the NorWest Arena in Oliver Paipoonge. The Fighting Walleye would’ve been the home team for both games. We had the full support of the Kam River Fighting Walleye management team” notes Tallari.
The Rules (Fort William Gardens)
- No outside food or drink with the exception of bottled water
- Concessions won’t be open
- Each team is allowed a maximum of 25 spectators
- Each person will be screened upon entry
- You must wear a mask
- Keep socially distant
- Regularly wash and sanitize hands
